For their first “date night” since entering the White House in January, the Obamas chose Michel Richard’s Citronelle for an intimate evening.

When asked by L’Hotellerie Restauration in January about hosting the President, Richard was confident he would come — and if not, he would seek him out! Fait accompli.

The French chef, whose restaurant is a Washington, D.C. culinary destination (and one of Conde Nast Traveler’s World’s Best), received the Obamas on Saturday night at his Georgetown restaurant. “Michelle kissed me!” gushed Richard. “She said ‘Michel, I’m Michelle!’ She’s charming.”

The top-tier Toronto chef Didier Leroy has been awarded the prestigious title Maître Cuisinier de France. Leroy joins the ranks of 350 international chefs honoured by France for contributing to the tradition of French gastronomy. As the first one bestowed in English Canada, Leroy’s award marks one more feather in Toronto’s culinary cap, and one more example of the city’s French food renaissance.

A long-time name on the Toronto scene, the Parisian worked in many a Michelin-starred kitchen before opening his eponymous midtown restaurant in 2000. With newfound responsibility to keep up French traditions, Leroy plans to open a cooking school to pass on his expertise to the next generation; if Jamie Kennedy’s academy is anything to go by, we can’t wait.

Read more on Toronto Life.