Obama goes to Hell and back -- all for a burger

WASHINGTON -- Maybe they just don't make a decent burger at the White House.

Less than two weeks after first lady Michelle Obama told a group of schoolchildren that she once snuck out to the burger chain Five Guys with some staff members, her husband scrapped his official schedule and went in search of his own burger.

He took Vice President Biden with him.

President Obama's motorcade slipped out of the White House complex at 12:26 p.m., Tuesday, crossed the Potomac River into Arlington, Va., and came to a stop five minutes later at Ray's Hell-Burger, an independent prime-beef burger joint where you order at the counter, sit at wooden tables and the burgers cost $6.95.

As the stunned lunch crowd looked on and took pictures with their cellphones, Obama and Biden waited their turn in line. The guy ahead of them offered to let them cut. Obama declined.

While they waited, Obama offered to buy burgers for all the members of the press pool — the reporters, photographers and other journalists who travel with him wherever he goes. All but five of the dozen or so there declined.

"You guys are cheap dates," Obama said. "I can't believe I couldn't get more of you to order a burger."

Reporters said they would make a donation to charity in lieu of trying to reimburse the president.

For himself, Obama ordered a basic cheeseburger, according to Ray's owner, Michael Landrum. He asked for "spicy mustard if you have it."

Biden also likes his burgers hot. He ordered his with Swiss cheese and jalapeno peppers.

Neither got fries with their 10-ounce burgers. Ray's doesn't do fries. "We serve a very generous portion," Landrum said. Fries would be "overkill."

Obama asked the restaurant to make the orders for the news media to go. He might have been willing to buy their burgers, but he wasn't about to sit with them. "These are to go, cause you guys aren't gonna have a table," he said.

Landrum, who also owns two local steakhouses, called Obama's visit "the most exciting day of my career. It was a tremendous honor."