Foie Gras Ban in Chicago Is Flouted

Doug Sohn, owner of Hot Doug's, a gourmet sausage shop in Chicago, points to a warning letter at his shop Friday, Jan. 5, 2007, that he received about the city ordinance banning the sale of the duck and goose delicacy, foie gras. The city has sent out but a smattering of warning letters, conducted one inspection and has yet to levy its first fine, making it clear that is has little stomach for sniffing out violators of the nation's first ban on foie gras. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (M. Spencer Green - AP)

What inspectors didn't ask, said executive chef and partner John Caputo, is whether the salad would cost as much if it didn't include foie gras. It wouldn't.

Activists, though, say the ban is working.

"Our supporters are going into restaurants and we're told that they are not selling foie gras," said Gene Baur, president of Farm Sanctuary, a national farm animal protection organization.

But those supporters apparently are not going to restaurants such as Sweets & Savories, which continues to sell foie gras and has not been the subject of a single complaint.

"I kind of feel left out," said the restaurant's owner, David Richards.

At Copperblue, the menu includes "'It isn't foie gras any Moore' duck liver terrine" _ named after the ordinance's chief sponsor, Alderman Joe Moore. Chef and owner Michael Tsonton will not say how the dish differs from foie gras, and nobody with the city has asked.

Moore said he realizes the Health Department has more pressing issues. But he is dismayed to see restaurants flouting the ordinance.

"It evinces a certain degree of arrogance on the parts of these establishments," he told the Chicago Tribune.