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Correction to This Article
The Aug. 23 Dispatch From Chicago incorrectly said that Chicago chef Rick Tramonto opposes selling foie gras. Tramonto opposes the city's ban on foie gras and sold it throughout the summer at his Tru restaurant.
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Restaurateurs See Faux Pas in Ban on Foie Gras

Chef Allen Sternweiler and Colleen McShane, of the Illinois Restaurant Association, talk about a lawsuit filed seeking to overturn a Chicago ban on foie gras.
Chef Allen Sternweiler and Colleen McShane, of the Illinois Restaurant Association, talk about a lawsuit filed seeking to overturn a Chicago ban on foie gras. (By Charles Rex Arbogast -- Associated Press)
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Gadsby jokingly wondered whether he could cook with handcuffs on. He said he'd like to hold underground secret foie gras dinners or label foie gras as "duck liver" or "monkfish liver" to sell it.

Meanwhile, various chefs have reported demand for foie gras mushrooming since the ordinance was approved.

"Before, a lot of people didn't even know what foie gras is. Now they all want to try it," said Chicago chef Roger Herring, who held a foie gras tasting at his restaurant Socca late Monday. "I'm using this to celebrate the end of something, but it actually seems more like a beginning."

Impending prohibition certainly increased foie gras's allure for diners at the Outlaw Dinner.

"This seems like the rebellious thing to do," said one woman who declined to give her name.

Another item on the menu, wild morels, were briefly banned in California because of fears they would be confused with poisonous mushrooms. Absinthe in its hallucinogenic form -- with wormwood -- is banned in the United States. (The absinthe Gadsby served did not contain wormwood.) Unpasteurized imported cheeses have faced various restrictions because of health concerns. Gadsby also served duck cooked sous vide , a style where vacuum-sealed meat is stewed in below-boiling-point water for long time periods. It has also been banned for health reasons.

Kou Patra and Saurabh Shah, both physicians, attended Gadsby's dinner on their first day in Chicago after moving from Cleveland. They recently returned from vacationing in France, where they ate foie gras regularly. "I can't believe we moved to a place where they banned foie gras," said Patra, 33.

Some Chicagoans are outraged at what they see as a patronizing law, even if they rarely eat foie gras.

"They might as well make a citywide bedtime ordinance," said bartender David Brown, 29, who feasted on the outlaw ingredients with his wife, Jennifer, at 676. "It's like banning smoking. If I'm a bartender, I don't run a health club. We're adults; we're allowed to have bad habits."


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