Bushes seek chef who can do Tex-Mex, barbecue

Houston Chronicle/AP ^ | Feb. 20, 2005

[bayourod]

Fancy state dinners aren't all the new White House chef will need to do -- the Bushes are looking for someone who knows barbecue and other good old American fare.

Laura Bush told Newsweek she doesn't expect that any of the celebrity chefs with books or television shows will be interested in becoming head chef at the presidential home. But she's looking to fill the job with someone who "can really showcase American foods."

The previous White House chef, Walter Scheib III, has left to pursue new opportunities after nearly 11 years of cooking for two presidents, and the first lady is looking for a replacement who can cater to the first family's native Texan palates.

"We like spicy food of all kinds," she said in the magazine's Feb. 28 issue. "We like, obviously, Tex-Mex and barbecue. ... George is a very good eater."

The chef will have ample opportunity to make dinner for the first family -- the Bushes are known for staying in most nights rather than socializing like their predecessors. Laura Bush said they do go out to friends' dinner parties when someone thinks to ask them.

"We don't actually get invited to that many dinner parties," she said. "I think people think we're going to invite them, which we do."

[bayourod]

About time we got some real food in the White House. I recommend the cook at Mel's Cafe outside Tomball Texas for Chicken Fried Steak and other Texas food. For Bar-B-Que, the old man at the black baptist church in aHuntsville, and for TexMex the cook at that bakery near the Alamo.

[Iowa Granny]

Pingerooski

[Cornpone]

I can't wait to have Jacques Chirac served chittlins...with souse meat and collards on the side...Oh heavens. Or, how about some fried tripe, pickled pigs feet and kale?

[solitas]

If they bring one from over the border they better make sure its papers are in order... (since it seems he's big on wanting to let non-Americans in here to take jobs)

[bayourod]

They'll have to build an outdoor fire to boil the chittlins. The pre-cleaned frozen ones just don't taste right.

[dennisw]

I'd like to see who gets the job. It won't be Steve Raichlen or Bobby Flay

[okie01]

Laura also might check with Mary's Cafe in Strawn, Texas.

It's a one-stop dining delight -- 16 oz T-Bone, chicken fried steak with pan gravy, chili cheeseburgers, fried chicken, a full page of Tex-Mex, with all-you-can-eat barbecued ribs weekly.

Shiner Bock on tap.

[demsux]

I'll do it...beer, bbq and politics!!!!

[varina davis]

A dream job -- and wonderful leftovers!

[Cornpone]

They'll have to build an outdoor fire to boil the chittlins. The pre-cleaned frozen ones just don't taste right.

They just don't smell right either. Where I came from we used to have a chittlin strut every year. My Mom used to cook them too. Anyway, during the strut they cooked them 10 miles out of town. If you know chittlins you know why.

[bayourod]

"Laura also might check with Mary's Cafe in Strawn, Texas. "

Never heard of Mary's Cafe in Strawn, Texas.

Actually, I've never heard of Strawn, Texas. Is it anywhere near Mule Shoe?

[Dog Gone]

I can't believe it took them over four years to fire the foo-foo chef.

Dang, they're ain't no better food than Tex-Mex and those guys who learned pastry swirls in Paris aren't going to know how to BBQ or even make a decent enchilada.

[bayourod]

"If you know chittlins you know why. "

That's why I said they'd have't build an outdoor fire. Could you imagine having a state dinner in the same building where fresh chittlins were boiled?

[Txsleuth]

Wait a minute--we don't eat that stuff in Texas---

Its brisket, ribs, steaks, fish, enchiladas, tacos, and since Dubya was a baseball team owner, hot dogs and apple pie!!!

[bayourod]

Beer? Shiener Bock

[csmusaret]

I know how to cook chittlins; boil the sh*t out of em.

[bayourod]

Pecan pie.

[expatguy]

Originally Im from Houston and living overseas for man years.

Im now doing Tex-Mex now in Malaysia - I figured the way to these people's hearts is through their stomachs.

[WestCoastGal]

Where is Strawn?

[deport]

Too bad this El Paso girl isn't around to help them..... she had some American fare

Granny's country favorites like: Possum Dip, Dagnabbits, Cee-Ment Pond Punch, Texas Tea, Red Eye Gravy a la Granny, Pawpaw Puddin', Corncob Jelly, Big Hollywood Agent Cheese Soup, Mountain Dew Salad, Bodine Banana Bread, Critter Corn Fritters, New-Fangled Country Fried Chicken, Daisy Moses Memorial Ham, Betwixt and Between Lima Bean Casserole, Mrs. Drysdale's Goat, Glorified Grits, Mother Myrtle's Beans and 'Maters, Okie-Dokie Fried Okra, Black Gold Chocolate Pie, Peabody Pecan Cake, Pearl Bodine's Special Sweet Tater Pie, Jethro's Punkinhead Pumpkin Cookies, Elly Mae's Blonde Brownies, and Miss Jane's Rhubarb Jam.