Any group that can trace its origins back more than a half century must indeed be formidable. Particularly in the fast paced atmosphere of the Washington, D.C. area. Such is the Friday Lunch Group (FLG) of which I was an original and youngest member in 1970.
The FLG began that year as a weekly Friday assembly at the Hawk and Dove Restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue, Capitol Hill. Originally it was largely staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Through the years the membership has expanded to Senate staffers, lobbyists, and others involved in national policy issues. Except during the pandemic year of 2020 very few Fridays have been missed during the ensuing decades. At this writing we are in our 52nd year with some 2,450 lunches “under our belts.”
From the outset the idea was to bring together individuals with an interest in and knowledge about national and international issues, who also enjoying a good meal and a libation or two. The FLG has little structure, except for a chairman whose duty it is to remind members of the meeting and other information pertinent to the gathering, to deal with the dining location, and at times to direct the discussion in order to engage the greatest number of attendees into the conversation.
The Hawk and Dove was a convenient walk from our offices in the House Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill. The owner was friendly, the food on the American saloon style, and the beer fresh. We also met from time to time at the officer’s club a DC-area military base where our favorite dish was the “diet special” that was simply a huge patty of rare ground beef and cottage cheese. At the outset the membership was small and I was the youngest member at 35 years old. Our first chairman was Harry Cromer.
It was Harry who first laid down the rules for our repast. Each diner was allowed two beverages at lunch, including alcohol. (One observer said we were the last “two martini lunch group” left in the DC area.) One could order any entree on the menu but no appetizer or dessert, just coffee. The check was divided evenly among the assembled — cash on the barrelhead, no credit cards. Over the years, those rules have prevailed with a few changes. Under what is known as the “Pat Holt” exception a member is allowed to substitute two appetizers for an entree.
When Harry left the Hill to work in the State Department in the late ‘70s to become Inspector General of USAID, he moved the lunch to the nearby restaurant of the Watergate Hotel that was walking distance from his office. There we met and made the friendship of the Maitre D, Franco Rivera, the banquet manager, John Atus, and the chef -- Klaus. When the three opened a restaurant in Rosslyn, Virginia, just across the Key Bridge from the District called the Tivoli, the FLG followed. For almost 25 years, we met virtually every Friday at the Tivoli.
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| FLG at the Tivoli |
These were “palmy days.” The food was excellent, the welcome hearty and the service from our once and always stellar from our cranky waiter, Tony. The location was easily accessible to our membership, one that had expanded beyond Capitol Hill to individuals with other backgrounds, including the military, journalism and academia. We also began a custom of inviting guests from among sitting and former Congressmen and other involved in international activities.
With Harry’s death, Chips Chester became chair, a position he held for some two decades. Chips’ reign was characterized by a looser interpretation of Harrys coat and tie dress code. It also was notable for the standard large plate of cooked spinach that served the table. Chips detested broccoli as did several others and Popeye food became the standard.
When the Tivoli closed in 2009, the FLG for some months became a homeless wanderers. We sought to stay in the Rosslyn because of its centrality to our membership. We tried several restaurants in the area without success and then went to Bethesda where for years we rotated among several sites -- including the Bethesda Country Club, Kenwood Country Club, and Le Ferme Restaurant in Chevy Chase.
During Chips chairmanship we began series of FLG trips. Among the early ones was a three-day visit to Milwaukee, home town of five of our members, called “The ZIG trip,” in honor of the deceased Rep. Clement Zablocki. During the sesquicentennial of the Civil War (2011-2015) FLG field trips were arranged to battlefield sites in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, several with Park Service guides assigned to assist our historical understanding.
With wives FLG made visits to Leesburg, Virginia, to tour the George Marshall House and the Woodrow Wilson House and Museum. Wives also were part of an excursion to Staunton, Virginia, to see a play at the Shakespeare playhouse, visit a winery, and stay at a historic hotel. The most “far afield” excursion was a trip of five to France, originating in Paris for a barge trip through the canals of Burgundy.
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| Holiday lunch at Bethesda CC |
With Chips’ passing in 2011, I became chairman. This ushered in one change. Although we previously had marked the Christmas holiday season a special lunch, spouses were not part of the celebration. That changed and annually for more than a decade we have been having a larger group that includes wives and, more recently, women staff members who assisted us during our years on Capitol Hill.
The FLG completed 50 years with a virtually unbroken record of weekly lunches only to be confronted in early 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. We compensated that year with a weekly email to which FLGers contributed items both serious and comic. That was supplemented with monthly ZOOM sessions.
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| First post-lockdown lunch, Tempo |
With the relaxation of restrictions in 2021, we resumed actual lunches. As this is written, the FLG now has two cohorts, one in Bethesda dining at the country clubs mentioned earlier. It chaired by Mike Finley. A Virginia group that I chair meets at Tempo Restaurant in Alexandria. Joint lunches occur from time to time. Currently the active membership is about twenty with another seven or eight at a distance and attending only occasionally. Our deceased former members number fourteen.
One final note: We have been accused of being utterly prosaic in not giving the group a name other than Friday Lunch Group (FLG). In 50 plus years we have never found another that does not sound pretentious. Ours works well.
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