Entries associated with the tag "Foie Gras":

Saturday at 10 AM at Kendall College (900 N. North Branch), the Chicago Foodways Roundtable presents Chef Louis Szathmáry and "The Bakery" Restaurant, a talk by Barbara Kuck on the Hungarian immigrant who founded the longtime Chicago institution. $3. 

Pastoral will be serving free duck foie gras on homemade crostini at both its Lakeview (2945 N. Broadway, 11 AM-7 PM) and Loop (53 E. Lake, noon-6 PM) locations this Saturday in an impromptu celebration of the city's repeal of the foie gras ban--never mind that the repeal doesn't go into effect till later this month. This may be your last chance to taste the forbidden liver while it's still forbidden; after that it's just controversial like before. 

The Drinking and Writing Brewery celebrates American Craft Beer Week with the second annual Beerfly Alleyfight, a “tri-pairing” of beer, food, and art, Saturday from 1-5 PM at Rock Bottom Brewery (1 E. Grand). Ten home brewers will bring a beer and food pairing, and a local artist will “interpret” each entry “in an ass-kickin’, alleyfight way” in a boxing ring. The artists include Neo-Futurists Jay Torrence and Diana Slickman, dancer Mindy Meyers, potter Marla Seibold, and the musical duo Twang Bang.

The annual Rare Breeds Show at Garfield Farm Museum, near Geneva, is Sunday from 11 AM to 4 PM. This year it features Don Schrider of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, who'll lead a seminar on rare chicken breeding and selection Saturday from 10 AM to 3 PM ($20, reservations required). At the show itself, owners of rare breeds like fainting goats (pictured), Babydoll Southdown sheep, and miniature Hereford cattle will show and discuss their animals. $6 adults, $3 children under 13.

The Chicago History Museum's Exploring Chicago's Yeast Side: A History of Beer, a boat tour with Berghoff beer provided, is Sunday from 6:30 to 9 PM, leaving from the Chicago Line Cruises dock at North Pier, 465 N. McClurg Court. $45 ($40 members).

Sunday from 4-7 PM at Weegee's (3659 W. Armitage), mixologists and Slow Foodies Allen Katz and Bridget Albert host Slow Food Chicago’s benefit "Consider the Cocktail," “a slow celebration of the repeal of Prohibition.” During an evening of “fine drink, long tales, and festive camaraderie” (plus hors d’oeuvres), they’ll give a talk and demonstration on our country’s contributions to the art of imbibing. Proceeds go to Slow Food USA. $50, reservations required.

Tours of the Rick Bayless Organic Garden—a mix of traditional and raised beds, containers, and indoor garden spaces on three adjacent Bucktown lots—begin Wednesday, 6:30-7:30 PM. Bill Shores, who manages the garden, will discuss the chef’s outdoor kitchen, commercial organic vegetable garden, and worm composting systems as well as what’s in season now (salad greens). Additional tours are scheduled for June 11, July 16 and 23, August 13, and September 10. E-mail for reservations and address. $20.

Zinfandel Advocates and Producers is holding a tasting with wineries including Gnarly Head, Peachy Canyon, and Rancho Zabaco at the Mid-America Club Tuesday from 6:30-8:30 PM. $45.

Lack of space prevented me from writing about an exciting side project of enfant terrible Albert D'Angelo, the subject of this week's Omnivorous, who's been variously described by colleagues as the Criss Angel of the kitchen, an overprivileged carpetbagger cynically trying to make a nut on Chicago's shiny new reputation as a culinary capital, and the next Next Food Network Star. D'Angelo, who first attracted this sort of attention in Manhattan's underground restaurant scene, has taken that concept to another level by starting an artisanal foie gras farm in an abandoned candy factory on the west side.

Naturally, he wouldn't tell me where it was, but he says his unnamed investor budgeted "significant outlays to discourage government interference." He did introduce me to the magnificent prizewinning male Muscovy duck (pictured) who sired the first flock of ducklings, numbering several dozen so far. D'Angelo named him Joe Moore, and says the livers of his offspring should be ready for Tuesday night's first seating.

