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Restaurants nationwide to toast inauguration

Restaurants nationwide to toast inauguration

From offers of “B’amatini” cocktails to a suckling-pig-centered “inaugural luau” celebrating President-elect Barack Obama’s Hawaiian roots, restaurant operators across the country are hoping to tap into the excitement surrounding the presidential inauguration this week with a vast array of discounts, special menus and promotions.

Many are embracing the historic event Tuesday as a marketing opportunity at a time when sales are typically slow and the industry is still suffering the ill economic effects of a weak holiday season.

“There is so much excitement in the air about the inauguration. It seemed like a good time to get people engaged,” said Stacey Kane, a representative for the Rockville, Md.-based California Tortilla chain, which is offering a free taco, a special-edition keychain and coupons to guests who “do an inaugural dance” at any of 36 units in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

While inauguration festivities are common in restaurants around the more politically focused Washington area, this year outside-the-beltway restaurants from Seattle to Boston are hosting events tied to the changing of the guard at the White House.

T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants across the country, for example, hope to host “the world’s largest inauguration party” on Tuesday with special drink prices, half-price appetizers, and commemorative buttons for customers.

At 9 p.m. local time at participating restaurants within the 920-unit chain, T.G.I. Friday’s bartenders will offer the “toast heard around the world,” featuring the “All-American Drink” selected by a poll of more than 600,000 loyalty club members: Jack Daniel’s and Coke. Members of the chain’s Give Me More Stripes guest recognition program will also get additional perks, such as free chips and salsa and double reward points.

“We look for any excuse to have a great time, and the inauguration was the perfect way to get a party going on a Tuesday,” said Andrew Jordan, T.G.I. Friday’s senior vice president of marketing.

Boston-based Legal Sea Foods is declaring Tuesday a “Legal holiday,” with restaurants throughout the 30-unit chain offering its signature clam chowder for a discounted 44 cents per cup with purchase of an entree, recognizing Obama as the 44th president.

In Obama’s hometown of Chicago, The Berghoff restaurant on Tuesday will feature Brat Obama, sporting American flag picks. The special and all sandwiches will be priced at $4.44, and “Change Ale” will be available for $2.

Boston-based Uno Chicago Grill, a chain born in Chicago and specializing in the town’s deep-dish pizza, will be catering the Illinois Inaugural Celebration Ball and other parties this week. Uno restaurants are also hosting invitation-only inauguration celebrations at select locations within the 200-plus-unit chain.

Most stores will also feature the “Obama Pizzanality Pizza,” a Chicago deep-dish pizza, with “a liberal layering of pepperoni.” Guests, however, are invited to change the topping because “the Obama Pizzanality celebrates change.”

In the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., restaurants and bars along Dekalb Avenue are promoting a range of inauguration events through Tuesday, from the “Inaugural Luau” featuring suckling pig and trimmings for $20.09 at The General Greene, to two-for-one black-and-white cookies and “Obama Lattes” at Green Apple Cafe.

The Silver Diner chain of Rockland, Md., has created a special Red, White & Blueplate menu that will be offered through Wednesday at its 16 restaurants in Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey. The menu features such items as the Barack & Biden Bacon Cheeseburger and brings back the Obamalette, which outsold the McCainlette in a promotion last fall, according to a spokesman.

The French restaurant Sandrine’s in Cambridge, Mass., is offering a one-day-only “economic stimulus” on Tuesday, including reducing the prices of appetizers to between $5 to $10, entrees to between $15 and $22 and all desserts to $6. Restaurant officials described the deal as “a deep discount for deeply discouraged diners.”

Chef David Burke’s restaurants, davidburke townhouse and Fishtail in New York, are featuring inauguration week menu items, including “CarpacciObama,” seared tuna with octopus, pineapple, carpaccio, taro root and spicy soy for $17, and “A Day in Nairobi,” banana-kola nut bread with Kenyan coffee glaze and passion fruit sorbet for $11.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., based in Winston-Salem, N.C., is “honoring American’s sense of pride and freedom of choice” on Tuesday by offering one free doughnut per customer at participating stores, with no purchase necessary.

“Krispy Kreme is taking the inaugural festivities nationwide,” said Ron Rupocinski, Krispy Kreme's executive chef. “We’re inviting our fans in cities across the country, including Washington, D.C., to commemorate this historic day with a favorite American treat.”

Dunkin’ Donuts, based in Canton, Mass., has introduced a Stars & Stripes doughnut with red, white, and blue star-shaped sprinkles, which is available at participating stores for the suggested price of 89 cents through Tuesday. In Washington-area stores and select markets, the doughnut is offered for a suggested 44 cents with the purchase of a medium hot coffee or hot chocolate through Tuesday.

Many restaurants are designing inauguration festivities around happy hour, with politically themed cocktails ranging from the “American Dream” (Kahlua, Amaretto, Frangelico and dark creme de cacao) for $5 per shot at Stubb’s BBQ in Austin, Texas, to the “$700 billion Martini” at Da Vinci Ristorante in Boston, made with Svedka’s vodka and garnished with “$700 billion in freshly minted currency,” or maybe just fresh mint, for $9.

OM Restaurant in Boston is featuring an Inauguration Cocktail list all month with half-price drinks and appetizers from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Representing Obama is the “American Flyer,” featuring rum, lime juice, simple syrup and champagne.

Across the country at the Mandarin Oriental San Francisco hotel, MO Bar there will feature commemorative bottles of Pommery Champagne during inauguration week.

Many venues are replaying inauguration day coverage at after-work parties, such as Tini Bigs and adjacent sister bar Hula Hula in Seattle, where “Obama-tini” cocktails will be available for $5 and guests will be invited to enter the “Throw the Shoe at Bush” competition. Shoes will be provided.

In Seattle on Tuesday, Sport Restaurant and Bar is opening at the unusually early hour of 8:30 a.m. for breakfast, allowing guests to watch inauguration coverage live on 29 high-definition TVs, including one 130-inch screen.

Campo in New York is hosting a “Bye Bye Bush” Party on Tuesday, inviting guests to watch the noon inauguration ceremony on TV while they enjoy a prix-fixe, three-course lunch for $9.99, including a glass of champagne to “toast Bush’s last day as president.”

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