BUSH SETS A TREND IN MODERATE-PRICED DINING

Strange as it sounds, some restaurateurs blame President Bush for the recent downturn in their business.

Bush, it seems, isn't setting a rich enough example as a restaurant-goer. Except for a visit to I Ricchi, the supertrendy and expensive Italian restaurant in the District, Bush has confined his dining out to a couple of moderately priced ethnic restaurants in the suburbs.

"This administration clearly is less concerned about opulence, less concerned about putting on airs than the Reagan administration," said Bob Kinkead, the owner of 21 Federal, an upscale Washington restaurant. " {Bush} is homespun, more stay-at-home conservative. At some level, that has a definite effect on the kind of entertaining people do in this town."

Added Vivian Deuschl of the Jockey Club: "Kinder and gentler seems to translate into more low-key. There's a different tone in town now and everyone knows it. It trickles down."

In fact, though he seems to prefer modest restaurants, the pork-rind loving, broccoli-hating president has gone out to eat far more often than any of his recent predecessors. President Richard Nixon occasionally would stroll across Lafayette Park, Secret Service agents in tow, for dinner at Trader Vic's in the Capital Hilton. Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter hardly went out at all. Ronald Reagan preferred staying in the White House after an assassination attempt in 1981, though Nancy Reagan enjoyed dining in high style with her friends at such places as the Jockey Club and Galileo.

Since coming into office, Bush has dropped in on Rio Grande, the Bethesda Tex-Mex restaurant, but the family favorite is a Chinese restaurant tucked into a shopping center off Leesburg Pike in Falls Church.

Bush was a semi-regular at the Peking Gourmet Inn while he was vice president, and has been back about four or five times since becoming president, including last Monday, said George Tsui, whose family has owned and operated the restaurant for 14 years.

"This is a family place," Tsui said. "We get all kinds of people in here. We're not very fancy -- we don't require a tie." The only special treatment the president receives is a special reserved dining room in the 250-seat restaurant on a half-day's notice. The room is outfitted with a bullet-proof window that Tsui installed to protect Bush and other distinguished customers, such as the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States and various cabinet members and congressmen.

For the record, the president prefers the Peking duck and the spicy Szechuan beef appetizer. Tsui describes him as an above-average tipper.

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