The big unanswered question of the Biden presidency: when—and where—will the Ice-Cream-Lover-in-Chief get his first local scoop? Turns out the answer is Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams on Barracks Row. The President made a quick pitstop at the ice cream shop this afternoon after a visit to neighboring boutique Honey Made, where he admired necklaces on the wall for “my wife,” examined a coaster with a German shepherd on it, and picked up a Kamala Harris mug, according to a pool report.
Products at Honey Made include RBG and @KamalaHarris mugs and oven mitts. pic.twitter.com/pinVLfCg62
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) January 25, 2022
Early pool reports are vague, however, on what Biden ordered at Jeni’s other than it was a cone with two scoops—”light colored flavor on bottom, darker ice cream on top.” (UPDATE: It was salted peanut butter ice cream with chocolate flecks plus a scoop of blackout chocolate cake on a waffle cone.) POTUS waved the cone at pool reporters before heading off in his motorcade.
Ice cream. pic.twitter.com/P84JGtxtbk
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) January 25, 2022
Jeni’s is an obvious choice for Biden; He’s already chummy with the owner of the Ohio-based chain, Jeni Britton Bauer. “Once, I got a call while in a board meeting — it was him. Just telling me hello and that he was eating our ice cream. He ended the call with ‘I love ya, kiddo’, or something of that nature — and I returned it. ‘I love you, Joe,’” Britton Bauer wrote on Instagram the day after his inauguration. Now she considers him “a friend, and even something of a mentor” and has posted photos of them hugging. Jeni’s previously offered a limited edition “White House Chocolate Chip”—the prez’s favorite flavor.
If it’s above freezing, then it’s ice cream weather. pic.twitter.com/o8TOL05h3X
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 25, 2022
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
