Vice President Joe Biden surprised customers and an Orlando restaurant owner with a stop at lunchtime Thursday.
- Vice President Joe Biden visited Chef Eddie's in Parramore
- Owner Eddie James says the trip was a total surprise
- Biden was in town to watch the Invictus Games and stump for Rep. Patrick Murphy
While Eddie James knows everything about the food business, the Chef Eddie’s restaurant owner couldn’t know about the call he’d get.
“They said that Vice President Joe Biden will be eating at your place today and they wanted to give the whole restaurant a sweep,” he said.
That was a mere 30 minutes before Biden would be strolling through his doors.
Secret service and police locked down the streets, as the motorcade rolled in.
“We were scrambling trying to get ready!” James laughed. “They walked in the door with the secret service, sniffing dog, it was kind of crazy.”
Suddenly, the Vice President of the United States was working his way around the room, mingling with diners, snapping selfies and sharing laughs. He talked politics, his love for the Invictus Games, held just down the road at Walt Disney World, and his decision not to run for president.
“I just didn’t have the heart to do it,” he said. “And I have no regrets. We have two good candidates and I feel good about our prospects.”
Even as he made his way out the door, Biden stopped to meet people, like small business owner J. Henry.
“I think this was an awesome experience. I’ll have this for a lifetime,” the man said, sharing a photo he took with the vice president.
Eddie James said that he can’t wait to share that Biden chose his spot for a quick bite.
“Look for a lot of posts on my website, all over the place. We’re going to put pictures everywhere,” he said. “I’m hoping that people will look at it and say, you know, ‘If it’s good enough for Joe Biden, hell. It’s good enough for me!’”
The vice president took his lunch to go.
Biden took in some Invictus Games matches Wednesday. He is also stumping for Rep. Patrick Murphy, who is running against Rep. Alan Grayson for the democratic nomination in the race for Marco Rubio’s seat.
Biden says Murphy is willing to work with Republicans across the aisle, which is important to breaking through Washington’s political gridlock.
“That’s the only way. We’ve got to get to know each other again,” Biden said.
Grayson had this to say about Biden campaigning for Murphy:
“Running Republicans as Democrats in Florida just doesn’t work.”