Chicago restaurants continue to duck foie gras ban

by Joe DiStefano, Posted Jan 10th 2007 @ 1:06PM

Just before New Year's Eve we learned from Nicole that several eateries in the Windy City intended to transform themselves into duckeasies to ring in the new year. That's right, they planned on serving foie gras in spite of the city's recent ban on the sale of the luxurious liver.

Yesterday I read that several Chicago restaurants and specialty markets are continuing to flout the ban. At Hot Doug's, a gourmet sausage store, the owner continues to sell foie gras and has framed his warning letter as a point of pride.

While some restaurants such as Sweets & Savories continue to openly sell foie gras, others have devised creative ways to fly under the radar as it were. Rumor has it that ordering the "special lobster" at several restaurants will help you score a plate of the banned delicacy.

And the award for the most straightforward way to skirt the ban goes to Bin 36, which also has the dubious honor of being the only eatery inspected to date. It seems the restaurant wasn't actually selling foie gras, it was giving it away. Well, not quite giving it away. The menu offered a complimentary foie gras terrine with its wild mushroom confit salad. The inspectors neglected to ask whether the salad would cost as much without the terrine. As anyone who's ever purchased any foie gras can tell you, it wouldn't.

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Filed Under: Lush Life, Ingredients, Chefs & Restaurants, Restaurants
Tags: Chicago, duck liver, DuckLiver, foie gras, FoieGras, Hot Doug's, HotDoug's, liver, midwest cities, poultry

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-10-2007 @4:39PM Heather said... I read Nicole's post and have read several articles since then as well. One thing that I find interesting is that this ban does seem to be coming strictly from the animal activist camp. I'm not an expert; but, it does seem this is the first time that a movement spurred by an outside group has gained momentum in the culinary industry. (Well, except, perhaps for the anti-egg campaign. But, no one stopped serving or banned the sale of eggs as a result.) I'm not convinced that the city government should be choosing to fight this battle...

While I'm here, I had a very similar thought on the salad side step.
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1-10-2007 @9:41PM bdw said... A city council should focus on zoning, schools, roads, and taxes. They have no business, and probably no legal right to have passed this law, even in the People's Republik of Czechago. I doubt it would pass even the city's own legal system; my brother, a former city attorney and current PA, tells me he would never dream of trying a case like this. It will be unlikely to pass any state supreme court review.

If the law is to be respected, it must be respectable.
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