Breakfast, Politicians, and Spies in McLean
I have always liked to stop for breakfast at a cafe on the way to work. In 2001 I started to work at The MITRE Corporation in McLean, Virginia (yes, it is officially spelled with all capitals). I quickly discovered that the very best restaurant near MITRE is McLean Family Restaurant, which is situated in a small strip of shops in the center of McLean. People tend to call it by its’ initials MFR. There is even one of those travel destination car stickers with these initials; you know like OBX for the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Or like certain political personalities who become identifiable simply by their initials: JFK, LBJ, etc.
The town of McLean is a Northern Virginia suburb just across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. The McLean Family Restaurant is special because it functions like a community living room, a gathering place for McLean locals. For breakfast you see people on their way to work, and retired folks meeting their friends and former work colleagues. Because this is the Washington DC area, pretty much everyone is somehow connected to government work. Often you will see people who are real public figures, and you find yourself staring, trying to recollect just why someone looks somehow familiar.
Once I found myself staring at someone who I was sure I had seen on the evening news. This would have been early in the Obama administration. It then came to me that who I was looking at was Andy Card, who had been President George W. Bush’s Chief of Staff. He was talking to someone who I could only see as a broad back and a head of silver hair. Then the guy turned around and I immediately recognized Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House. This was at the time that Haiti was experiencing devastation from an earthquake, and my physician brother-in-law Robert had asked me if I had any DC contacts that could help find aid for the Haitian hospital that he makes volunteer medical missionary visits to regularly. So I just got up my nerve and approached Newt’s booth, introduced myself and explained the need. He was extremely gracious, asked for my business card and said someone would be in touch with me. That afternoon I got a call from a Navy Commander who was an intern in Gingrich’s office at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) who said he would contact the appropriate watch center at Homestead Air Force Base near Miami where much Haitian relief work was being staged, and that he would make them aware of the specific needs at Hospital Lumier.
Another thing special about MFR is that it is the closest restaurant to the main gate of the CIA, which is down Dolley Madison (Route 123) a mile or so in the Langley neighborhood. So you will see people who seem to be retired CIA employees connecting with old colleagues. Sometimes some intriguing snatches of conversation will hit your ears from a nearby booth. My favorite is the time I heard an old guy respond to a question “So, are you working any these days?” to which he replied something like “Well, they called and asked me if I could come back and teach a covert action course, so I said well, ok…” I would like to know his story.
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Then there is the matter of food. Although the owners are all Greek, they make a great American style breakfast. My favorite is the breakfast sandwich, which basically gives you scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage and toast for only about $8 (in the 2018 time frame), cheaper than if you order the same items as a plate. What is truly special is that the kitchen will “pre-butter” the bread for you before putting it through the toaster. When I was growing up my mother would fix toast for me that way on the stove, and I promise that if you have never experienced your toast pre-buttered you will never settle for anything else once you do. Especially on Rye, with either apple jelly or orange marmalade. As you can see, I have my quirky habits, and some family members have accused me of being “on the spectrum,” but I don’t care, I do like my toast like that.
I used to meet Terry Eastland for breakfast regularly. Since Terry had a career in politics and journalism, he will get recognized sometimes, or someone well known will stop by our table to say hi — Bill Kristol comes to mind (Bill was the founding editor of The Weekly Standard where Terry was also an editor).
One day I walked in and saw a very steely eyed guy eying everyone entering. Something told me Secret Service. Sure enough, it was because Dan and Marcia Coats were having breakfast. At the time, former Senator Coats was serving as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and thus warranted such security. Now it happens that I had met Dan socially on a number of occasions, and we chatted briefly as he left.
My favorite waitress at MFR is Litsa, which is how I think you spell it. Litsa is Greek like the owners and Nick the host. I’ve gone there so often that they greet me by name. She also knows my buddy Ron Walton, who also comes to MFR often. One day I saw her greet a familiar figure with a hug, and it turned out to be former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliff, who was in the next booth, spending some political mentoring time with a younger guy in his thirties I estimate. This must have been about 2015 since McAuliff was being mentioned as a potential presidential candidate. In a candid comment that I’m sure he wouldn’t like publicized, he responded to the young man’s question as to whether he might run with a negative but candid comment about why, in the Democratic Party, he would have a couple of strikes against him getting the nomination. I won’t be more specific for that, since I was basically eavesdropping.
I did once get a magazine article published based on a juicy comment by a prominent journalist that I just happened to overhear. But that was another restaurant, so will have to be saved for another story.
These are the sort of interesting people you sit close to at this wonderful restaurant. And they really do know how to make good toast.