There's an extra item on the agenda of this morning's last minute City Council meeting on affordable housing. Last week 14th Ward alderman Ed Burke--he of the trans fat ban--announced his intention to introduce a parliamentary maneuver that will rescue the repeal of the fois gras ordinance from the Health Committee, where it's been gathering dust for months, and bring it before a full vote of the council.

A few weeks ago a council member on the Health Committee told me that when Joe Moore's initial foie gras ban was before the council, aldermen were besieged by calls from activists--not necessarily Chicago residents--urging them to pass it. This weekend Moore mustered his troops, sending out the e-mail below urging his followers to call the mayor and Burke in protest. Note the qualifier "If you live in Chicago," indicating those on Moore's mailing list aren't necessarily Chicagoans, let alone residents of the 49th Ward.

"Dear Friend,

"I got word late yesterday that Chicago Alderman Edward Burke has announced his intention to call for a *City Council vote on to repeal Chicago's ban on the sale of foie gras.*  The vote is scheduled to take place early Monday morning.

"As you may recall, Aldermen Bernard Stone and Burton Natarus introduced an ordinance a few months ago to repeal Chicago's historic ban on the sale of foie gras, which passed the City Council last year.  The ordinance was referred to the City Council Committee on Health, chaired by Alderman Ed Smith.  Alderman Smith has been a staunch supporter of the foie gras ban and has so far refused to hold a hearing on the repeal ordinance. Alderman Burke confirmed that either he or a colleague may invoke a little-used City Council rule that permits an alderman to move to "discharge" from committee any proposed ordinance that has been in a City Council committee for more that sixty days.  To be successful, a motion to discharge a matter from committee requires the support of a majority of those voting on the issue.  If the motion is successful, the matter is brought to the floor of the City Council for a debate and vote.  To become law, the repeal must obtain 26 votes, i.e., a majority of the City Council.

"Mayor Daley's former chief-of-staff, Sheila O'Grady, just became the new Executive Director of the Illinois Restaurant Association and is pushing to have a vote taken on the foie gras ordinance before the new City Counciltakes over next week.  She likely has Mayor Daley's support.

"Alderman Ed Smith informed me he will strongly oppose any attempt to discharge the foie gras repeal ordinance from his committee.  Alderman Stone, one of the co-sponsors of the repeal, also told me he will oppose the motion to discharge.   As I indicated, a motion to discharge a matter from committee over the strong objections of the committee chair is almost unheard of.  Alderman Smith is well-respected among his colleagues, and it is likely that a majority of the City Council will oppose the motion to discharge out of respect for Alderman Smith.

"Nevertheless, we can't take anything for granted.  *We need to flood Mayor Daley, Alderman Ed Burke and other members of the City Council with calls opposing any effort to repeal the foie gras ban.*  The City Council meeting begins 8:30 Monday morning, so you need to call this weekend.

"Call Mayor Daley at 312-744-5000.

"Call Alderman Ed Burke at 773-471-1414.

"If you live in Chicago, also *call your Alderman's neighborhood office.*

"Finally, if you are able to do so, please attend the City Council meeting on Monday at 8:30 a.m.

"Please pass this e-mail on to others who may be interested in defeating thisattempt to roll back the progress we have made.

"I will continue to keep you informed.

"Thanks for your continued support.

"Alderman Joe Moore"

Wolfgang Puck has nailed his own nine-point animal welfare improvement program to the door of gastronomy: "I want to be a leader on the issue of how we treat the animals we eat," says he. The program, announced today, has as its first item the elimination of foie gras from all of Puck's restaurants; other declarations involve not using eggs, pork or veal harvested from caged or crated animals, "featur[ing] delicious vegetarian options" and including "Certified Organic selections on its menus," and serving only certified sustainable seafood.

