Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney pivoted from talking up cheesy grits and catfish in Dixie to appearing at a sumptuous, fat-cat, four-star luncheon at the opulent Waldorf-Astoria in Midtown yesterday.
Romney, the wealthy Yankee who got fried by surging rival Rick Santorum in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries Tuesday night, had been ridiculed by opponents for pandering to blue-collar Southern culture.
But Romney was in his element yesterday among well-heeled financiers, and he expected to haul in $3 million at more fund-raisers around town.
At the Waldorf, donors feasted on a buffet that included sophisticated food such as tomato, mozzarella and pesto sandwiches, pasta salad, squash soup and eight different cookies and pastries for dessert.