The White House Pool reports that the Obamas had date night tonight with dinner at Citronelle. Read the pool reports below. Scroll down for photos of the Obamas.
News - Date night.
POTUS and FLOTUS are dining at Citronelle.Tick-tock:
Pool loaded vans at 5:34 as part of a longer-than-normal-length-seeming motorcade.
At 5:53 the president and first lady emerged from the White House. She was wearing a white short-sleeved top that tied in the back, black capri pants and flats.
We rolled at 5:54 with unknown location ahead. There was the usual picture taking from the corners during the short motorcade to Georgetown.
Our pool van stopped at 6:01 over the canal and we could not see the first couple as they arrived at the restaurant, one of the city's top rated.
As we approached the front of the motorcade there was a crowd standing in the rain taking pictures of the motorcade vehicles.
Pool is holding at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. Unclear where POTUS will be watching the Bulls-Celtics Game 7, but highly unlikely he's catching the Kentucky Derby while dining.
Christina Bellantoni
Washington Times
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News - none, lid called.
Color - POTUS and FLOTUS held hands and took a stroll on South Lawn after completing their first date night of his presidency. Also, lady with bullhorn yelled as crowd gathered outside restaurant.
Tick-tock:
By the time we came out of the Vietnamese restaurant next door to Citronelle at 7:15, the crowd on M Street was a few hundred in size and behind police tape.
One woman was pacing and shouting into a bullhorn, but it was tough to understand her garbled words. Two phrases your pooler caught: "This is so great that you are here" and "Create fear and terror." The crowd seemed to be ignoring her.
When service moved one of the motorcade vehicles up, blocking the sightline of crowd, many waiting to catch a glimpse of the president and first lady groaned loudly.
Your pool was moved to hold in the vans as, we were told, the first couple ordered dessert.
At 7:53 pm huge cheers erupted that we could hear from our van one street over on the canal.
Motorcade was on the move at 7:56.
Your pooler's van was at first split off from motorcade, but we caught up on White House grounds and saw POTUS arrive right at 8 pm.
Tip-off for Game 7 was 8 pm, but, holding hands, POTUS and FLOTUS took a stroll.
Walking slowly, they headed down the path from the residence, past the swing set and out of sight for a few minutes in the direction of Mrs. Obama's garden.
Photos revealed he was wearing a dark suit and no tie.
And after looking a the photos a fashion correction from the last report - FLOTUS' white blouse was long sleeved but pushed up her arm and she actually was wearing heels.
Her hair was in a ponytail and she was holding a blue clutch.
They walked slowly. They came back up the drive a few minutes later and before walking into residence they both waved at the pool.
A bit more on the exclusive French restaurant where POTUS and FLOTUS ate tonight. It's officially called "Michel Richard Citronelle."
The Citronelle Web site outlines a program where you can rent out a "presidential ballroom," among others, for private dining.
There's a chef's table in the kitchen to watch Richard at work. But no menu was posted on its Web site.
There are 8,000 bottles in the wine cellar.
The site says the restaurant is "a reprieve from traditional East Coast-style dining" and the restaurant bills itself as "as fresh and bright as the cuisine that graces its tables."
Citronelle was named "One of the world's most exciting restaurants" by Conde Nast Traveler, an honor according to the Web site, afforded to only 8 U.S. restaurants.
The food Vietnam Georgetown does not have the same ratings, but the food was good. We also caught the winner of the derby via Slingbox on someone's phone.
As a test your pooler attempted to secure a Citronelle reservation for tonight - no tables available. I used Open Table to try every Friday and Saturday night in the month of May and the first open reservations available were on May 29.
After we were back at White House a lid was called at 8:14.
As I send this at 8:34, score is Bulls 27, Celtics 23 in the first quarter.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Christina Bellantoni
Washington Times