Mark Halperin‘s illustrious “Gang of 500” haven’t been the only power brokers helping to keep Tex-Mex stalwart Lauriol Plaza (ranked No. 38 on City Paper‘s list of D.C.’s 44 Most Powerful Restaurants) in business over the years. Yesterday’s Washington Post profile of Philippe Reines, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s deputy assistant secretary for strategic communications, indicates that he, too, is a regular patron, to put it mildly:

“Reines frequented Lauriol Plaza, a restaurant where, in 2010 alone, he said he spent $1,895.”

That’s a lot of strawberry margaritas.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery