When Secret Service agents walked through the front door of Andrew’s Café in Bayonne in July, the owner, Vasantha M. Perera, didn’t know what to think.
Formerly a chef at the White House during the administration of Pres. Bill Clinton in 1998, Perera had dealt with the Secret Service before. But the last thing he expected was to have them showing up at his door in Bayonne – let alongefollowed by former President Clinton himself.
Clinton – according to staff at the nearby Bayonne Golf Club – occasionally comes to town to play some holes, and after this particular round, he decided to pay his old chef a visit and wish him luck with the café Perera recently opened at 737 Broadway.
“He recognized me right away and came up to me, asking me what I’ve been doing.” — Vasantha Perera
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Clinton posters
To say Perera is proud of his association with the former president would be an understatement. He has several poster-sized photos of himself and Clinton from Clinton’s 2006 visit to the Bayonne Golf Club, where Perera was employed at the time as a chef.
This was among a series of visits Clinton had made to Bayonne at the time, and when he saw Perera in the crowd, he stopped to greet the chef.
“He recognized me right away and came up to me, asking me what I’ve been doing,” Perera recalled from the 2006 meeting. There was a lot to tell.
A master chef since 1987, Perera has traveled the globe, most recently concentrating on the cuisine of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman-Muscat, and the United Arab Emirates – even winning several prestigious gold medals at the “Emirates Salon Culinaire” in 1993. After his stint with the White House, Perera returned to school, attending Brig University in Switzerland, where he graduated with honors and obtained his bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management in 1999.
He then traveled to places such as Spain, France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Greece, Australia, Portugal, Dubai, Oman, and Morocco to lay the foundation for his cooking style. He later became executive chef of a five-star cruise liner, as well as hotel manager for the line, and continued his travels to the Mediterranean, Turkey, Caribbean Islands, and then to South America. Still later, he attended the University of Atlanta, obtaining his master’s in food service management. In 2007, he became corporate executive chef for a large restaurant conglomerate with restaurants located in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, and Europe, allowing him to develop even new cuisines.
Last November, he opened Andrew’s International Healthy Organic Food Café in Bayonne, the first step, Perera said, toward establishing an upscale restaurant in Hudson County.
So recently, when Clinton returned to Bayonne for another round of golf, he heard that Perera had started a new business in town and came over to see.
“He was at the club. He plays from time to time as a guest of one of his friends who is a member,” said Ron D’Argenio, attorney for the Bayonne Golf Club.
Clinton didn’t stay long at Andrew’s Café, but long enough to wish his old friend luck in his new business and to sign one of the number of large posters from their previous meeting together in 2006.
“He said he really didn’t want the public to know about the visit. He just wanted to see me and wish me luck. He said he had just finished playing golf and thought he would stop in,” he said. “He said he hoped I was doing well, and wished me best. I think I was crying. The people here couldn’t believe it. It was a very lovely moment. I asked him to come back. He said he would.”
With over 30 years of experience, Perera, 47 and a Bayonne resident, settled down in the city in 2001, traveling upwards of twice a month to work as a chef in other countries. But when the Andrew’s Cafe location was up for sale, Perera jumped on the opportunity to “settle down,” he said.