“A few nights later, the effect of this newfound glow became clear. I walked into Le Cirque 2000, the gilt-edged establishment on the East Side. ‘Sorry,’ I was told. ‘We don’t have a table tonight.’ No problem, I thought. I took a step back and tried to identify the person in power. Seconds later, a gentleman in a tuxedo approached. ‘We were wondering if you had a table for two?’ I said, clutching a bill in my pocket…but not handing it over. He bowed. ‘Your table is ready,’ he said, and led us into the dining room.”

This was taken from:

gourmet dot com’s “Pocketful of Dough”

…I don’t think I’ll rely on Manny Caballero’s “asset.”

The maitre ‘d disputes the NY Post story while confirming the President did have dinner there and ate food like anybody else. So this means:

1. If not large, then small entourage? This actually then confirms Remonde’s original account of 15-20 persons in two tables (each Le Cirque table seats 8 persons so 15 or so is plausible) except that would make per person dining bill $20,000…. Read More

2. The President did or did not order expensive wine? Perhaps this is what the maitre d’ said was a lie?

3. The bill was neither confirmed nor denied by the maitre ‘d for “privacy issues” which goes to the heart of the controversy; so if not categorically denied or confirmed, we’re back to where we’ve been all along: and no government official, remonde, rep. suarez, the romualdezes, etc. have categorically denied bill…

So the matre ‘d actually confirms the originally remonde alibi of a smaller group; so where does this leave rep. suarez’s later assertion le cirque group was 50 persons? well, it brings us to that supposed consul staff text saying there were two le cirque dinners, and suarez is headed in that direction because now he’s saying there was another new york dinner.

What is clear is that the Presidential parties had meals at Bobby Van’s and Le Cirque (and probably Wolfgang’s and Bouley as well).

The actual amounts of the bills are not known as nobody has shown the receipts.

The ones who paid for the meals are in question, as they were apparently paid for in cash, not credit cards. But a confirmation of Medy Poblador by photo would be proof if the staff of Bobby Van’s were willing to go on record.

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However, NOBODY DENIES the meals occurred, nor showed proof that the meals cost far less than reported either. If the reporter were thorough, then the Le Cirque spokesperson would have been asked for a copy of the bill or the total amount spent. The MINIMUM that was spent at Le Cirque for say 25 people was probably $3,000-4,000 with bottled water and not wine. If they spent the minimum, why not show us the receipts for dinner? The $20,000 reported bill would HAVE to include several bottles of good wine to be realistic. What does interest me is how the heck they got “bags full of cash” into the U.S. to pay for all these meals when there are very strict laws on bringing in cash through U.S. borders.

Aug 16 Philstar online says:

“New York Consul General Cecilia Rebong cited a Filipino-American weekly’s story on the alleged $20,000 tab, in the memorandum dated August 14, to Press Secretary Cerge Remonde.”

Meanwhile, Mon Tulfo wrote in his Aug 15 “On Target” column at PDI:

“SOMEBODY sent a picture of Medy Poblador, President Gloria’s personal secretary, to Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in Washington.

The steakhouse management allegedly confirmed she was the lady who paid the bill for the $15,000 dinner of the President’s party, and not Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez.

Poblador reportedly also paid the bill at Le Cirque in New York for that $20,000 dinner.

If the President could lie about those dinners, how many more and bigger lies did she tell the people?”

There’s a new family friendly tv series called “Royal Pains” which focuses on the homes and lifestyles of those in the Hamptons. May be an entertaining watch in case you’re feeling a little nostalgic for the place.