Shared sacrifice.

(White House Dossier) — President and Mrs. Obama celebrated their anniversary at one of the Washington area’s most fashionable and expensive eating establishments last night, Restaurant Eve in Alexandria, Va. . . .

As you can see from the menu, entrees costs about $40. Or you can try the tasting menu, which is pretentiously described below.

The 34-seat Chef’s Tasting Room is Chef Armstrong’s culinary showcase. Here, Armstrong features a five, seven, and nine-course prix-fixe tasting menu, priced at $120, $135, and $150 respectively. The courses are headed: Creation (palate teasers), Ocean (seafood), Earth & Sky (meats and game), Age (cheese) and Eden (desserts). The Tasting Room menu changes daily as there are many farmers markets in the area. Keeping true to the SEASON, if it be summer, highlights include Heirloom Tomato Tart with Garden Basil grown from the restaurant’s own organic garden and Butter Poached Maine Lobster with Eastern Shore Corn. Keeping true to the MISSION, the menu features delectable sustainable meat entrées such as The Hogs Head “Banger” and Polyface Farm 100% Pasture Fed Beef Ribeye.

Via Keith Koffler who makes this dead-on observation:

You know, the Obamas are wealthy people. If they want to eat at places where appetizers start at $16, fine. It would be nice if they set an example during hard economic times and reined in their spending, of course, but whatever.

BUT DEFINITELY DON’T INVITE AP PHOTOGRAPHERS TO TAKE PICTURES OF YOU AT TARGET AND LECTURE ME ABOUT SHARED SACRIFICE AND THEN GO SPEND $300 ON DINNER.