It wasn’t as if Hoboken restaurateur Maricel Presilla and business partner and friend Clara Chaumont actually asked if they to go to Washington, D.C. to cook for the president.
Instead, they were sought out.
“I never imagined that I would go to the White House,” Presilla said last week. “If someone would have told me [years ago], I would have said, ‘You’re crazy.’ ”
The two women were chosen to cater the reception for “Fiesta Latina,” the Oct. 13 concert at the White House featuring Latino entertainers like Marc Anthony and Gloria Estefan. The event was in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer said the pasteles were “as good as her mother’s.”
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They are also planning to open a kitchen market next to Zafra, “soon, hopefully,” Presilla said.
Creating a meal for many
Chaumont said of Presilla, “She only had a week – not even – five days to come up with the menu.”
“I felt like I had an enormous responsibility,” Presilla said.
Creating a meal for 400 people in someone else’s kitchen isn’t easy, let alone in the White House. Even the business-minded Chaumont, who rarely sets foot in the kitchen, had to be put to work.
“She became the master of the emersion blender,” Presilla said.
In the end, it all paid off, especially when a guest of honor paid high tribute to one of the menu items.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer said the pasteles were “as good as her mother’s,” Presilla said. They were both glad Sotomayer liked the Puerto Rican pastries; “We made them for her,” Presilla said. “I was very impressed by her. You could see that everyone was gravitating toward her.”
The meal was designed to be cross-cultural and humble, but also elegant.
“I knew these are not the times for splurging,” Presilla said. “What gives value is the time I put into something.”
She said everything starts with basic ingredients, but “It’s how you transform these things into something fantastic.”
“It’s just great to be representing our town,” she added.
Cooking for the prez
Presilla said the White House was impressive, not for its architecture or function per se, but for the history of the building.
“I’ve been to many castles and cathedrals,” she said, “but here it’s a sense of history of the country that welcomed us when we came from Cuba.”
She was very excited to use ingredients from First Lady Michelle Obama’s garden, and was impressed with the garden itself.
“It’s a real garden that supplies food. It’s not a gimmick,” she said. “She understands food.”
Presilla was able to use some fennel and tomatillos. “I would have taken more, but I would have killed all the plants,” she said.
The two met the president and first lady after the reception, but they felt like they already knew them.
“You remember, this is a family home,” Presilla said. “You get a sense of a very good family. That’s the sense that we got through the kitchen.”
Chaumont said the butler showed up at one point and said, “Grandma wants cheese and crackers.”
“They have needs like you do,” Presilla said. “It brings them down from a pedestal. They’re just an American family, like one of us.”
Timothy J. Carroll may be reached at tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.