Chicago's Foie Gras Ban a Lame Canard

My DOUBLETHINK piece on Chicago's foie gras ban is finally up. If you read it, please don't ignore the footnotes, which I'm particularly partial to.

Things that I wish got into the piece but didn't? The word "canard" in the title. It's perfect. Another day. And my list of thank-yous, which was to include Chef Didier and the chefs and staff at Cyrano’s Bistro and Café Simone cabaret, Chicago Chefs for Choice, Don Gordon, and the chefs at Café Le Coq, Mas Restaurant, Bin 36, Bank Lane Bistro, Juicy Wine Company, Twisted Spoke, and Vanille Patisserie. So thanks to them.

Of course, if foie's not your bag, you could always read about how a dude "with tree branches duct-taped to his head and torso walked into a Citizens Bank just as it opened Saturday morning and demanded cash from a teller."

Better yet, why not read both?

Chicago Foie Gras Suit Tossed

This is garbage.

A federal judge Tuesday upheld Chicago's controversial ban on foie gras, but proponents say they're planning a new battle to get the delicacy back in restaurants.

The elder statesman of the City Council is planning to reintroduce a repeal of the year-old foie gras ban at today's City Council meeting. Mayor Daley has ridiculed the ban and several aldermen have indicated they may support a repeal.

In dismissing the lawsuit by the Illinois Restaurant Association, U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning ruled that the city had a constitutional right to enact the ban.

Repeal, appeal possible

The Illinois Restaurant Association said it was considering an appeal. "We feel that foie gras is a legal product and the ban is infringing on our owner's right to sell it," said Kenneth Sawyer, director of government relations for the association.

I've read the suit (for a piece in the upcoming issue of Doublethink) and found it not only spot-on constitutionally but also pretty damn brilliant. I hope they do appeal (especially since a judge reviewing a dismissed suit would have to look at the facts in a light most favorable to the plaintiff -- the association -- when reviewing a dismissed suit like this one).

Good News Update (via Chicagoist):

On a related note, we were alerted yesterday to a tiny section (Section 123) of the pending USDA Farm Bill that could potentially render all of this scuffling moot in the long run anyway. Section 123 denies states and localities the right to enact bans relating to food safety and animal welfare. From what we have been reading, the primary goal of this section is to prohibit states from regulating genetically engineered crops or food, [...but...] the language is such that local- and state-level bans on foie gras and horse slaughter, for example, would also be affected.

If you can't get enough foie gras talk, Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) will reintroduce a repeal of the year-old foie gras ban at today's City Council meeting. Bon Appetit!

Chicago's Foie Gras Ban May Itself be Banned

From the Chicago Tribune's Clout Street blog:

Dozens of animal-rights activists blasted Mayor Richard Daley's push to repeal Chicago's year-old foie gras ban at a rally at City Hall before this morning's City Council meeting.

Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), a Daley ally, said he expected a measure to rescind the ordinance against serving the goose-liver dish would be introduced at the council today.

[Ellipsis]

After the activists displayed poster-sized photos of force-fed fowl and enlarged goose livers for TV cameras, French restaurant owner Didier Durand stood in the 2nd floor lobby in a tall chef's hat to tell reporters that foie gras is magnifique.

I blogged about the fantastic Chef Didier a few months ago while in Chicago, where I met and interviewed him. Right now I'm working on a piece for Doublethink magazine on Durand (he runs the top-notch Cyrano's Bistro and founded Chicago Chefs for Choice), the ban, and two ways it could be repealed (either via the City Council or a creative lawsuit filed by the Illinois Restaurant Association). The piece should be online next month -- hopefully after the ban is no more.

Opposing Chicago's Olympics Bid

Chicago has a very handsome website set up to hype its bid for the 2016 Olympics. Screw that. I'll take the message touted by anti-Chicago Olympics site Not Chicago.

Not Chicago supports the bids submitted by venues other than Chicago because we would very much prefer that the Olympics be held somewhere other than Chicago -- anywhere but Chicago.... No other city is as well suited to not hosting the Olympics as Chicago.

So far, the city has yet to come up with a mascot. (One Chicagoist commenter, Mr. Beef, suggested last year the mascot be a "Giant Beef Sandwich, we can call him BEEFY!") Not Chicago, though, has Ricky Rat™, who

says he'll be happy to join his millions of fellow Chicago-area rodents in welcoming Olympic athletes and fans to Chicago in 2016 if our campaign is unsuccessful and Chicago is selected as the host city for the Summer Games.

Oddly, neither the city's website nor Not Chicago notes that Chicago was selected on Saturday as one of 6-7 finalists to host the 2016 games.

Worth checking out: the early debate between realists who don't want their tax dollars to fund the Olympic boondoggle and those who are willing to look past the facts just to see their city's name -- and theirs -- in lights.

Finally, if I can add my $.02, I'd love to see the concerns of Chicago libertarians and restaurateurs -- that the city has become the worst kind of nanny in America -- be elucidated when the IOC ultimately decides to turn elsewhere.

Mipselled Tatoo Udpate

The Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn has an interesting update on the CHI-TONW tattoo suit. My previous post here.

Me? I'm siding with the buyer.

Probably Better Than "SHI-TOWN"

A Chicago man is suing a tattoo artist who inked "CHI-TONW" (rather than "CHI-TOWN") on the man's chest in 2005.

"It was so embarrassing," [Michael] Duplessis, 40, said Thursday from his home on the Northwest Side. "It was on my chest, and it was spelled wrong. I had to deal with all the people teasing me about it."

[Ellipsis]

Duplessis signed a release, but the defendants modified it once the error occurred by writing "chi-tonw" across the top of the form, according to the lawsuit.

More here.

Signs of Hope for Liberty in (of all Places!) Chicago

I'm in Chicago, having come here on Friday for the annual Federalist Society student symposium (panels were great, attendees not so much), stuck around for a LEEWS law-school-exam prep course, and gotten snowbound and marooned since then.

Last night I had the unbelievable fortune (the result of a cancelled flight) to spend some time with a truly visionary chef, Didier Durand of Cyrano's Bistrot, and a group of dedicated foie gras aficionados, at a benefit for Chicago Chefs for Choice, a group co-founded by Chef Didier, an early opponent of the ban.

The benefit, which took place on the heels of a Windy City establishment being fined for serving foie gras, a first, was aptly titled Freedom of Choice. It consisted of close to a dozen courses, nearly all of which (including dessert) featured some form of the delectable duck liver.

The event was also a fundraiser for Chicago alderman candidate Don Gordon, who spoke eloquently of his opposition to the ban and of restoring the right of restaurant owners to sell foie gras to their customers. Gordon, for his part, is running against Joe Moore, who sponsored the foie gras ban and who, I'm told, snuck the ban through by burying it in an uncontroversial a wildlife bill. Gordon, a businessman who picked up a coveted endorsement from the Chicago Tribune, has a real chance to unseat nanny stater Moore in tomorrow's election. If you live in the 49th Ward, I encourage you to vote early (and often) for Don Gordon.

I collected some great audio from Chef Didier and the attendees and plan to post it someplace as soon as I can get back to my #&$@ing home. Stay tuned.