First this week we heard that Presidio Social Club in S.F. is going to ring in Bastille Day by restarting the sale of foie gras, they believe legally, because they sit on federal land (this is already being debated in a front-page story in today’s Chron). Now, Chez TJ in Mountain View has decided to side-step the foie gras ban much in the way Chicago chefs did with the short-lived ban in that city in 2006. Chef Joey Elenterio tells ABC 7, “My customers want foie gras. I’m going to give it to them.” The menu now clearly states, albeit with a misspelling, that “all foie gras is complementary[sic] from the chef,” the argument being that it’s not being sold, and therefore it’s not illegal. We’re certain that other chefs in the Bay Area are doing something similar, though not squawking to the press about it because they don’t enjoy militant animal rights activists picketing their doorways, and we’re not naming any names yet.
Elenterio further covers his ass saying that he purchased his stock of foie legally, pre-ban, and he’ll restock via Nevada.
Below, the ABC 7 report, which also visits Presidio Social Club, and speaks to an anti-foie activists who calls bullshit on all of them.
Here’s hoping this thing gets overturned with greater speed than the two years it took in Chicago, because prohibitions like this are dumb and fraught with loopholes.
Bay Area restaurants work around foie gras ban [ABC 7]
Earlier: French Snub Their Noses at the Foie Gras Ban; S.F. Restaurant Starts Serving It Legally, on Federal Land
San Clemente Cafe The First To Flagrantly Flout Foie Gras Ban
