Le Diplomate, the French Brasserie on 14th Street NW, is a D.C. institution that welcomes high-profile diners.

Joe Flood / Flickr

Le Diplomate, a District institution that’s no stranger to high-profile diners, received some famous visitors on Memorial Day.

President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and second gentleman Doug Emhoff gathered for lunch today following a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The visit to the restaurant shortly before noon drew a crowd of onlookers hoisting their smartphones aloft as the presidential motorcade appeared outside the 14th Street French restaurant. According to AP White House reporter Zeke Miller, the visit was unscheduled.

The eatery is no stranger to presidents and their families and staffs. The Obamas visited Le Diplomate in 2014; former president Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump has also paid a visit. The restaurant is a favorite of the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, who reportedly once asked his security detail to use sirens and flashing lights to clear 14th Street in order to get to Le Diplomate sooner. (For the record: His security said no.)

Le Diplomate did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Eva Torres, Le Diplomate’s D.C. director, told DCist/WAMU in January that she was looking forward to a visit from the Biden administration — particularly after Trump famously visited just one D.C. restaurant during his four years in office.

“Any time you have a well-known political figure visit your restaurant, it just puts you more on the international stage,” Torres said at the time. “The president really drives how this city is viewed by people that are in other countries or other parts of the States.

As some pointed out on Twitter on Monday, Le Diplomate also happens to be one of the city’s restaurants where the Diplomatic Security Service trains. Bob Weitzel, director of DSS’s Office of Training and Performance Standards, told Washingtonian in 2018 that the training is part of a Basic Special Agent Course.

“The exercises move a mock protectee around town, simulating the type of schedule a visiting dignitary might have,” Weitzel told Washingtonian via email. “Schedules can include simulated airport arrivals, restaurant visits, cultural sites, hotel arrivals and departures, and more. These exercises help students prepare and plan for a real detail, but under the controlled, safe, and watchful eye of experienced agents.”

This trip to Le Diplomate is the latest local food stop for Biden. Shortly after the inauguration, he made his first presidential food stop at Call Your Mother bagel shop in Georgetown. In early March, Biden visited W&S Jenks & Sons to promote changes to the Paycheck Protection Program and, a day later, visited Hook Hall with Emhoff and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. And on Cinco de Mayo, he picked up lunch and distributed a Restaurant Revitalization Fund grand to Las Gemelas in La Cosecha.

Filed Under: flotus, le diplomate, potus, president joe biden, Vice President Kamala Harris,