It's been three months since the White House told executive chef Walter Scheib to pack his whisk and go, and still no replacement has been named. So what's taking so long?
Despite some wishful thinking among Texans that first lady Laura Bush might be ready to name a Dallas chef, that doesn't appear to be the case yet. Mrs. Bush's press secretary, Susan Whitson, says they're still "in search mode."
Chris Ward, of the Mercury Grill in suburban north Dallas, has been to the White House for an interview and cooked a four-course dinner for the Bushes on April 13.
His menu included pan-seared shrimp with clam and corn succotash, "Beef Three Ways" including braised short ribs and pepper-crusted sirloin, and heirloom tomatoes, fresh ricotta and garlic bruschetta. He served raspberry creme brulee for dessert.
The Bushes autographed a souvenir menu for Ward, which is framed and on display near the entrance of his restaurant. However, as of last week he hadn't heard anything, and he worried that press reports of his tryout might have hurt his chances.
Another Dallas area chef, Dan O'Leary of Chamberlain's Fish Market Grill, also made the short list from among 200 résumés, the Dallas Morning News reported. O'Leary was interviewed, but he told the Dallas paper that the first lady's office had called to tell him they were "going in a different direction."
Whitson says it takes time to find someone with the right qualifications who wants the job.
High-profile chefs used to lots of publicity and independence, as well as a fat paycheck well into six figures, are not necessarily going to be eager to be the White House chef, no matter how much of an honor it is. At least that's what Patrick O'Connell of the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Va., told the White House when they approached him in February about the position.
The White House chef is paid between $80,000 and $100,000, White House chief usher Gary Walters told the weekly trade publication Nation's Restaurant News, peanuts compared with a top-tier restaurant job. And former chiefs have cited other restrictions: White House chefs can't write a cookbook; can't have a television show; can't even mention what the first family likes to eat or doesn't like, for fear of offending some group. Basically, it's a low-profile job -- personal chef -- for a high-profile family.
On the other hand, as former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier points out, "it's an incredible honor." It was Mesnier who recommended Ward to the first lady. He also suggested that the White House consider hiring from within -- meaning, from among the assistant chefs currently cooking for the first family.
Cristeta Comerford, a White House assistant chef for several years, is one such candidate. A naturalized Filipino, she helped current chef Scheib create the menu for the state dinner for Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003.
Mesnier calls her creative and "very hardworking" -- his highest accolade. She also would be a top choice of the board of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, who sent the first lady a letter in March asking her to consider the historic move of naming a woman to be head chef.
The first lady has said that she is looking for someone who can showcase American food -- exactly the requirement that Hillary Rodham Clinton had in mind when she asked chef Pierre Chambrin to submit his resignation in 1994, supposedly because the portly Frenchman didn't fit the health-conscious image the White House wanted to project.
The Clintons then hired Scheib, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, who had experience with lighter, healthier American fare as executive chef of the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia.
Although the Bushes kept him during their first term, Scheib told Nation's Restaurant News in March that he thinks the first lady wants her own person in the kitchen. "For better or worse, I'll always be identified as Mrs. Clinton's chef," he said.
Scheib has signed with the marketing and management firm IMG and has said he's writing a book.
Scheib is certainly not the first chef to have stylistic differences with the employers. In addition to the Clintons' dissatisfaction with Chambrin, Rene Verdon, hired by the Kennedys to bring French elegance to White House state dinners, resigned in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson demanded more Texas ranch-style cooking.
Special correspondent Dakarai Aarons contributed to this report from Dallas.
