140 guests can be seated at the dining room table
The White House dining room can accommodate up to 140 guests for lunch or dinner.
Thomas Jefferson ate his dinner in the White House dining room. He had dumbwaiters installed so he could have uninterrupted dinners with guests or family. The servants simply loaded the dumbwaiters and sent them to the room without having to enter.
state dining room
Who Knew - 2010 White House State Dinner 1-26 was released on: USA: 17 May 2010
In the State Dining Room over the fireplace.
The fruit dessert served at the state dinner in The American President was fresh berries with vanilla ice cream.
I am not sure what you are asking. Except for his wife, I do not know of any one person who is a frequent guest at his state dinners. One occasion that calls for a state dinner is a visit from a foreign head of state. Guests might include ambassadors, cabinet members, members of Congress and Supreme Courts justices, as well as family members and celebrities that the guest of honor might like to meet or else have ties with.
The State Dining Room is the usual location. The East Room has also been used at times for formal dining because of its larger size, while the Family Dining Room fills in for smaller luncheons.
There are 6 chefs employed at the White House. The Executive Chef heads the four sous chefs. There is also an Executive Pastry Chef. They serve dinner to as many as 140 guests.
The White House keeps five full-time chefs on staff. They sometimes prepare dinner for as many as 140 guests, and they have the capacity to prepare enough hors d'oeuvre to serve over 1,000 people.
Blue ~ used for formal dinners and entertaining. Red ~ used by First Ladies for teas and after dinner entertaining. Green ~ used as a drawing room for teas, dinners, and small receptions. Yellow ~ used by the President to entertain guests and to receive visitors.
The dinner is paid for by tickets bought by the people attending the dinner, most are actually purchased by corporations and given to their employees and guests. The dinner is also a fund raiser for scholarships for journalism students.