Results tagged “foiegras”

Restaurateur Danny Meyer sat down with the Wall Street Journal to talk about the future of the restaurant industry. A number of Meyer’s competitors have gone out of business this year because of the recession, and while the USHG boss has been asked about cost-cutting maneuvers before, here Meyer specifically addresses the future of high-end dining in New York:

“I don’t think there’s going to be sustainable demand for restaurants that force you to spend hours there. Long tasting menus will continue to be elected by some but cannot be legislated by the restaurant. We’re going to have more bistros and trattorias. People will have luxury items—caviar, foie gras, truffles—less frequently, having done without them for a year and a half, but they will come to appreciate them more because it won’t be at every bar and grill in the city.”

Plated delivers the origin story of a dish as told by a restaurant’s chefs and/or owners. Today’s plate is a decidedly non-vegetarian Rabbit, Foie Gras, and Bacon Terrine off the Chef’s Tasting Menu at Le Cirque. The menu honors the famed restaurant’s 1974 grand opening (perhaps you’ve seen the recent documentary); Craig Hopson joined Le Cirque as executive chef last November. This dish is one of six that Hopson cooked for the Maccioni family, and one that ultimately got him the job.

Last month anti-foie gras activists got some media attention with their demonstrations outside East Village restaurant Knife + Fork; now they've set their sights on David Chang's high-profile Momofuku restaurant family. In a rant published by Eater, Chang writes that a man recently delivered a letter to Ko saying "if we continue to serve foie gras he will 'encourage' his activists to 'demonstrate outside our establishment' leading to 'negative' publicity." Chang thinks the anti-foie gras movement is highly misguided, and cites a recent Village Voice feature on the humane conditions at Hudson Valley Foie Gras, where he sources his product. He says he's visited the farm too, and insists the ducks "live a good life, free of cages and with plenty of area to roam." So to show these foie gripers he won't be "intimidated," Chang's adding at least one foie gras dish to each of his menus at his various restaurants: "We'll donate any proceeds from those dishes to charity, including City Harvest and The Food Bank for NYC—both of which are in dire need of money and support to help feed our city’s poorest and hungriest citizens."

The Village Voice's Sarah DiGregorio has made no secret of her fondness for foie gras, so we approached her exposé on America's largest foie gras farm with a bit of skepticism. But the expansive cover story about her visit to Hudson Valley Foie Gras, one of just four in the U.S., brings some clarity to the impassioned debate. According to her observations, the short lives of ducks at Hudson Valley are seemingly torture-free, all things considered. Of course, it's possible she was "witnessing an elaborate cover-up," as one New York Humane Society rep predicted, but DiGregorio insists the owners allowed her untrammeled access to the farm, where 4,000 to 6,000 ducks are "processed" a week, and—unlike in Europe—live their 15-week lives in a cage-free environment. While there, she witnessed the entire process, noting only one dead duck, zero duck vomit, and concluded, "The fact that some industrial farms elsewhere are making foie gras in inhumane ways doesn't mean that all foie gras production is inhumane. You can buy humanely raised chicken, or you can buy chicken that's had a nasty, brutal life. The same goes for foie gras."

Chef-owner Damien Brassel of the East Village restaurant Knife + Fork is finding his place, somewhat unexpectedly, at the center of the foie gras cruelty debate: According to a post on The Feedbag, Brassel was confronted last weekend by a man who told him “stop serving Foie Gras or else,” who then “promised a protest.” On Saturday, eight protestors stationed themselves outside Knife + Fork; elsewhere, lawsuits from animal rights activists continue to challenge to ethics of foie gras production, which are considered by some to be cruel. Brassel is the only cook in the small restaurant, which has a pint-sized kitchen he shares with his potwasher. He told the Feedbag “I expect them to be back this Saturday and I’ll have a new foie gras dish ready for them.”

As part of their long-running campaign to ban foie gras, PETA has launched their "Fine Faux Foie Gras Challenge." The animal rights group hopes top chefs will join their effort to ban the force-feeding of geese, and to sweeten the deal, they're offering a $10,000 prize for the best vegetarian faux foie gras that's "comparable in taste and texture to the real glob of prized bird fat." Sarah DiGregorio at the Voice nominates the portobello mousse at chef Amanda Cohen's Dirt Candy (friend of Gothamist). The critic cautions that while Cohen's mousse is not as delicious as actual livers from force-fed ducks, "it's awfully tasty, and inventive too." But what to call the stuff? Grub Street fears "Tofoie," or "Champignon Gras" lack the cachet demanded by a delicacy derived from ducks and geese with painfully engorged livers. (Detect any bias on this one?)

Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the nation's largest producer, is used to fending off lawsuits brought by animal rights activists, but yesterday they won a bit of a reprieve. A New York State appeals court dismissed the majority of a case brought by the U.S. Humane Society, which was challenging an Empire State Development Corporation grant that Hudson Valley Foie Gras received in 2006. The court held that most of the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit.

