Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha left waitstaff with a quirky keepsake after dining at an upscale D.C. restaurant on Wednesday night.
As the war with Iran raged on, the Vances stepped out for a dinner with friends at Divino, an Italian restaurant just steps from their vice presidential mansion in D.C.
The vice president, 41, ordered a filet mignon as his main course, restaurant owner Luca Giovannini told TMZ, while the table also enjoyed short rib pappardelle, tagliatelle bolognese, housemade focaccia, tiramisu, chocolate mousse, and more.
Giovannini told the Daily Beast that Vance’s filet mignon ran about $40 on Wednesday night, and that the Vances ordered water and a few mocktails for drinks.
On their way out, Usha, 40, presented six commemorative second lady coins to staff.
According to photos provided by Giovannini, the coins bear the inscription “Second Lady Usha Vance” and showcase the six-bedroom, 9,150-square-foot vice presidential mansion.
While the coins have no monetary value, they can be of value to collectors. Former second lady Karen Pence’s commemorative coins currently fetch from $45 to $399 on eBay.
A member of the Vances’ team handled their bill, and the restaurant’s staff received a tip, Giovannini told the Daily Beast, though he declined to reveal the amount.
He said the couple were “very kind” and that the vice president even memorized the names of the staff.
The Vances, who married in 2014 and have another baby on the way, stirred rumors of trouble in paradise last year after Usha was spotted several times without her wedding ring.
Vance declared his marriage “as strong as it’s ever been” in an NBC News interview in December, saying the two of them “kind of get a kick out of” rampant speculation about the state of their union.
But just as those rumors have quieted, questions have swirled about Vance’s partnership with Donald Trump in the wake of the president’s decision to launch a war against Iran.
Vance, who campaigned alongside Trump as a staunch anti-interventionist, had second thoughts about the president’s war at the outset, according to reports and even Trump himself.
“He was, I would say, philosophically a little bit different than me,” Trump told reporters on Monday of he and Vance’s difference of opinion. “I think he was maybe less enthusiastic about going, but he was quite enthusiastic.”
Still, Vance—often the administration’s top online troller—has been uncharacteristically quiet in person and on X about the war.
