Party politics
Eat in | Election Night menu an exercise in political (in)correctness
You've decided to host an at-home Election Night party over Tuesday's stressful shindig at your favorite political party's headquarters so you can sweat, cheer, curse or cry while watching election returns with intimate friends of similar political persuasion.
What to serve? Political correctness aside, you could settle on nuts as the appetizer, bologna sandwiches for dinner and Ding Dongs for dessert. Therein -- given the present economic climate -- is the perfect menu for Election Night.
(Sun-Times Illustration)
Or, if you strive to be politically correct -- and who doesn't in this age of flubs, excuses, exaggerations and downright lies? -- you could build a menu around the candidates' favorite foods.
In politically correct alphabetical order, we know that:
• John McCain favors baby-back ribs with his own dry rub, prepared on a gas grill at his Arizona home. Other favorites: Shrimp, enchiladas, pizza topped with pepperoni and onions, and doughnuts.
• Barack Obama prefers his family's chili recipe. "If you make it right, it's just got the right amount of bite, the right amount of oomph in it and it will clear your sinuses," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America." When he's not fist-bumpin', making amends to Hillary or eating Italian at Spiaggia with wife Michelle, Obama also loves pumpkin pie, shrimp and grits and pizza from Hyde Park's Italian Fiesta Pizzeria.
And then there are the unlikely VP candidates:
• Joe Biden likes to cook pasta and enjoys homemade pot pie (and might like the recipe for Chicken Pot Pie served at Dine in the West Loop).
• Sarah Palin counts moose stew, moose burgers and Alaskan seafood (you betcha) as her faves.
Or, if you're willing to overlook Recipe Gate, which reared its ugly head early on in this campaign, you could feature the combatants' own recipes (Obama's chili, McCain's dry rub, Palin's moose stew).
Remember the tizzy when it was discovered Cindy McCain's "favorite family" recipe for Passion Fruit Mousse actually had been lifted word-for-word from ever-perky Rachael Ray? A McCain intern was blamed for that gaffe.
When Family Circle magazine asked prospective First Spouses for their "favorite family" cookie recipes, Bill Clinton's oatmeal cookie was strikingly similar to one on a Betty Crocker Web site and Cindy McCain's oatmeal-butterscotch cookie nearly duplicated one on Hershey's Chocolate Web site. The message here? Plagiarism is a common ingredient in recipes.
Viand chef Steve Chiappetti, who created whimsical three-course prix fixe ($20.08) menus available at his Streeterville restaurant through Election Day, recommends that party hosts rely on satire for clever menus and recipes.
While remaining politically uncommitted, Chiappetti insists his politically-incorrect menu was inspired by past and present political figures.
"Believe me, each side has had its own bloopers and embarrassments," Chiappetti says.
Viand's Democrat menu includes an appetizer choice of Billy [Carter] Beer Cheese Soup or Kennedy Clam Bake; an entree choice of Obama and Hillary's Green Plate with Grass-Fed Beef or Al Gore's Save the Salmon; and, for dessert, Bill Clinton's Cherry Pie.
The Republican menu includes an appetizer choice of Cheney's Quail Hunter Surprise or Nixon's Covered-Up Consomme with Vegetables; an entree choice of Reagan's Show-Stopping Sole with Russian Caviar or McCain's Big Barbecue Ribs; and, for dessert, Bush's Simple Apple Pie.
So far, Viand's Democrat menu is winning.
"But this is Chicago," Chiappetti adds.
Yamandu Perez of Zak's Place in Hinsdale says an Election Night party begs for a menu that pokes fun at politics: A Fork to Nowhere Soup ("moose broth served with a fork"); Red, White and Blue Jerk Chicken ("for politics as usual"); Friends of PETA Chili (with grilled tofu, black beans and Northern white beans), and, for dessert, Pie-in-the-Sky Pumpkin Pie topped with Marshmallow Meringue Clouds or American Apple Pie with Fried Elephant Ear Crust.
Maria Rodriguez of El Nuevo Mexicano in Lincoln Park recommends an environmentally-friendly "green" menu: For McCain, enchiladas stuffed with low-mercury tilapia and topped with green tomatillo salsa, chopped tomatoes and white anejo cheese. For Obama, green tomatillo enchiladas stuffed with shrimp and topped with sour cream and anejo cheese.
The good news: Regardless of the outcome, you have four years to plan your next Election Night party.
Sandy Thorn Clark is a Chicago free-lance writer.