Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) made a stop at the West Avenue Grille in Jenkintown (Montgomery County) Tuesday to film a video production at the successful eatery in the town’s business district.

The unannounced appearance came just hours after Obama’s nationally broadcast speech on race and politics at the Constitution Center. His motorcade arrived in Jenkintown just after 2:15 p.m. and exited slightly before 4 p.m. after filming had finished.

Before entering the Grille, Obama greeted the then small crowd of a few dozen people gathered on West Avenue. He promised he’d be back out in “an hour” before being led inside the café where more than 20 townspeople were waiting.

While the production crew recorded inside the business, the Secret Service, assisted by Jenkintown police, screened the ever-growing crowd, instructing them to form a receiving line that eventually made a semi-circle away from the entrance of the restaurant. The Obama campaign sent volunteers into the crowd with free coffee, which many people accepted as a balm for the chilly temperatures of the overcast day.

Slightly over an hour after he entered the restaurant, Obama emerged to cheers from a crowd of hundreds that had been augmented with students exiting nearby Jenkintown and Abington Friends high schools after dismissal. He slowly and methodically worked the throng from east to west around the street before exiting down the breezeway between West Avenue Grille and LaPergola restaurant that leads to the borough’s municipal lot. The lot, which had ‘no parking’ bags placed over its meters early yesterday evening, was completely cleared this morning in anticipation of Obama’s visit.