Brad And Angelina Do Restaurant Week at Charlie Palmer Steak
In town to promote Angie’s new film, the couple opts for a three-course meal deal.
The discount diners. Photograph by Erik Eucke.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Fête Her Film in D.C. – with Obama's Staff!
Following the Washington, D.C., premiere of her new film, In the Land of Blood and Honey, Angelina Jolie joined partner Brad Pitt for a celebratory dinner at Charlie Palmer Steak.
The couple – joined by 12 others, including President Obama's senior advisor Valerie Jarrett – opted for Palmer's $35.12 prix fixe Restaurant Week menu, and started with chopped salads of romaine, endive, goat cheese, bacon, cranberry and red wine vinegar. For entrées, Pitt chose the coulotte steak with sweet potato purée and braised greens, while Jolie savored the roasted chicken breast with buttered new potatoes and marjoram jus. Pitt, who was recently injured during a fall, indulged in the dark chocolate pavé with milk chocolate ice cream for dessert, while Jolie passed on the sweets.
According to an onlooker, the party of 14 stayed at the restaurant for two hours, and was "extremely pleasant and gracious to both fans and the staff."
– Helin Jung and Sandra Sobieraj Westfall
YEAS & NAYS
People, Politics, and Power
Charlie Palmer Steak's Executive Chef Matt Hill (left) poses with Brad Pitt (Courtesy photo).
In addition, the couple visited with President Obama in the Oval Office Wednesday.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith go to Washington (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie)
Robert E Thompson
“We closed the press line several minutes ago,” the woman seated behind the desk said in a terse, exasperated manner, “The red carpet already started a while ago.” I was standing inside the Holocaust Museum – an expansive high-ceilinged building whose cold, steel-and-brick industrial interior seemed to emulate the dark nature of it’s subject matter – for the DC premiere of Writer and Director Angelina Jolie‘s equally oppressive and violently gruesome (or so the reviews say) movie about the Bosnian War “In the Land of Blood and Honey.” It was a fitting venue for such a film.“But I’m on the list. Your boss put me on the list and there are people waiting for me inside. Here’s my credentials.” She looked at me with what could almost be described as pleasure and said “I’m sorry sir but rules are rules.” She didn’t even bat an eyelid after my sob story about being late because I was watching my newborn daughter. I wanted to tell her she deserved a raise because she enjoyed her job way too much.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Fine, I’ll just use the restroom and be on my way.” The loo was the last thing on my mind as I turned the corner out of sight of the Ice Queen, and in a suit and tie with a press ID dangling from my neck easily made my way past the elderly woman in the security uniform. “Pardon me ma’am, can you point me in the direction of the press line?” She pointed up toward a massive staircase and I thanked her.
It was a fruitless endeavor; as I neared the top I could see the show was over. Photographers were starting to pack up their gear as starstruck reporters chatted excitedly with one another, having just basked in the glow of Hollywood stardom and arguably the World’s most famous couple. Realizing there was nothing left to do I started back down the stairs and noticed the doors to the amphitheater. Walking with a purpose past the girl standing there I emerged into the brightly lit space to the sound of a dull roar as Washington’s power elite chatted with one another. Curious as to who was attending I walked to one side and peered down at the sea of people.
The only people I had time to recognize were the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney with his wife and the Mayor of DC Vincent Gray – sitting quietly by himself – before the security guard standing nearby started looking suspiciously at me and I decided it was time to beat a hasty retreat. I had called it a night and was halfway to Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant at the Newseum to meet a friend for a drink when my phone beeped with a text from a reliable source.Brangelina just walked into Charlie Palmer.
I guess they decided not to stay for the show, I thought. I was already headed in the direction of the restaurant so I drove to the ritzy steakhouse at the base of Capitol Hill and to my surprise found a parking spot near the front - Looks like my luck is changing, maybe I should get a scratch-off tonight – almost directly behind a conspicuous grey SUV and a guy with a dark suit and large build standing in front of it. After walking past him toward the restaurant door I noticed the Secret Service pin on his lapel. Somebody from the administration must be here, I thought. Maybe POTUS?
I went in to give the place a once-over and to actually use the facilities this time. When I came out I noticed a small band of paparazzi and autograph collectors had gathered outside the front door. The word is out. I sidled up to the bar and ordered a drink. About thirty minutes later people started filing down from the private party upstairs and gathered near the front. After settling my tab I went outside and as I turned around I noticed Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to the President, walking out behind me. After she climbed into the gray SUV and it sped off I realized that’s why Secret Service had been there. No Obama-rama tonight.
