Posted on 12/22/2006 11:50:58 AM PST by DogByte6RER
Let 'em eat foie gras, they declare
Almost 4 months after ban, a number of restaurants appear to be dishing up the delicacy with impunity
By Josh Noel Tribune staff reporter
December 21, 2006
NOTE: This story contains corrected material, published Dec. 22, 2006.
When the letter came from City Hall threatening punishment if he continued to serve foie gras at his North Side restaurant, Doug Sohn framed the warning and set it beside his cash register.
And he kept serving the fattened duck liver without a care.
"We displayed it proudly," said Sohn, owner of Hot Doug's, a gourmet sausage eatery where the daily special can include smoked pheasant topped with foie gras chunks. "My customers and myself enjoy foie gras."
Almost four months after an ordinance went into effect that forbids serving the rich delicacy, many chefs and restaurateurs are shrugging, if not thumbing their noses, at a law that has led to charges of an overly invasive City Council.
Several restaurants are so brazen, they list foie gras on their online menus.
While the city considers other ordinances to force restaurants to eliminate trans fats and disclose the nutritional information about items on its menus, it has barely pursued foie gras scofflaws.
The city has sent warning letters to nine restaurants believed to have served foie gras but issued no citations, Chicago Department of Public Health spokesman Tim Hadac said. Letters are sent after a citizen complaint and are followed by a visit after a second complaint. Visits that turn up evidence of the banished dish can result in fines from $250 to $500.
But Mayor Richard Daley is no fan of the ban--just this week, he called it "the silliest law" the City Council has ever passed.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
This is the epitome of Nanny-Statism.
Kudos to those restaurants flouting the foie gras ban. It's nice to hear that there are still some people willing to stand up for personal choice and freedom and the free market.
First the smokers. Then overweight people. Then the gun owners. and so it goes. woe.
The chef is here. Good eats for everyone.
'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
You can have my seared fois gras when you pry it out of my cold dead hand.
LOL, that sounds like something Frasier Crane would say with an agitated air of righteous indignation.
Foie gras is delicious. I hope they fight this to the last cornichon.
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