The restaurant news of the last 24 hours is undoubtedly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meal with former US President Barack Obama at Montreal dining staple Liverpool House. And now, the details on what was served at the dinner date du jour are here.
Co-owner of Liverpool House (along with neighbouring Joe Beef and Le Vin Papillon) David McMillan tells Eater that the duo chowed down on meat and seafood on a menu with house staples like oysters and lobster spaghetti. The mostly Quebec-sourced dishes also included smoked trout with asparagus, rib steak, and halibut from Kamouraska (in the Bas-St-Laurent region) with morel mushrooms.
So how was the vibe inside? The restaurant wasn’t shut down for the high-security affair — one Eater Facebook commenter who says she was at the restaurant at the same time suggests that Obama and Trudeau ate in one room away from most other customers, and that the security presence was more intense outside the restaurant than inside.
McMillan did the rounds on Montreal’s morning radio shows and also had more details. Speaking to sports station TSN 690 (apparently eating is a sport now?) he said there were over 100 Secret Service agents (alongside even more police officers), including agents in the kitchen, and some in the alley behind the restaurant, which he described as “fully mechanized rock star ninjas”.
McMillan and the Liverpool House staff weren’t explicitly told about the visit (Obama evidently does not make restaurant reservations under the name “Obama”) — but security personnel visited the restaurant multiple times since last week, and having previously hosted Trudeau at the restaurant, the team were able to guess what was happening.
Other moments of note from the TSN interview (listen to it in full over here): Obama and Trudeau went for reasonably priced wine (just like you and me!), and the Canadian taxpayers probably picked up the bill, which McMillan said is a better use of government spending than other projects. McMillan also says he didn’t know how much the dining duo tipped.
Meanwhile, the internet continues to fawn over the dinner date, including this very adorable take on Liverpool House’s kitchen staff photo with Obama and Trudeau, courtesy of aggregator of Montreal miscellanea, Fuck No Montreal.
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