A rather slight, bald man with the bone structure of an eastern European came out and lit a cigarette and I asked him how the party was, guessing correctly that he had been upstairs with the VIP’s. We chatted for a moment about the crisp air when suddenly the photographers started flashing and I looked up to see the power couple standing just inside. It wasn’t until I got home and saw the trailer for “In the Land of Blood and Honey” that I realized the bald guy I had chatted with was Goran Kostic, Jolie’s leading man in the movie.
Chaos ensued as soon as the doors opened. Jolie was the first one out and took the brunt from the autographers as they thrust pens and pictures out for her to sign as shocked bystanders screamed and fumbled for their phones. I was surprised at how petite they both looked and even more surprised at seeing Brad Pitt, with a nearly white beard and long stringy hair hobbling out with a cane and a limp – he looked almost ill. When the flashing bulbs seemed to rush up on their subjects, it was Jolie who stood between them and her injured husband almost as if she were protecting him. After seeing SALT, I wouldn’t mess with it.
I attempted to fire off a few questions but as with everyone else they weren’t having it. To their credit, they smiled and apologized for their bruskness but said they were “in a hurry.” As soon as the doors shut I saw the media entourage break like the Redskins and sprint in every direction for their cars. Instinctively I jumped in mine and pulled out behind their SUV as it peeled off. I got about half a block before I came to my senses. I’m not paparazzi and I disagree with many of their techniques. One thing you don’t do is take pictures of people while they’re eating, the other is follow people in high speed chases.
Princess Diana’s smashed car flashed through my mind as I counted at least six vehicles merge on and then surround the SUV before finally lining up in a pseudo-caravan, speeding down – the thankfully mostly empty – Pennsylvania Avenue with reckless abandon.
So, happy the night wasn’t a total loss and feeling repaid for having missed the red carpet event I watched the sharks and their prey disappear around a corner and called it quits. Several minutes later my phone beeped again.
They’re staying at the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown.
Angelina Jolie at the afterparty for the premiere of “In The Land of Blood and Honey” at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Tuesday. (Kris Connor/Film District)
It was nearly midnight, we hadn’t eaten dinner, and we were desperate to get off of these shoes. But were we allowed to leave the party before the movie stars depart?
This usually isn’t a problem. The bigger the star, the briefer their cameo at the soirée. Many guests didn’t even really expect Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt to show up at the elite after-party for her red-carpet premiere at the Holocaust Museum Tuesday night — yet they not only showed up, they shut it down.
Jolie meets Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Kris Connor/Film District)
Even as the room slowly emptied to meet those 5 a.m. Beltway alarms, Jolie lingered with a glass of red wine, face glowing, happy to talk talk talk about her new movie, “In the Land of Blood and Honey.” (“In the Balkans,” she was explaining to an unfamous man, “it’s rude to say, “What’s your background?’”)
Yes, a red-carpet premiere at the Holocaust Museum — no literal carpet, but a roped-off “arrivals” ceremony for paparazzi — and if it’s hard to wrap your head around, well, it’s the kind of thing that happens when Angelina comes to town. For her directorial debut, the actress/globetrotting humanitarian picked a weighty topic — the Bosnian War — and is rolling it out in highbrow style. An NYC debut was hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations (she’s a member); in Washington, she packed the screening room with policy wonks, diplomats and White House staffers. (Also: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Chris Dodd, Tim Shriver, Susan Eisenhower, Jack DeGioia.)
After solemn opening remarks from museum director Sara Jane Bloomfield and Tom Carver of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (the former war correspondent vouched that Jolie’s movie “does smell and feel like the real thing”), the star took the stage in a pale gold frock. She read earnestly from notes, hailing her Bosnian cast as if they were a cause (“to make this film they came together across ethnic lines”), and told the audience she looked forward “to hearing your reactions.”
And then, of course, she bailed, as stars always do during the screening — off to Charlie Palmer for dinner with Brad and Valerie Jarrett. (On Wednesday, the A-listers paid a visit to the White House to see President Obama.)
When she returned for the afterparty: Total Angemania! The pedigreed crowd pressed in around her — desperate to have a word with her or a photo with her, or just watch her talk. Pitt (looking like an old British rock star: long hair, scruff, three-piece suit, walking stick for the ACL he bruised on a skiing trip with the kids) moved to the far side of his room, breaking off his own smaller mob, letting it be her night.
We crowded in alongside foreign-policy pundit Steven Clemons, waiting in line as C. Boyden Gray had his moment with the star. “I loved it!” Clemons said of the movie, with some surprise. “I thought it would be a vanity project.”
Jolie kept her coat on like she was headed for the door — but didn’t. An hour later, as the crowd thinned, she was still there, holding court with some NGO types about her recent Charlie Rose interview. “I love Charlie,” she said, though “he’s interviewing you and you can’t tell if he’s seen the movie!” She moved on to Jay Carney and Claire Shipman, talking about getting the kids together on the next trip to D.C.
