YOU WOULDN’T THINK Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has a lot in common with Haley Barbour, Mississippi’s Republican governor. And you’d be right: One’s a liberal, the other a conservative; one’s a Northerner, the other a Southerner. One’s been a senator for almost 20 years, the other a governor for only 5 months.
Yet it turns out that Kerry and Barbour do have something in common. Both are in the food service industry.
It’s no secret Barbour founded the Caucus Room, a steak house located in downtown Washington, D.C., that serves prime cuts to lobbyists and congressmen. In fact, Barbour’s reputation as a power broker rests (in part) on the dealmaking that takes place there. Kerry’s culinary investments, on the other hand, haven’t received much publicity.
Of course, it might not be Kerry who’s in the restaurant business, but his wife, Teresa Heinz. It’s hard to tell. Each year the couple files a financial disclosure form with the Senate Ethics Committee detailing their assets. The most recent form available covers the 2002 calendar year, but it doesn’t specify which assets are Kerry’s and which are Heinz’s.
Still, according to the 2002 disclosure form, one of the two has an “ownership interest in Thyme Square Restaurant” valued between $250,001 and $500,000. In 2002 that interest earned less than $201 in income. (Senate financial disclosure forms aren’t known for their specificity.)
AN INTERNET SEARCH shows two restaurants with names similar to “Thyme Square.” One is in Worcester, Massachusetts. The other is in Bethesda, Maryland. The Kerry campaign didn’t return calls asking which restaurant Kerry or Heinz owned. So on Wednesday I called the Worcester restaurant and asked if John Kerry or Teresa Heinz owned a portion of it. The woman who answered the phone said, “Nope.”
Are you sure? I asked.
“Yup. This is a family-owned restaurant,” she said.
Maybe the owners would know, I said.
“I’m part of the family,” she replied.
That left Bethesda. One day last week I drove there from THE WEEKLY STANDARD’s offices in downtown Washington for a “working” lunch.
Thyme Square is a squat, lime-green building in downtown Bethesda. The interior is spacious, with exposed brick, an open kitchen, and a horseshoe-shaped bar. One wall is painted with brightly colored pictures of oranges, tomatoes, and green olives. Purple drapes hang from pillars in the center of the restaurant.
“Wellness is a state of mind,” reads one bumper sticker in the foyer. A table near the door is covered with brochures and news clippings. Among them: “There is Joy in My Mouth Now: School Lunches that Nourish Body and Soul,” which details the benefits of feeding schoolkids organic fruits and vegetables, and a brochure for “Cloud Forest Adventures,” a summer program in which students spend time in the Nicaraguan rainforest.
The crunchy atmosphere is by design. In 2000 Ed Huling, identified as “one of the founders and owners,” told the Washington Post, “What I wanted was an alternative where food could taste great but be on a whole new level from traditional health food restaurants, where the food might be good for you but there wasn’t a whole lot of commitment to exciting food.” Thyme Square, in other words, is cuisine for the socially conscious gourmand. Some of the dishes are vegan–no meat or diary products. Others are “vegan optional.” Organic ingredients are prevalent. The chicken is free range. Nothing is genetically modified.
There’s a juice bar. Once we’re settled in our booth, I order the “Stop Light,” a combination of cranberry, pineapple, and green apple juice. My companion has “What a Pear,” which is fresh pear juice with ginger and seltzer water. The drinks are a big hit. They’re followed by sesame bread with pumpkin butter.
Next come the “little dishes,” or appetizers. They aren’t kidding when they say “little.” We only get four Seared Diver Scallops ($9.95), which are covered with mango relish and curry oil. There are a few more Beijing Vegetable Pot Stickers ($8.95), served with a Thai-peanut dipping sauce. For an entrée my friend orders the Brazilian Shellfish Stew ($14.95), which features shrimp, scallops, salmon, and mussels in a tomato sauce. I try the Havana Style Natural Chicken ($12.95), with a Caesar salad on the side.
The food is delicious. In order to provide you with the most detailed reporting available on John Kerry and Teresa Heinz’s investments, we go ahead and order dessert. The mango sorbet ($6.95) is served with strawberries. And the dark chocolate ice cream ($6.95) comes lathered in a sweet chocolate sauce.
Towards the end of the meal I decide to get to work. I ask our waiter whether Heinz or Kerry owns part of the place. He doesn’t seem to know what we’re talking about, but says he’ll ask the manager. A few minutes later he returns and says that “Four mens” own the restaurant. Maybe he meant the appropriately titled “Presidential Group,” which manages the restaurant. Either Heinz or Kerry may have invested in Thyme Square through this group.
As I paid the check, it struck me that, in its own way, Thyme Square is a metaphor for life under a possible Kerry administration. It’s concerned about the environment. It’s multicultural (multilateral?). It’s more Ketchum, Idaho, the swanky resort town where Kerry vacationed recently, than Austin, Texas. And the food is great–if you can afford it.
Matthew Continetti is an editorial assistant at The Weekly Standard.
