Dining with Biden at The Woodland

LAKEVILLE — A fleet of black SUVs maintained a watchful perimeter outside The Woodland Thursday, May 22, as a former president dined inside.

After attending his grandson’s graduation at Salisbury School, Joe Biden and his family shared a meal at the Lakeville eatery.

Brandon Scimeca, owner of The Woodland, said the reservation was made a few days in advance. The day of the dinner, Secret Service agents arrived in the afternoon to review a security plan with Scimeca.

“They told me where he would enter and exit from, where he would sit, where Jill would sit,” said Scimeca. Later that evening, he said, 10 agents were stationed inside the restaurant with about 15 more outside.

Scimeca said Biden “treated the busboy as nice as the waiter. He was so nice to everyone.”

He ordered a hamburger well done with extra tomatoes and a cola.

Other patrons, able to avoid Secret Service, snapped selfies when Biden got up to go to the restroom, but for most of the meal he and his family quietly enjoyed their dinner.

That is, until dessert arrived at the table next to him.

Billy Sheil, who was dining with his wife and three of his four children, said Biden raised his fork and gestured at the arrival of sweets, “suggesting he wanted to sit with us or come over and take a bite,” Sheil explained.

Sheil scooted to make room in the booth and waved him over. “No fanfare. He just introduced himself and started chatting as a regular guy.”

Biden had a bite of ice cream from Sheil’s daughter Islay’s plate and chatted for about 15 minutes.

Sheil said he shared wisdom, spoke of family, the importance of siblings and the role his sister played throughout his political career.

“He spent real time with us, asking thoughtful questions and sharing in our evening like a grandfather would,” recalled Sheil. “We told him and Jill that we have four kids too — just like them — and mentioned that our second, Quin, was ironically in Washington, D.C., on a school trip. I told them, ‘He’s going to be bummed when he hears what he missed tonight!’”

The family took a photo with the former president before parting ways. Sheil noted, “When we got in the car afterward, Aerin turned to me and said, ‘Dad… was that a dream?’ It kind of felt like one.”

The Sheil family made room for Biden in their booth at The Woodland May 22.Photo provided