Bill Clinton Has a Three-Hour Lunch at Joe Fish, Without Cheese

In town for Mayor Rahm Emanuel's reelection inauguration, former President Bill Clinton took a near-three-hour tour of the Joe Fish lunch menu yesterday and dropped more than a grand. William Jefferson Clinton, the nation's 42nd President, showed during business hours, as chef Joe Farina says the restaurant received a cryptic call on Sunday night that a VIP was coming to lunch the next day but that they couldn't say who it was until the morning.

It turned out to be Clinton, as he rolled up to Rosebud's Italian seafood spot in River North at 12:15 p.m., smiling and waving with an entourage of 10 people and 10-15 more security personnel in tow, Farina says. He stayed until 3:00 p.m. and ate three dishes: Whole wheat linguine with spicy fresh tomato sauce and peppercorn-crusted wild salmon, zucchini carpaccio, and tri-colore salad with aged balsamic on the side—all with no cheese. He posed for many photos with other diners, sipped iced tea, and chatted with Farina about his cooking techniques and ingredients.

Clinton and crew ran up an $1,100 tab, and Farina says he tipped "very well."