Last week, City Councilman Tony Avella introduced a resolution to urge the state senate to outlaw the force-feeding of ducks and geese to produce foie gras. A bill has been on the back burners in Albany, and Avella hopes that his resolution will move things forward. Ariane Daugin, head of D'Artagnan, the nation's leading foie gras purveyor, had a some strong opinions to share on the matter. Read more about her opposition (and see the Humane Society's video of the duck and geese) here.

City councilman and mayoral hopeful Tony Avella held a press conference today at City Hall to spotlight a pending council resolution urging the New York State Senate to outlaw force-feeding ducks and geese to produce foie gras. A bill to ban the practice is languishing in Albany, and Avella hopes his largely symbolic gesture will push it forward.

The city's top restaurants represented in full force yesterday at D'Artagnan's Fourth Annual Duckathlon, a culinary competition where chefs tackle food-related and often wacky challenges throughout the Chelsea Market and Meatpacking District.

Charting the New York Times bestseller list for the third consecutive week is a memoir by the 42 year-old Las Vegas chef Jeffrey Henderson. Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras, is Henderson’s tale of becoming a teenage drug dealer in South Central Los Angeles, getting caught and going to federal prison, and of how Henderson ultimately flourished in restaurant kitchens as a chef, something that changed his life. When he sold cocaine, the 19 year-old Henderson was making up to $35,000 a week; now he’s the executive chef of the Bellagio Café, which grosses 25 million dollars a year. Two weeks ago, it was announced that Will Smith’s production company will make the movie version of Cooked, with Smith possibly starring as Henderson.

Anthony Bourdain, who has taken to guest-blogging for Michael Ruhlman, has already offered his opinions on Top Chef contestants. Now, he's on to bigger and better targets -- the personalities on the Food Network. He admits to watching it, "I find myself riveted by its awfulness, like watching a multi-car accident in slow motion," and has plenty to say about those who grace its airwaves. Emeril: "I STILL find him unwatchable." Giada: "Food Net seems more interested in her enormous head (big head equals big ratings. Really!) and her cleavage--than the fact that she’s likeable, knows what she’s doing in an Italian kitchen--and makes food you’d actually want to eat." Rachel Ray: "She’s a friendly, familiar face who appears regularly on our screens to tell us that '[e]ven your dumb, lazy ass can cook this!'" Sandra Lee: "Pure evil. This frightening Hell Spawn of Kathie Lee and Betty Crocker seems on a mission to kill her fans, one meal at a time."

January 13: Seasonal Game Cooking Class

Gothamist has never had a taste for foie gras (although, some of us do) as we can't get past the fact that we're eating liver, but animal rights activists are trying to get the delicacy banned entirely. In an appeal to the state legislature, groups including the Humane Society asked the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets to label foie gras as an "adulterated" food, which is defined as food that is "diseased, contaminated, filthy, putrid or decomposed." This would give the agriculture commissioner the option of banning foie gras. The Times gets what could be the best quote regarding this issue from Eric Ripert, the executive chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin who sighs and then says:

We can criticize how foie gras is produced and be concerned about the health of the duck and blah, blah, blah, O.K., fine.

Ah, the end of the year. A time to look back and reflect on the things that have happend. Also, a time to get wasted. But that's neither here nor there (ok, it's a bit here, but it's ok to start drinking past noon, right?). We've already looked back at the year as we wrote it, but what about the year as you commented on it? Seems a reasonable enough request. So without further ado, we bring you, the Top 10 Commented Gothamist Posts of 2005:

Zocalo is featuring one of our summer favorites with corn specials throughout the menu for one week: Mexican Popcorn at the bar, corn-on-the-cob with chipotle mayo, lime and queso fresco, quesadilla de huitlacoche, and a blue corn cake with roasted pork, tomatillo salsa and fava beans, among others. Zocalo, 174 E. 82nd St., 212-717-7772.

May 25: "Belly" Dancing -- North African Food and Wine Pairing

March 16th: International Chocolate Panel. The folks at the at 92nd Street Y are putting together a panel discussion and a fantastic-sounding tasting of chocolate from around the world. The panel, moderated by author and culinary historian Alexandra Leaf, includes Stephanie Teuwen, special events producer for the Chocolate Show, Clay Gordon, chocolate critic and founder of the New World Chocolate Society (sign us up for that one!), Francois Payard, chef-owner of Payard Patisserie & Bistro, and Bill Yosses, executive chef of Joseph’s Citarella. Tickets are $45 and can be bought online. 7:30 PM, 1395 Lexington Avenue (92nd and Lexington), (212)415-5500.

Gluttony can sometimes be a good thing, like when it can raise money to benefit Action Against Hunger’s (AAH) tsunami relief effort. Embrace your gluttonous side, and hit up the Institute of Culinary Education's fundraisers next Monday and Tuesday.

It was everything we could have hoped for and more! From vintage champagne that smelled like wildflowers to the ice wine that tasted of honey and pineapple to the braised veal cheeks that tasted like . . .like . . . a little piece of heaven – our taste buds certainly got a workout at the Grand Tasting 2004.