A presidential visit to Golden Fig

Laurie Crowell is still smiling.

A day after President Barack Obama stopped by her gourmet food shop, Golden Fig Fine Foods, in St. Paul for a visit, she is still giddy. Bubbling over, in fact. "I don't think I'll ever stop smiling," she said in an interview.

Hard to know if it was the presidential hug that prompted her smiles (more on that in a moment). Or the 30-minute chat she had with the president. Or the knowledge that he dropped by because of a letter she wrote.

About that letter: Through weekly emails she gets from the White House, she realized the president would be in town. "So I replied to the email as though the email was just for me. And I said, 'I'm glad you're coming to Minnesota and if you have time you should definitely swing by my store. Everything is made in the U.S. We buy mostly local, and so there's local grass-fed steaks and chocolate and jams and jellies and milk in glass bottles. It's all about direct from the producers and the farmers.'

"Of course I got the auto-reply and figured no one would see it. But apparently they did," she said..

At 4 p.m. on Thursday, the first day of the president's visit, her store manager called to ask when she would be back in the building. "I said I was just going to go through the car wash and stop at the bank. And she said, 'Could you not do that? Could you just come here?' "

When Laurie got to the store, the Secret Service was there, along with bomb-sniffing dogs. "They were rolling racks in front of the doors so no one could come in behind them. And they asked if the president could come for a visit," said Laurie. "And I thought, 'Are you kidding? Of course'."

And President Obama did. They chatted for a half hour on the importance of buying local, and about sustainability and organics and researching bee issues.

He bought about $80 worth of Minnesota foods and paid with cash. "I don't know if they jam everything, but we couldn't make any phone calls; we couldn't run credit cards. No one's internet worked," she said.

At the cash register, the president opened up his wallet and said, "Pretty much all I have is cash and a Chicago driver's license," she said. "He showed me his license and I looked at his hair in the photo, and we both laughed because it was much more full and not gray. He said, 'Yeah, it expires in 2016 so I'm good for a few more years'."

The president left the store with two bags of Minnesota-made products, which Laurie – ever the entrepreneur – has pulled together into the Presidential Gift Box, wrapped in red-white-and-blue ribbon, should any shopper want to bring home the same.

That includes the raspberry jam from HeathGlen Farms (from Forest Lake), Minnesalsa and whole-grain blue tortilla chips, Mademoiselle Miel honey bon bons, sea salt caramels, chocolate-covered caramels from Painted Turtle, Golden Fig balsamic vinegar and apple chips from Eden Apples of Eden Prairie.

Then the president headed out for a stroll down Grand Avenue after noting that he was in the mood for ice cream.

And about that hug.

"I'm a total hugger, but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to hug him – I didn't want to be thrown down to the floor by the Secret Service because that would have been embarrassing!" she said with a laugh. "I went to shake his hand and he said "Wait, come here" and he totally gave me a hug."

Other food spots the president visited:

Matt's Bar for a Jucy Lucy and iced tea.
Grand Ole Creamery for a waffle cone of Black Hills Gold ice cream
Wild Onion Bar and Restaurant for a chat with those in outdoor seats