Las Vegas chef offers free lunches in DC amid shutdown

There is one small silver lining for government workers in Washington amid the federal government shutdown: good food.

In response to a tweet by President Trump predicting a shutdown, chef Jose Andres tweeted Friday morning, “And I will offer again Free Sandwiches to the poor men and women of the federal government, republicans and democrats, at every restaurant of mine in DC for lunch until they get paid again!” The chef, who operates restaurants in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and SLS Las Vegas and provides the food at Luxor’s Esports Arena, also operates several restaurants in our nation’s capital.

And I will offer again Free Sandwiches to the poor men and women of the federal government, republicans and democrats, at every restaurant of mine in DC for lunch until they get paid again! https://t.co/hHUnPrqhsF

— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) December 21, 2018

Andres, who has had a contentious relationship with the president for some time and has recently been feeding refugees on the Mexican side of the U.S. border, replied to several of Trump’s tweets on Friday.

In one, he asked the president “@realDonaldTrump why don’t you come with me to Tijuana to feed good people, meet them, learn to love them and realize they are not the enemy you are claiming they are? Walls will never keep America safe! But compassion to our neighbors will …”

@realDonaldTrump why don’t you come with me to Tijuana to feed good people, meet them, learn to love them and realize they are not the enemy you are claiming they are? Walls will never keep America safe! But compassion to our neighbors will.... https://t.co/PsXghatlMI

— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) December 21, 2018

Contact Al Mancini at amancini@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlManciniVegas on Twitter.