First lady comes to dinner

MANASSAS, Va. -- Okra’s restaurant in Manassas probably gets its share of out-of-town guests: tourists, Civil War buffs and the like.

But the Old Town eatery was host to some especially high-level patrons from north of the city Thursday night: the Obama family.

First lady Michelle Obama and 9-year-old daughter Sasha ate dinner at the Louisiana bistro, owner Charles Gilliam confirmed after the Secret Service-escorted contingent left Manassas just before 9 p.m.

The Obamas spent about two hours at the restaurant, Gilliam said, and had supper and dessert.

He was cautious about disclosing exactly what the first lady ate, but he noted that the party didn’t ask for any favors and didn’t request private seating.

“They didn’t ask for anything special or different,” Gilliam said. “They just ordered off the menu.”

The restaurateur did reveal one morsel of information, though: The famous family tried some of the namesake vegetable.

And, of course, White House officials scoped out the area thoroughly.

Gilliam said they visited Manassas at least three times and called ahead when the big-name diners were about 20 minutes away from arriving.

“They check a place out fairly carefully, I guess,” he said.

Onlookers in Old Town were checking out Okra’s on Thursday, too, as it was clear that something was up.

Battle Street between Okra’s and Carmello’s & Little Portugal was blocked by what appeared to be Secret Service SUVs, and a state trooper paced around outside a police cruiser.

A Secret Service agent with a handheld metal-detector stood guard at Okra’s front door, and other agents were on the lookout nearby on the humid, rainy August night.

But anyone who hadn’t been tipped off to the celebrity sighting could easily have missed the first family’s exit.

When the group was ready to leave, about five Secret Service agents whisked Michelle Obama away and into an SUV. She had her hair tied back and was wearing a gray shirt and what appeared to be jeans.

The events were all in a night’s work for Gilliam. He said the evening was fun but really, surprisingly, kind of uneventful.

“It was so ordinary that it was unusual,” he said.

Of course, Gilliam noted that he wouldn’t want a celebrity customer to be mobbed if he or she just wanted some space.

And the regular Manassas-area folk just looking for a beer or a po boy Thursday night abided that notion, he said.

“Everybody behaved themselves very well, respected their privacy,” he said.

That’s easy to believe, especially when one considers the first family is guarded 24 hours a day.

But the Obamas were the most famous people ever to eat at Okra’s, which opened in 1998, right?

Well, are they more famous than David Crosby? Gilliam asked.

He said the legendary musician came to Okra’s about 10 years ago, when he was in town for a concert in Washington at the then-MCI Center.

And what kind of food did the stocky singer put away?

Gilliam couldn’t remember.

But, he said, “He had a couple of young ladies with him, I know that.”

Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738. Staff writer Joe Conroy contributed to this story.