Goran Kostic (Kris Connor/Film District)
Nearby stood one of her stars, Goran Kostic,. Is it always this crazy when you go somewhere with Angelina Jolie?
“This is nice and cultured and organized,” he told us. “At other stops you just get washed away by people.”
Brad Pitt with guests at Tuesday’s premiere. (Kris Connor /Film District)
Jolie with guests at Tuesday’s premiere. (Kris Connor/Film District )
Inside Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Movie Premiere Party
The stars hosted a party to premiere Jolie’s new movie, “In the Land of Blood and Honey.”
Brad
Pitt and Angeline Jolie at last night's screening for "In The Land of
Blood and Honey" at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Photo
by Erik Eucke.
It’s 10:30 PM, and for the next hour or more two of the most famous movie stars in the world make themselves utterly available to every guest, every camera, every dopey accolade, inquiry, and comment. At one point Jolie is surrounded by such a thick swarm of men (and a few women) that only the top of her head appears above the pinstriped shoulders of her admirers. Boyden Gray inches his way to her and then hovers. Georgetown University president Jack DeGioia poses for a picture, thoughtfully including his wife. Jolie smiles, smiles, smiles, pulling people in, taking their hands with one of hers, cradling in the other what appears to be a glass of red wine.
On the other side of the well-stocked bar—Maker’s Mark, Grey Goose, Tanqueray—Brad Pitt comes and goes and returns again. We think maybe a smoke break is involved, and who can blame him? The man is hobbled, walking with a cane, which he demurely explains is the result of a snow mishap with his daughter. He doesn’t say which one (there are three, at last count).
For a moment he is practically alone, and so we approach, first to commend him for Moneyball and then to ask if our eyes were seeing clearly and we’d actually spotted him in Jolie’s film. Pitt lights up, a big smile. “Yes, that was me,” he says. “You noticed. I got killed. I worked it for all I could. I went down twice. I wanted more blood, but no, the director. . . .” He slaps me five for recognizing his so-far secret 15 seconds on screen. And then he drifts off, because maybe he doesn’t want to criticize the director for not allowing him to spill more blood. Maybe there are limits to how much of her lover’s fictional death Jolie wanted to enact on film. Brad shot? Too awful to think about.
Pitt seems comfortable and happy to be at the party. Like almost every movie star, he’s slighter of build, not so tall, yet still oozing good looks and Midwestern charm. He’s polite. He listens to questions and replies with thoughtful answers and his own questions, not blank stares. He actually engages in conversation. He’s curious about the people he is meeting. Jolie, too, is slight. As a pair they are fine-boned, porcelain, smaller in scale as physical specimens—even her landmark lips look normal in person.
This being a Washington crowd, no one acts really stupid around them. In fact, the bodyguards stay at a distance, even though they look like they’re enacting a scene from a Secret Service movie. One young woman keeps yammering something about People.com, but Pitt ignores her. He’s more focused on another person with a cane, an older woman, whom he pulls close and poses with, side by side, cane by cane, beaming.
Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn stand nearby, talking with a friend. White House spokesman Jay Carney and his wife, Claire Shipman, lean against a brick wall, probably making the most of precious time together. Former Bush Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and his wife, Meryl, give mini reviews of the film. He calls it “important.” But is it entertaining? She says, “Well, it’s not Avatar.”
When the house lights go up, there is polite applause and then we all stand up to leave the auditorium. One man says to his companion, “Phew, that was rough.” Others around him nod, eager to get to the relief of the after-party. Gaiety, even in, of all places, the Holocaust Museum.
Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg pulls on a blue scarf and slips out a side door, missing the party. But most stay late and wait for a moment with Jolie and Pitt. Other faces at the premiere: DC mayor Vincent Gray (alone, staying for the whole film but not the party); assistant attorney general Lanny Breuer, Motion Picture Association chief Chris Dodd, AOL founder Jack Davies, Susan Eisenhower, Timothy Shriver, George and Trish Vradenburg, chief of protocol Capricia Marshall, director of national intelligence Jim Clapper; proliferation expert Joe Cirincione; Kennedy insider Caroline Croft; socialites Willie and Finlay Lewis; media types Frank Sesno of George Washington University’s school of communication, and Martha Raddatz of ABC News.
When she welcomed the invited audience before the film ran, standing alone at a podium, almost nervous in her delivery, Jolie flattered all with her own accolade: “You are the ideal audience.”
Photo: My girlfriend’s dad meeting Angelina Jolie in DC. Supplied caption: “You can see she really loves his... tmblr.co/ZzJtayEmsFrv
My girlfriend’s dad meeting Angelina Jolie in DC. Supplied caption: “You can see she really loves his ideas on EPA reforms”
