Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx, Westchester and Rockland) does not take kindly to razzing of his home borough. Stereotypes of “da Bronx” infuriate him, particularly when people overlook Riverdale’s impressive dining scene. Mexican, Japanese, kosher delis, traditional diners—Engel says look no farther than Johnson Avenue and West 235th Street.For lunch one afternoon, the congressman chose Hunan Balcony, “the best” Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood, where he talked about his mustache, the House gym and saving seats for Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio).
Q: This is one of your regular haunts. And they know you, obviously. Your picture’s on the wall.
A: I have two pictures on the wall. One is me and my son and the president of Taiwan. And the other one is me during one of the campaign stops over the summer, coming in here and bothering people while they eat and asking them to vote for me. You hope they won’t dislike the food and then dislike you.
Q: Do you cook at all?
A: I’m capable of throwing a couple of hamburgers into the oven or making chicken, but I don’t really cook.
[Waiter arrives; Engel orders General Tso’s chicken with white meat, egg drop soup and an egg roll.]
Q: Stella D’oro is based in your district. Do you start your day with a Stella D’oro breakfast treat?
A: No, I’m boycotting Stella D’oro these days. There is a bitter strike going on right now and the workers have all been replaced with scab workers. When I was on the Colbert Report, I touted Stella D’oro. What’s unfair is, [Colbert] cuts and pastes. The funny thing at the end, you see him combing my mustache. He asked me, “Congressman, how long have you had a mustache?” And I said, “Well, I grew it in college and I’ve had it since.” And he said, “Congressman, can I stroke your mustache?” And I said, “It’s your show, stroke away.” Then he said, “Congressman, can I comb your mustache?” And I said, “We’re on national TV, comb it all you want.” So when the show actually came on, it was, “Congressman, can I stroke your mustache?” And the answer was, “No.”
Q: So you would have let him?
A: I said yes! And then the next thing you see is him combing my mustache and I’m laughing.
Q: The mustache is making a comeback.
A: Oh I hope so.
Q: Do you think you could take credit for that?
A: Well, they say in politics, just take credit for everything, so sure.
Q: Did you have a junk food policy in your house with your kids?
A: No, but I do regret it. My children don’t have a problem with obesity, at least not yet, but I think as they got older they became more aware of it and eat well. In fact, sometimes they chide me for not eating well.
Q: But you look like you’re in pretty decent shape.
A: I try to keep in shape. When I’m in Washington and I see I have an hour or something, I tell my staff I’m going to the gym.
Q: Is the House gym busy?
A: It’s busy. And what’s good about it is you really get to meet your colleagues and talk to them.
Q: Who have you gotten to know?
A: I’ve gotten to know a lot of people. I remember the late Sonny Bono used to have a locker right around mine, that’s how I got to know him, and we used to chat a great deal. There’s John Shadegg of Arizona. He and I were talking about the stimulus package in the gym. He was telling me that he didn’t like the bill because it was fiscally irresponsible and I said to him, “Excuse me, John, but I think your party lost the right to point your finger at anything for fiscal irresponsibility.” But generally it’s nice.
Q: What do you tend to eat in Washington?
A: Last night, I was out with my daughter. We went to one of the Italian restaurants. And the pasta was so good. It was al dente. It was so chewy and just wonderful. Everything in Washington—you order pasta, it’s overcooked. They don’t know how to do it. And you can’t get a kosher deli in Washington. They opened up one several years ago—it’s a funny story in a way—and the person who opened it up was the infamous Jack Abramoff. I didn’t know Jack Abramoff. But then I found out quickly who he was. It was a poor excuse for a kosher deli, believe me. So it didn’t surprise me that he had other problems.
Q: What about Chinese food? They have a Chinatown.
A: Oh, it’s awful. Awful. They do—a little one. But it’s awful. Some of the steakhouses aren’t too bad, but I tell you, the food is not good in Washington.
Q: I read that you’re something of an aisle hog during presidential speeches to Congress. Have your colleagues given you any grief about this?
A: Yeah, they all want my seat. When I was first elected 20 years ago, I became president of the freshman Democrats of the class of 1988. One of the guys there was a Congressman named Mike Parker, and he was from Mississippi. And he said to me that Sonny Montgomery, who was the chairman of the Veterans Committee, also from Mississippi, was very good friends with George H. W. Bush. Mike said to me, “Chairman Montgomery is friends with President Bush, and when President Bush walks down the aisle, Sonny is going to shake his hand. If you take the third seat next to me, I’ll try to get the chairman to pull you over as well.” I’m sitting there for three minutes and I notice that three rows ahead of me on the aisle, there’s nobody sitting there. So I said to the chairman, “Mr. Chairman, no one is sitting in that seat, do you think I could sit there?” He said, “You better grab it before someone else does.” So I grabbed his seat and I’ve been on the aisle ever since. The problem is, more and more people have been clued in, so you have to get there earlier and earlier and earlier.
Q: Do you get work done while you’re there?
A: I use my Blackberry, I go use the computers in the cloakroom, I use my cell phone. And if I get up and I’m away for an hour, I tell whoever’s there to watch my seat, and then when I come back they go away for an hour and I watch their seat. So in fact there’s this Congresswoman who actually comes with me on a number of my trips named Jean Schmidt. She’s from Ohio and she’s a very strong Republican and she and I have become friendly. This year we took opposite seats on that aisle—she was on the Republican side, I was on the Democratic side—and she watched my seat and I watched her seat. So anybody who says there isn’t bipartisan cooperation on the floor of Congress these days is lying to you, because Jean and I cooperated by looking out for each other and saving each other’s seats while we were away.
Q: You can request a flag flown over the Capitol through your website. And I noticed that the prices on your website are lower than, say, the prices on Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s website. You charge $13.30 for a five-by-three cotton flag, and on Carolyn Maloney’s website it’s $17.25. Do you have an inside deal?
A: Things are cheaper in the Bronx than in the Silk Stocking district on the East Side, you know what I mean?
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ABOVE:
Rep. Eliot Engel gets his fill at Hunan Balcony in the Bronx, as the Chinese food in Washington is “awful.”
Photo by Andrew Schwartz
