Face it: Unless you're a celebrity or come with the title "The Honorable," you're probably not going to get an invite to dinner -- or any other meal for that matter -- at the White House. But that doesn't mean you can't eat like one of the president's BFFs, or get the skinny on their culinary predilections.

On Sunday, celebrity chef Walter Scheib, who cooked for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, will prepare some of the New American cuisine that made him a household name at the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association's "White House State Dinner" at the Omni William Penn. Between courses, the Iron Chef contestant will dish up some dish on what it was like to cook for two leaders of the free world and perhaps more importantly, their wives.

"Food at the White House falls more along gender lines than political lines," says Chef Scheib, who squeezed in a chat via cell while traveling from Hershey (where he was keynote speaker at the American Culinary Federation's regional conference) to Dulles airport (where he was grabbing a flight to another speaking engagement in Louisville). Mrs. Bush, for instance, was adamant about getting organic foods and greens on the menu whereas her husband "would have been just as happy with a burger or wing shack in the basement," says Chef Scheib. He didn't like salad, either.

So who wore the culinary pants at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.? Who do you think?

"If mom's happy," he says, "everyone's happy."

Great food is important. By also sharing humorous anecdotes and personal stories, Chef Scheib hopes to humanize the First Family as well as offer a "behind the curtain" glimpse of life in the White House. Both the Bushes and Clintons, he says, are "unique and interesting human beings, not outerspace beings."

Sunday's dinner will mark the eighth time the Virginia resident has been in Pittsburgh and nearby environs since leaving the White House in 2005 and starting "The American Chef," a company that offers cooking classes, catering and culinary talks. A grad of the Culinary Institute of America, he is co-author of "White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen" (Wiley, $24.95) and has been a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

A trip here, he says, always includes a trip to Primanti's. But really, that's just the icing on the cake; in the last 15 years, Pittsburgh has proven it also can wow diners with more sophisticated tastes.

"It has great ethnic components, but enough wonderful restaurants and clubs that there's also great contemporary American food," he says.

Speaking of which, the dignitary-worthy menu guests will enjoy at the William Penn includes Sesame Crusted Halibut with Red Curried Sweet Potato Soup and Manchego Tamale Tart with an Avocado, Orange and Charred Onion Salad. There'll also be Tequila Glazed Smoked Angus Tenderloin with Warm Fruit Salsa -- the same dish, incidentally, Chef Scheib had planned on serving the Bushes at a picnic on "the day the world changed," Sept. 11, 2001.

In the best of non-partisan traditions, dessert will marry sweet treats from both presidencies: a peach and blackberry cobbler that was a favorite of Bill Clinton's and a honey lavender ice cream favored by Laura Bush.

"It's a great pleasure and honor to tell stories about America's First Home," says Chef Scheib. And the food ain't bad, either.

Tickets to Sunday's White House State Dinner cost $150 per person and can be purchased online at parestaurant.org or by calling 1-800-345-5353. All courses are paired with wine. For those whose dance card is full, here's the recipe for the halibut dish to make at home.

Roasted Halibut with Red Curry Sweet Potato Sauce

Chef Walter Scheib developed this recipe for Chelsea Clinton, who became a vegetarian while her father was in the White House. "She loved South Asian flavors, and sweet potatoes," he says. "This has both."

• 3 pounds sweet potatoes, roasted and pureed
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 2 teaspoons grated lemongrass
• 1 tablespoon minced shallots
• 1 to 2 teaspoons red curry paste, depending on how hot you like it
• 1 kaffir lime leaf
• 1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
• 4 ounces unsweetened Thai coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 4 6-ounce halibut fillets, skinned
• 4 scallion stalks, cut into a fine julienne

Make sweet potato puree by roasting sweet potatoes whole, with skin on, in a 325-degree oven until soft. Peel and puree until smooth in a food processor. Set aside.

Prepare red curry sweet potato sauce by heating oil in a 4-quart soup pot and sweating ginger, garlic, lemongrass and shallots until soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Add curry paste and kaffir leaf. Stir well and cook about 1 minute. Add sweet potato puree and mix well. Cook 1 minute. Add stock, coconut milk, lime juice and honey and simmer for 10 minutes, until sauce coats the back of the ladle lightly. (If you like a thinner sauce, double the amount of stock, coconut milk and lime juice.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place the halibut fillets in a single layer in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Pour red curry sweet potato sauce over the fillets. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until the fillets flake easily when inserting fork. Place fish on platter, spoon sauce over and garnish with scallion.

Serves 4.

-- Chef Walter Scheib, theamericanchef.com

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