The newsworthy nature of this has much to do, of course, with its economic ramifications---although the foie gras part of it all is what's grabbing headlines. (The announcement also conveniently coincides with both Spago's 25th anniversary and the recent news about a Puck catering employee having hepatitis A.) It's hard to imagine many people caring if a small organic restaurant made similar proclamations, but Puck estimates his companies' value as $360 million. He seems sincere ("It’s time for us to make a statement and a time for us to see how we treat what we eat"), and is realistic and clear about both the fact that "healthy animals taste better," and that there is occasional trade-off, as with veal, for instance: non-crated calf meat "has more flavor. But it can be tougher." 

Puck worked with the Humane Society in making his move. Not clear is how involved was Farm Sanctuary, the animal rights group legally entangled in our city's foie gras debate. The group, which has been leafletting at Puck's restaurants and was behind the online protest site wolfgangpuckcruelty.org, claims to have influenced him. Says the chef: "People coming here once a week with signs has nothing to do with my decision. The protest didn't affect me at all."

Cyrano's chef Didier Durand grew up in Bergerac, in southwest France, where his maman raised ducks and used the whole bird for foie gras, magret, and confit. For him fighting the city's foie gras ban isn't a matter of economics or publicity--it's personal. As spokesman for Chicago Chefs for Choice, the shock troops in the Illinois Restaurant Association's legal battle to end the ban, he organized a series of benefits last summer to raise funds, netting $12,000 to pay the lawyers. They tell him it'll cost almost $250,000 to fight City Hall, but say the City (i.e., you and me) will run up almost twice as much defending the unenforceable. 

Now he's hosting round two of a series of foie-centered events at the restaurant, featuring the contributions of (so far) 42 chefs. Monday, January 22, is a $79 "hors d'oeuvres fantasy" with snacks from Cafe Matou, Emilio's, A Tavola, Pastoral, and others. The following night there's a $99 grazing with tastes from Allen's, Nomi, and oddly, the Billy Goat's Sam Sianis, and more. Sunday, January 28, is a $139 dinner and gala prepared by Courtright's, Aria, Bittersweet, Graham Elliot Bowles from Avenues, and fellow lawbreaker Michael Tsonton from Copperblue. Finally, two nights before the election is a six-course extravaganza featuring dishes from Cafe Le Coq, Mas, Bin 36, the Four Seasons, and the Twisted Spoke, with a side of Hot Doug's duck fat fries. Don Gordon, one of Joe Moore's opponents in the race for 49th Ward alderman, will be stumping at each event.

"The world is laughing at us," says Durand. "These fundraisers will make Chicagoans aware of our misfortune. I feel Julia Child is calling on me to educate the consumer."

Call 312-467-0546 for reservations.

Don't you hate when you have a brilliant idea that later turns out to be so obvious it stands out (to quote that great gastronome Raymond Chandler) like a tarantula on a slice of angel food? To wit: The tale of the city of Chicago's ... how you say ... lack of interest in the foie gras ban, well-reported on this blog, hit the news wires in a big fat AP story Tuesday. Scanning the different headlines and puns ("Liver let liver"; "Eateries duck foie gras ban"), I thought for the 900th time that this city is finally living up to its gangster-era rep in a clear way. Instead of brandy in coffee cups and knocking thrice, it's free livery amuse bouche and the Fwah Graa at Hot Doug's winky-winkeroo.

The AP author made the same connection (of course): "Evoking Chicago’s Prohibition-era past, when a password could gain entry into a speakeasy, at least one restaurant is rumored to be serving foie gras to customers who ask for the 'special lobster' dish." It's a pretty juicy article; there's even a hilarious quote from David Richards of Sweets & Savories claiming, "I kind of feel left out" (his restaurant hasn't been investigated, although he's apparently received The Letter). There's also another satisfyingly just-the-facts-ma'am quote from Health Department spokesman Tim Hadac: “We need to focus as much as possible on things that actually make people sick and kill people. Our mission is to protect human health and not the health of geese and ducks.’’

