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October 2000 Issue

Camp David's Caterers

By Deborah Biskin Levine

The jokes circulating on the internet about the White House becoming kosher if Gore and Lieberman are elected may be closer to the truth than anyone might have imagined.

For the first time ever, people are wondering where the meals came from for the Israeli delegation at the recent peace talks at Camp David, and where Joseph and Hadassah Lieberman eat when they want to have a romantic dinner for two in Washington, D.C.

The answer to both is the same: L'Etoile.

Twenty-four-year-old Gali Dahan manages L'Etoile, the elegant, kosher, French restaurant in the heart of Embassy Row.

This upscale eatery in the Clarion Hotel fills a great void for the capital's Jewish community. Until Dahan and her father, whom everyone calls David, opened City Center, a dairy restaurant in the Washington JCC, there were really no kosher places to eat in the city. However, the community and visitors still felt that there was a need for a kosher meat establishment where a businessperson or politician could entertain in style.

Gali and her father heeded the call, and in November of 1999, L'Etoile was born. While David acts as master chef, Gali sees to everything else, running back and forth between both restaurants five and a half days a week.

Among others, Gali and her staff have entertained such notables as author Herman Wouk, radio and television personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Senator Lieberman, and a host of Middle Eastern delegates. Rabbi Shem Tov, the head of the Washington Lubavitch community, eats there every day.

"Business people from the neighborhood, who are not necessarily Jewish dine here, because our product is excellent and our prices are comparable to any other good, French restaurant in D.C.," says Gali.

On a Tuesday evening, my friend and I arrived at L'Etoile just in time for our seven o'clock dinner reservations. We swore that we couldn't and wouldn't eat too much because the oppressive heat and humidity in Washington in September can dampen anyone's appetite. However, after enjoying the air conditioning for a few minutes, sipping some ice water, and smelling the delicious food, we were ready roll up our sleeves for a little taste testing.

James, the manager, was attentive and helpful in answering all of our questions. My Companion and I shared an order of grilled shiitake mushrooms with balsamic vinegar and indulged in a basket of warm, crusty sesame seed topped rolls and a bottle of Herzog Brouilly. We were having a fine time chatting and watching the other patrons, some wearing kippot and some bare headed, breaking bread in this sleek establishment complete with indirect lighting and lots of polished wood. Though L'Etoile is stylish, it's not intimidating, and it's clearly a place where table hopping is commonplace.

"People meet people they know when they come here," explains Gali. "In fact, one of our waitresses has just recognized a couple she knows from her Jewish community in Detroit. Recently, a young couple who had their first date at L'Etoile became engaged at the restaurant. Everyone who was eating here that night came up to their table and wished them mazal tov."

For dinner, my guest enjoyed a cornish game hen with veal, beef, and pistachio stuffing, while I inhaled the roasted chicken with pasta. We tried in vain to resist dessert, but our charming waitress convinced us to try a chocolate concoction filled with ganache. It was hard to believe that something so decadent could also be parve. When Dali finally got a few minutes to catch her breath, she joined us at our table and told us what the Lieberman nomination had meant for her business.

"We're very excited, this had been great for us," enthuses Gali. "On the night that Lieberman accepted the nomination we had every news station in town here. It was crazy here--insane--but it was wonderful. We had six big screen televisions playing so people could hear the speech. Everyone was wearing their Gore-Lieberman kippot, and we had a menu that night with all of the selections named in honor of the Senator. We served the Hadassah appetizer, which consisted of sea bass en croute with spinach and wild mushrooms, the Democratic entree, which was Caribbean chicken, lamb, and medallions of buffalo, and finally we had the Prosperity Dessert, a chilled red fruit soup. The senator's mother is also planning a fund raiser here for the near future."

Gali explained how she caters meals at the White House. "When they have a State dinner, everything has to be on china. So, we make whatever they want us to make, plate it on white china, which we buy new and then deliver to them. Catering Camp David was no easy feat," she recalls. "Three kosher meals daily for the entire Israeli delegation had to make its way to Maryland every morning."

Kosher dining in America has changed from brisket and kugel to pate and bison. Finally, Washington, D.C., with Gali Dahan as it's driving force, has joined the list of other big cities that have made keeping kosher and doing business a reality. No doubt, she already has great plans for the inauguration.

Deborah Biskin Levine is a freelance writer living in Albany, New York. Her upcoming book , Acts of Loving Kindness (JPS) is due out next summer

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