There Will Be Just Two For Dinner White House Chef Says He’ll Miss Chelsea When She Goes Off To Stanford

The President and Hillary Clinton aren’t the only ones who will be missing Chelsea after she goes to Stanford. White House executive chef Walter Scheib says it will give him a pang to be setting the first family’s private dinner table for only two.

At a news conference last week, Scheib told members of the Association of Food Journalists he feels as if he’s sending his own daughter off to college. “I’ve become very attached to the family,” he told food writers from the nation’s newspapers and magazines.

White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier, who has worked for four presidents, concurred.

“I’ve enjoyed every family I’ve worked for,” he said with obvious warmth.

“You become extremely attached to them. At the change of an administration, it’s difficult to see the people leave.”

The jovial, portly Mesnier clearly charmed the food writers, even apologizing to them for his heavy French accent. “Please forgive me - I haven’t been able to lose this Southern accent,” he joked. His remarks were particularly apt given last week’s reports about how former White House chef Pierre Chambrin had complained in a 1994 deposition that he had been fired because he was fat and spoke with a French accent.