The Unexpected Dinner Grover Cleveland Called One Of The Best

Grover Cleveland may still be the only president to share a name with a muppet, but up until 2024, he also had the distinction of being the only one elected to two non-consecutive terms. In addition to this posthumous loss of status, Cleveland had a lot to deal during his two terms, including railway strikes, squabbles over the gold standard, a revolution in Cuba, and — sacre bleu! — a French chef he didn't really want. This White House chef, one Monsieur Fortin, had served Cleveland's predecessor, Chester A. Arthur, so the new POTUS decided he might as well keep him on. However, he found the chef's meals too rich for his blood, and on one occasion, he turned down his plat du jour in favor of a meal meant for the White House servants.

In his book "Grover Cleveland: The American Presidents Series: The 22nd and 24th President, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897," biographer Henry F. Graff details how Cleveland once caught a whiff of corned beef and cabbage. While many of us know it as a St. Patrick's Day recipe, the dish smelled ambrosial to the hungry president, so he sent his own meal below stairs in exchange for the basic boiled dinner. Cleveland allegedly described it as the best meal he'd eaten in months, though history does not record what the White House staffers thought of the swap.

We've long been fascinated with presidential dining habits, from the macaroni and cheese that Thomas Jefferson enjoyed in the White House (although he doesn't deserve credit for inventing the stuff) to the roast possums eaten by Benjamin Harrison, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft. If you are what you eat, it seems Grover Cleveland was a pretty regular guy. On one occasion, he lamented having to attend yet another fancy White House dinner when all he really wanted for dinner was pickled herring, Swiss cheese, and a chop. He was also said to have enjoyed brown bread, snickerdoodles, and white cake with chocolate frosting, and was known to be fond of beer as well.

Eventually Cleveland gave Monsieur Fortin his walking papers and hired an Irish cook in his place. This woman, who had worked for him when he was governor of New York, went by the name of Eliza. With Eliza installed in the White House kitchen, Cleveland was once again able to enjoy his favorite breakfast items, including oatmeal, steak, eggs, and coffee.