Upper East Side French brasserie L'Absinthe opened in 1995, but the namesake beverage wasn't officially served until quite recently, because the the anise-flavored liquor was believed to be illegal in the U.S. According to The Wormood Society, absinthe was banned by the FDA in 1917 because of concerns that a chemical called thujone could cause toxic convulsions, brain damage, and liver damage. While later changes to the law don't specifically cite absinthe, it prohibits any food or drink containing an excess of 10ppm of thujone. When a study several years ago determined that absinthe distilled with traditional 19th century methods contains less thujone than the proscribed amount, the path to U.S. distribution was cleared. more ›