Is that—really?—Kanye West?
That was the reaction the rapper and 2020 presidential candidate received when he walked into Latitude 38 restaurant in Oxford, Maryland, on Monday—a sleepy Eastern Shore town popular with sailors.
“We watched him come in and my bartender was like ‘That looks like Kanye West.’ But he was short, so we Googled his height,” says owner Gretchen Gordon. Sure enough, it was the larger-than-life, 5’8” rapper.
Gordon says the party of seven made an advance reservation under a covert name, and were “perfectly nice” about being sat at two separate tables due to Covid restrictions. Wife Kim Kardashian was not in the party. Two security guards were stationed outside during the lunch.
Pretty sure Joe Biden’s gonna win Maryland … but presidential “candidate” @kanyewest had lunch today at the restaurant Latitude 38 in Oxford, Maryland on the Eastern Shore, according to a Facebook screenshot a source sent me. He also took a photo with staff at the restaurant. pic.twitter.com/7KUq1p2GKJ
— Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) September 1, 2020
West, who missed making the ballot deadline in Maryland, didn’t seem to be campaigning. Rumors flew about the reason for his visit on social media after Gordon posted a Facebook photo—which was shared by Politico’s Daniel Lippman—including a theory that he purchased the $15.5 million “mannequin mansion” close to Easton. The security detail told Gordon that West was visiting friends.
Gordon says the drop-in was,“bizarre, but it was a lot of fun to cook for him. They were the only people in the dining room and having a good time—laughing and singing a little.” West ordered two entrees: a house-smoked roast beef sandwich with furikake onion rings and tiger sauce, and crispy rockfish and chips. He also requested a glass of Chardonnay.
“My bartender was like ‘I can’t serve Kanye West our house Chardonnay,” says Gordon, so the bar opened a nicer bottle of Irony.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
