Where do you take a prime minister whose country is known for some of the best seafood in the world? Apparently, BlackSalt. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden dined with Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko Kishida, at the Palisades seafood restaurant tonight. Biden told White House pool reporters he had the crabcakes and the meal was “delicious.”
The @POTUS and Japanese Prime Minister are at Blacksalt Restaurant on McCarthur Blvd. pic.twitter.com/Y5kyvehbHm
— Andrew Leyden (@PenguinSix) April 9, 2024
BlackSalt, from restaurateur Jeff Black, has been around nearly 20 years and is known for its sustainable seafood. An adjoining market sells many of the same catches you’ll find on the menu. The crab cakes have long been a menu staple; The current online menu lists them at $59, served with pancetta, Brussels sprouts, local sweet-potato purée, and warm apple vinaigrette.
This appears to be Biden’s first DC dinner outing of the year. Among the other restaurants he’s visited as president: Cafe Milano, Le Diplomate, and the Red Hen, where both he and Jill both controversially ordered the same dish—the rigatoni. But seafood seems to be the Bidens’ go-to for a heads of state date night. They took French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, to the glam Italian seafood destination Fiola Mare in 2022.
The Bidens will host the Kishidas for a state dinner at the White House tomorrow.
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.
