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The Bidens are back on Nantucket. Meet the restaurateur who cooked for them for decades.

Presidents get a private chef, but Bill Puder will still be serving 150 secret service members during Biden's visit.

Nantucket restaurant owners Bill and Kim Puder pose with President Joe Biden and Jill Biden at the White House Easter Egg Roll in April 2024. The two have known the Bidens for 27 years and cook their Thanksgiving dinner. Courtesy of Bill Puder

By Lindsay Shachnow

November 26, 2024

2 minutes to read

Twenty-seven years ago, Bill Puder received a phone call from Jill Biden, shortly after he first opened Faregrounds Restaurant and Pudley’s Pub on Nantucket.

“I didn’t know who she was,” Puder told Boston.com. “She asked me, can we cook Thanksgiving to-go for their family? I said sure, no problem.”

Puder said he did not know of Joe Biden, who was a Delaware senator at the time, either.

“He used to come in, pick it up,” he said. “We’d chat, hang out with Beau and Hunter.”

Puder said he has made Thanksgiving dinner for the Bidens nearly every year since the first lady’s initial call.

“We treat him just like a customer, just like everybody else that comes in here,” he said.

Bill Puder shakes President Joe Biden’s hand when he arrived on Nantucket for Thanksgiving three years ago. *Courtesy of Bill Puder*

However, since Biden took office as president, Puder stopped making dinner for the Biden family, but has still cooked Thanksgiving meals for his secret service members during Biden’s vice presidential and presidential terms.

A private chef will make Thanksgiving dinner for the Bidens this year, according to Puder.

Although Biden won’t be partaking in the meal at Faregrounds this Thursday, the president will carry on his decades-old tradition of traveling to Nantucket with his family, arriving at Nantucket Memorial Airport on Air Force One on Tuesday at 3:20 p.m., The Boston Globe reported.

Ahead of Biden’s visit, Nantucket Police Lieutenant Angus MacVicar said the local police department has been working with the secret service, providing them with a few full-time officers who are more familiar with the area.

“We’re expecting things to go as they have in the past and have minimal disruption,” MacVicar told Boston.com. “We hope everything goes well.”

This Thursday, Puder will serve Thanksgiving dinner at the Nantucket family restaurant to 150 secret service members and roughly 50 other restaurant goers. They will eat alongside each other.

Over three days, four workers prepare the food with the help of Puder’s wife and niece. Although Puder mixes up the menu slightly from year to year, he always includes traditional Thanksgiving dishes.

So, what’s on the menu this year? The president’s secret service will eat buffet-style, starting with a butternut squash apple soup, clam chowder, and caesar salad. The main event will be a traditional roast turkey with gravy — Puder’s favorite dish to cook — alongside stuffing, roast prime rib, pan seared halibut, and a ham platter. Eight side dishes, including candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and glazed carrots, will fill out the meal.

Menu for the secret service’s Thanksgiving meal this year at the Faregrounds Restaurant and Pudley’s Pub on Nantucket. *Courtesy of Bill Puder*

Puder, who has been cooking for nearly 50 years, bought Faregrounds in 1997, and held a local competition to decide on a name for the establishment. “The Faregrounds” was chosen because of the restaurant’s location on Faregrounds Road, and “Pudley’s Pub” is named after the Puder’s own pot bellied pet pig.

Puder said he has “mixed feelings” about Biden leaving the White House in January, but still plans to cook Thanksgiving dinner for him and his family next year.

“It’s a tradition for him,” Puder said of Biden, who has come to Nantucket for Thanksgiving almost every year since 1975. “He’s just a nice guy, and it’s such an honor to keep feeding him.”