Eat Like Our Country's Forefathers This Weekend at These Presidentially Themed Restaurants

Categories: Featured, Shockey

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This weekend, eat like a king. Er, we mean president.

Presidents' Day is just around the corner, and for most of us that means a long weekend. What better way to celebrate a day off than at a restaurant named after one of our country's great forefathers? OK, so not all of the restaurants listed below were named specifically after a president, but they share a likeness in one way or another. Plus, thanks to the Food Timeline (evidently made in the pre-Web 2.0 days but chock full of history), we're suggesting dishes at each restaurant befitting of its namesake president.

In order of their presidencies (and forgive us if there are any presidential restos we forgot):

Washington Square Diner -- Washington was a man who loved cherries, so order up a slice of pie ($3.95) at this long-standing 24-hour diner that's popular with the NYU crowd. It's not the city's cheapest diner, but it's got that old-school, down-home charm.

Eleven Madison Park -- Madison's favorite meal was purportedly Virginia ham, buttery rolls, apple pie, and cider, which isn't quite the fare you'll find at this upscale restaurant helmed by Daniel Humm. But the $125 set menu -- comprised by a grid of 16 different ingredients that acts more of an exploratory guide than an instruction manual -- does currently feature pork. And it's almost a sure thing that the final product is tastier (or at least more artistic and creative) than baked ham.

Jackson Diner -- Andrew Jackson quite liked lamb, so while the Indian cuisine served at this popular Jackson Heights (and Village offshoot) restaurant might have been out of the ordinary for the seventh president, he'd probably have liked their $18.95 lamb tandoori. And he could wash it down with Diwan punch (rum, mango, orange, pineapple, cranberry juice, light cream), which sort of resembles one of his drinks of choice, Daniel Webster's punch, made from lemon, sugar, green tea, brandy, claret, champagne, bananas, orange pineapples, cherries, and strawberries.

The Harrison -- Harrison's favorite meal was burgoo, or squirrel and vegetable stew (yum). You won't find that on the menu here, or anything that really resembles squirrel, but Harrison was also quite fond of hard cider, which is available. Get a $6 glass of New York's own Original Sin hard cider and salute the ninth president.

Lincoln -- Apparently Honest Abe started his day prosaically with black coffee and a single egg and occasionally toast. So he should visit this Jonathan Benno-run eatery come brunch. It's probably fancier fare than he's used to, but he could order the Proscuitto Cotto e Uovo, or poached eggs with grilled ham and bagnet verde, for $20. Although another dish he quite enjoyed was chicken fricassee, so maybe he could go with the Italian version of the dish -- the $20 Pollo Alla Cacciatora, made with Four Story Hill Farm's bird.


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