KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As most people know by now, the Commander in Chief opted for Arthur Bryant’s at 17th and Brooklyn to eat Tuesday night when he was in Kansas City.
“I just want to be on record, though, because people have been asking me this question. I deal with a lot of tough issues. I am not going to decide who makes the best barbecue in Kansas City,” he said during his speech at the Uptown Theater. “I have not had enough samples to make a definitive judgment,” the President joked.
President Obama ordered a half-slab of ribs, bottle of water and Bud Light according to a pool report. He also asked for coleslaw, and was dismayed to hear that the restaurant didn’t have any.
“You’ve got to have some coleslaw around here, don’t you? You’re out of it? Come on, man, I thought you were going to hook me up,” Mr. Obama said with a grin according to the pool reporter.
On Wednesday, FOX 4 met up with Willis Simpson, Arthur Bryant’s manager, and asked if he’d read or heard all the fuss about the slaw on social media. Some, in jest, are referring to it as ‘Slaw-gate’.
“He didn’t make a big deal out of it,” Simpson said. “Just ordered something else.”
Simpson said he found out the President was coming to Arthur Bryant’s at about 7:15 Tuesday night, and the President arrived only a few minutes later with four Kansas City-area people who he invited to eat with him after they wrote him letters. Simpson said they were already extremely busy on Tuesday and ran out of slaw.
“Just got to get prepared and do the best you can,” he said.
