President Joe Biden visited Las Gemelas near Union Market on Wednesday.

Evan Vucci / AP Photo

President Joe Biden continued his patronage of local D.C businesses on Wednesday by popping into Las Gemelas, a taqueria in the Latin American food hall La Cosecha.

Biden’s Cinco de Mayo visit caught co-owner Joshua Phillips by surprise — as did the news that Las Gemelas would be the first restaurant in the country to receive a Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration.  Las Gemelas, which means “twins,” in Spanish, is a nod to Phillips’ business partner, Yesenia Neri Diaz, who gave birth to twins while working at Espita in Shaw. Also on the team are is butcher Rogelio Martinez, executive chef Robert Aikens, and chef de cuisine Benjamin Tenner.

Phillips says he was only informed that SBA officials would be visiting the restaurant to celebrate the program, but suspected something was up when he saw the amount of Secret Service officers arriving on Wednesday morning.

“[An official] was like, ‘so I’m assuming based on the amount of Secret Service that you’ve probably noticed around the building that the SBA is not coming,'” Phillip says of a conversation he had with a White House official. “He’s like, ‘it’s true, POTUS is coming.'”

Las Gemelas received a $700,000 grant — a pretty penny after opening with a large amount of debt this spring, according to Phillips. Originally slated to debut in July 2020, the pandemic delayed the restaurant’s opening plans and complicated its financial picture.

“This is going to kind of allow us a lifeline to get back to ground zero, essentially,” Phillips says. “It’s gonna let us open the restaurant how it should have opened, and open confidently, because we’re not in a tenuous situation.  Every week, [it’s] been like, just barely enough to cover payroll and rent.”

Las Gemelas marks Biden’s first visit inside a D.C. restaurant since taking office, and the third local business to receive a presidential appearance. His motorcade surprised Call Your Mother workers and patrons when he stopped by for a post-church bagel at the Georgetown outpost in January, and he dropped into W.S. Jenks & Son, D.C.’s oldest hardware store, in April to highlight Paycheck Protection Program loans.

As for the president’s lunchtime selection, Phillips says he ordered four tacos and two quesadillas. Biden also declared his order quite proudly to a gaggle of reporters waiting outside as he left the restaurant.

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