Which leads me to my point: although the Prohibition comparison may soon be evoked to the point of tedium, I can't stop thinking about the major Broadway musical we can expect within 10 or 20 years. Or perhaps a Bolcom opera. A kind of Chicago/Untouchables/Gatsby/Scarface/Some Like It Hot/Kurt Weill/Love Me or Leave Me type of thing. With an Eliot Ness restaurant inspector, a Ruth Etting-style sous chef who just can't give up the fatty liver her gangster boyfriend provides (although she really loves a PETA rep), two drag-wearing dishwashers on the run after witnessing a lobe being smuggled into a kitchen, a big boss Richard M. type lurking powerfully in the background, renegade ax-wielding gavage protestors freeing geese by cracking open their barrels, Roxie Hart restaurant PR flaks jumping in front of the cameras. It would write itself! Evoke all the glitz and corruption of the roaring 00s. Bring back the Charleston--I mean, the Cha Cha Slide. Win a Tony. All that. What should we call it?

Last week the Health Department more or less affirmed that "giving away" foie gras is a solid strategy for serving it without getting busted. The Sun-Times reports that Bin 36 was raided last week by city inspectors, who pretty much shrugged and left after discovering that the item was served as a "complimentary sidebar to another dish on the menu."

So, is Joe Moore a sloppy sausage maker (pdf), or what?

Meanwhile, local foie gras scholar Michaela DeSoucey tipped us to this interesting story about a new duck liver controversy across the drink. Is it free range or artificial foie? You decide.

This morning the Tribune had a decent piece about the ineffectiveness of the foie gras ban (previously reported here and here), along with a list of nine restaurants that have received warning letters from the city for violating it. I love the refreshing frankness of the Health Department, which isn't shy about voicing its disdain for the law to anyone who asks. "Enforcing this ban is probably our lowest priority," spokesman Tim Hadac told me, clearly weary of talking to reporters about it. 

The list of offenders is interesting. Hot Doug's, Sweets & Savories, sure, but Connie's? BJ's Market? And where is this mysterious and unimaginatively named restaurant "Pizza"? My biggest question is what sort of person takes the time to rat out these places? Most weren't trying to hide anything but now that they've been so publicly outed, will the anti-foie forces rally and flood the city with subsequent complaints to force fines? Maybe that would help put it all behind us, since a fine could conceivably fast-track a constitutional challenge.

Michaela DeSoucey, a PhD candidate in sociology at Northwestern, is digging into the subject a little more deeply. She's interested in "consumption controversies" and is writing her dissertation on the foie battles in Chicago and elsewhere. Last summer she did an enviable three months of field work in France, visiting chefs, producers, and anti-foie activists, "I was trying to get to their political beliefs," she says. "But it always turned into a cooking lesson."

DeSoucey has witnessed gavage firsthand. It's important for her to be objective, so she's careful how she describes it. She never saw any ducks waddling toward the farmer when he appeared with his funnel, as some on the pro-foie side have claimed. But they never ran away either. "A lot of the anti videos and pro videos are the same," she says. "Its a matter of interpretation and anthropomorphization. " Still, knowing what she knows about factory farming in the U.S., "I'd much rather be a duck than a chicken."

DeSoucey's embarked on the Chicago phase of her research, interviewing chefs all over town, including some on the list of transgressors. Afterward she'll move on to suss out the situation in the only two U.S. states that produce foie gras, California, where a ban will go into effect in 2012, and New York, where similar legislation is afoot. "For me the story is about how cultural authority and ideas about morality mesh together and butt heads depending on the context."

I recently made a big score in fattened duck liver in an attempt to demonstrate how easy it is to flout Joe Moore's foie gras ban. I wanted to credit my purveyor for his flagrant disregard for the law, but he wanted to remain anonymous, not because he was worried about the city cracking down but because he learned a lesson when Didier Durand's place was trashed  in October.

