Smith Jackson Band to highight Presidential Dinner & Cocktails, tomorrow
The Smith Jackson Band, a local duo performing an eclectic mix of folk, rock, and bluegrass music, will entertain at the Presidential Dinner and Cocktails tomorrow evening, Thursday, Feb. 20, in the Reliable Source.
Band members Steve Patterson and Louise Wise -- originally hail from Fort Smith, Ark., and Jackson, Miss, respectively -- entertain audiences with their close harmonies, banjo instrumentals and guitar music. The dinner, in celebration of Presidents' Day, starts at 5:30 p.m. The musicians begin at 6 p.m.
Club members and guests are invited to sample drinks and enjoy dishes that were the favorites of past presidents. Reservations are encouraged. Contact 202-662-7443 or [email protected].
Salute the presidents menu:
- Reagan fried mac & cheese balls (6) $11
- George Bush BBQ sliders(4) $11
- JFK fried clams $18
- The Donald meatloaf sandwiches with bacon on white bread (toast) $18
- Barack’s turkey chili bowl $12
Presidential cocktails:
Daiquiri (John F. Kennedy) $8
President John F. Kennedy (1961-63) sipped daiquiris on the evening of Election Day 1960 while he watched the returns and learned he’d become the 35th president. Also, according to the memoir of his former intern Mimi Alford, Kennedy’s staffer David Powers plied Alford with daiquiris so Kennedy could more easily seduce her.
Dewars on the Rocks (James Garfield and Benjamin Harrison) $8
President James Garfield (1881) spent less than a year in office, but as an inauguration present, industrialist Andrew Carnegie sent a case of Dewar’s to the White House. Carnegie also sent the same present to Benjamin Harrison (1889-93), whose thank you note to Carnegie read: “It was nice of you to think of me as to needing a ‘brace’ this winter in dealing with Congress.”
Diet Coke (Donald Trump ) $2
It is well-known that the current president of the United States does not drink alcohol. It is reported he drank Diet Coke while watching the election results in 2016.
Dry Gin Martini (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) $8
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45) loved a good dry martini, as did his chief World War II ally, Winston Churchill. Unfortunately, when FDR served one to Russian dictator Josef Stalin at the Yalta Peace Conference, Stalin claimed it was “cold on the stomach.” FDR used to work until around 7:15 p.m., then he would commence cocktail hour in the “Oval Study,” as it was then known. His wife Eleanor said, “If truth be known, Franklin used to make the most terrible martinis. ... However, people drank them with zest because he had made them.”
Gin & Tonic (Dwight David Eisenhower) $8
In his role as SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force), leading the Allied armies in the June 1944 invasion of France, Ike came to spend a lot of time with his staffer, Kay Summersby, which (according to her memoir) led to a wartime romance. One warm afternoon, she and Ike enjoyed G&Ts in an English pub. “It was a gin and tonic kind of day. As we set there and sipped our drinks, the late-spring afternoon slipped into evening. The nightingales were singing.”
Mai Tai (Richard Milhous Nixon) $8
Richard Nixon (1969-74) loved Trader Vic’s, birthplace of the Mai Tai, and he would often sneak out of the White House to visit the Trader Vic’s at the corner of 16th and K Streets, N.W. (inside the Hilton Hotel). According to Wall Street Journal columnist Eric Felten, “the Mai Tai became something of the official drink of the Nixon presidency, much to the consternation of some.”
Old Fashioned (Harry Truman) $8
On April 12, 1945, Harry Truman (1945-53) was the newly-installed vice president. He was sipping bourbon in Sam Rayburn’s office when he was urgently summoned to the White House. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt informed Truman that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had died that morning in Warm Spring, Georgia., and Truman was now to become the 33rd President. Flustered, Truman asked her “is there anything I can do for you?” She replied, “Is there anything we can do for you, you're the one in trouble now.” At the White House, Harry and his wife Bess loved their Old Fashioneds in the evenings, with as little sugar as possible.