Congressman Dennis Kucinich bought a sandwich from the Longworth House Office Building cafeteria in April 2008, and bit into it only to find an unpitted olive that cracked a tooth. This month, he sued the cafeteria for selling "dangerous" sandwiches. 
 
 The complaint is pretty bare-boned: It claims that in April 2008, Kucinich purchased a "sandwich wrap" from the Longworth Cafeteria with an errant olive pit lurking within, and tragedy ensued. 
 
 Kucinich didn't detail the costs of the dental work, or precisely what "enjoyment" he lost. Or why he's filing a complaint three years after the olive incident. But he's suing Restaurant Associates and three other companies involved in running and supplying the cafeteria for $150,000, claiming negligence and breach of implied warranty. What an odd man. 
 
 Update: Here's some video of Kucinich on the House floor on April 22, 2008—five days after encountering the olive pit that caused "serious and permanent dental and oral injuries requiring multiple oral and dental surgeries." He looks fine and talks normal! 
 
 [There was a video here] 
 
 A spokesman for Kucinich said "he has no comment other than to say this is a private legal matter." Attempts to call Restaurant Associates were met with a repeated busy signal. The entire lawsuit is embedded below. 
 
 Click to view 
 
 [Courthouse News [pdf], photo of Kucinich via Getty Images] ||||| KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Eliot Engel (D-NY) as he walks in before the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 25, 2011. 
 
 WASHINGTON — In Congress, there is a Tea Party Caucus of conservative members and Black Caucus of African-American lawmakers. There is a Hispanic Conference, and even a Bike Caucus. 
 
 On Tuesday night, when President Obama delivers his State of the Union address, Bronx Rep. Eliot Engel will highlight his role in an altogether different group of lawmakers. They’ve been called the Aisle Hogs. 
 
 Presidents come and Presidents go, but during the annual State of the Union speech, one thing is certain: Engel, a Democrat, will be seated on the center aisle, perfectly positioned to shake hands with the President when he strides in and say goodbye when the President walks out. 
 
 Rex / Rex USA/Rex / Rex USA Bronx Rep. Eliot Engel shakes hands with Obama during the president's previous State of the Union address. 
 
 "I will be in my district somewhere in December and someone will say to me, 'I saw you on TV,'" Engel said Monday. 
 
 "I'll think it was one of the many interviews I've done, but they'll say 'No. You were shaking the President's hand.' People remember me shaking the President's hand." 
 
 Bronx Rep. Eliot Engel makes a phone call prior to the State of the Union Address in 2011. 
 
 Engel is hardly the only lawmaker to hug the aisle, but he is the dean of this unique club, having grabbed his first center-aisle seat in 1989, just weeks after he entered Congress. 
 
 A Mississippi congressman, former Rep. Sonny Montgomery, had invited Engel to sit with him so they could both try to say hello to the newly elected President George H.W. Bush, a friend of Montgomery's. 
 
 Salon via Gawker President George W. Bush shakes hands with Eliot Engel, the U.S. Representative for New York's 16th congressional district, before the State of the Union Address in 2008. 
 
 Engel remembers spotting an aisle seat and Montgomery telling him, "You better grab it before someone else does." 
 
 "So I grabbed it, and I've been sitting there since," he said. 
 
 Salon via Gawker President George W. Bush shakes hands with Eliot Engel, the U.S. Representative for New York's 16th congressional district, before the State of the Union Address in 2006. 
 
 For rank-and-file lawmakers like Engel, the State of the Union is strictly festival seating — which means he has to arrive early and stick around to guarantee his prime spot. 
 
 He said he would arrive on the House floor by 10 a.m. Tuesday and stake his claim, almost 12 hours before the speech. 
 
 Salon via Gawker President George W. Bush shakes hands with Eliot Engel, the U.S. Representative for New York's 16th congressional district, before the State of the Union Address in 2003. 
 
 But Engel won’t have to stay in his seat the entire time. He can leave for the bathroom, lunch, even for brief meetings near the chamber. A colleague will keep an eye on the spot. 
 
 The congressman has meetings with constituent groups and an interview with MSNBC scheduled during his wait Tuesday. And when he's sitting, he said he'll catch up on reading. 
 
 Salon via Gawker President Bill Clinton shakes hands with Eliot Engel, the U.S. Representative for New York's 16th congressional district, before the State of the Union Address in 2000. 
 
 Engel said constituents like and have come to expect that he has a prime seat. "If they didn't see me, they'd think I was sick or something," he said. 
 
 And now he is the undisputed king of the Aisle Hogs. Veteran Aisle Hog Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) retired; Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) lost primaries. And Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-Ill.) Jr. resigned under an ethics cloud. 
 
 The club isn't illustrious. Jackson just pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds. Kucinich was an attention-seeker who never tried much to legislate. Republicans disliked Schmidt and Democrats hated her. 
 
 But Engel makes no apologies for taking a prime seat. He called the speech "the height of American democracy" and said his small annual role remains a thrill for "a working-class kid from the Bronx." 
 
 "To actually say hello to the President and shake his hand, I am much honored to do it, very honored to play a part," he said. 
 
 dfriedman@nydailynews.news
– Rep. Dennis Kucinich cracked his tooth on an errant olive pit in April 2008, and he’s not happy about it. The Ohio Democrat is now, almost three years later, suing the congressional cafeteria where he bought the sandwich that included the unpitted olive, Gawker reports, citing official documents from Courthouse News. In the paperwork, Kucinich claims the “sandwich wrap” he purchased at the Longworth House Office Building was “unwholesome and unfit for human consumption.” The price tag for his “serious and permanent dental and oral injuries:” $150,000.