"If it continues to become a debatable item in the press I think that the anticruelty people feel they've won some kind of battle," said my man. "If it's being shoved in their faces like, 'Eh, you might have won the battle but you didn't win the war,' type of thing, then they're gonna look for targets. Last thing I need to do in this weather is come in and find out I don't have a front window."

Still, all it took was one phone call and the livers were mine. No questions asked. Reader contributors Rob Lopata and Kristina Meyer helped with the preparations pictured here. (Click on the thumbnails for descriptions.)

Meanwhile, in a hint at how our international humiliation may reap benefits, last week in the New York Times, Montreal chef Martin Picard of Au Pied de Cochon threatened to come to town to promote his new cookbook, L'Album. Registration is required but here's what he said:

"Maybe I come down and make some cooking . . . . What’s the city where they make illegal foie gras?” Chicago, he was told. “OK, so maybe we take some foie gras, and we go there.”

Chef, you need a place to crash? Ride from the airport? Bodyguards? Give me a call. 

Some expected ramping-up in the legal battle over foie gras: On Monday, Crain's Chicago Business reported that the Illinois Restaurant Association had amended its lawsuit against the city's ordinance banning the service of foie gras. The group now claims the ordinance is unconstitutional (Daley's basic complaint when the law was passed in August) in its attempts to regulate the sale of a national product on a local level. Then on Wednesday, a group including Farm Sanctuary, the U.S.Humane Society, Heartland Cafe, and Bistro Campagne, issued a press release announcing that they had "filed a petition to intervene" in the lawsuit, saying that the "baseless attacks on this humane law are just as tough to swallow as the cruel force-feeding of ducks and geese." The original lawsuit is based on violation of the state's constitution; the city is defending using the idea that it’s "allowed to pass laws that protect its 'image and reputation'"; hence the opening, says the Restaurant Association, for a (U.S.) constitutional argument, since the city is still not addressing interference with "the free flow of goods between states."

Landing with an extravagant thud in mailboxes everywhere right now is that annual testament to the state of specialty foods industry, the Dean & DeLuca holiday catalog. It's surprisingly appealing for being, in the end, just another catalog. It doesn't even rate as conventional food porn -- no oversized, gleaming, so-close-you can-taste-it art like a cookbook, or the Williams-Sonoma catalog. Probably adding to my enthusiasm is the fact that I don't spend long lunch hours the rest of the year at D&Ds in New York trying to decide if I can afford either a 1 oz. slice of pate or crackers. There's still distance and mystery; maybe even a little excitement reminiscent of the Sears “Wish Book” era.

And this is a very expensive wish book. Organic smoked salmon shaved paper thin, squat perfume bottles of syrupy balsamico, Mille Crepes cakes, chocolates and nuts and marrons glaces and spices, and the cutest marzipan pigs you've ever seen. Many things cost more than $100, the standard D&D gift basket is $1,000. (What verb is correct for the way one "reads" catalogs like this....Scan? Eat? Shop? Absorb? I hope it's clear, by the way, that I don't actually buy anything.) The catalog pulls you in, sends your eyes greedily over each page scanning for details.

And there’s no point to an ironic little discussion about the lure of packaging, which here includes but goes way past the world of the round D&D tin. The packaging rocks. You want to pay for it. Because the catalog is a collection of offerings from savvy D&D buyers, the packaging is all beautifully different. In sheer variety it's like a trip through Fortnum’s at Christmas hamper time: Smithfield hams, Provencal calissons, wine labels, all filling the book with a cornucopia of font, color, design. Not to mention the catalog also wants to sell you the hardware from its tableaux: adorable pots de creme or a chocolatiere, for example. Buy some delicious tete de moine and the Girolle that shaves curly cheese ruffles off the top. Get it all! Gimme gimme!

Chicagoans may in particular enjoy the sight of an entire fatty lobe of foie gras glistening naughtily on page eight. Send one to your favorite alderman if you have a spare $120 plus the mandatory next-day delivery charge.