California C.H.E.F.S. Host Foie Gras Super Dinner

By Garrett Snyder Tue., May 1 2012 at 3:59 PM

G. Snyder

Fight for Your Right to Foie

In protest of California's rapidly approaching foie gras ban, C.H.E.F.S. (the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards), an organization that sounds like a maniacal conglomerate out of a James Bond film, or perhaps a culinary-slanted take on the Avengers, announced yesterday that it will be undertaking a massive four-restaurants-in-one-night series of dinners loaded with 23 star chefs -- enough toque power to be worthy of big-screen adaptation. Melisse, the Royce at the Langham, Lemon Moon and Animal will host simultaneous dinners on May 14, with each assembling a team of guest chefs from all across California. Turn the page for the lineup so far.

Melisse: Chef Josiah Citrin, Raphel Lunetta of JiRaffe, Waterloo & City's Brendan Collins, Bay Area chefs Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani of Terra, Justin Wangler of Kendall Jackson, One Market's Mark Dommen

Lemon Moon: Patina's Tony Esnault, Palate's Octavio Becerra, Joey Elentario of Chez TJ, Dustin Valette of Charlie Palmer's Dry Kitchen in Healdsburg, Marc Zimmerman of San Francisco's Alexander's Steakhouse

Animal: Chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, Ludo Lefebvre, Michael Voltaggio and La Folie's Roland Passot

The Royce at the Langham: Chef David Feau, Michael Cimarusti of Providence, Micah Wexler of Mezze, Doug Kean of Cyrus in Sonoma, Victor Scargle from Lucy at Bardessono in Napa, Peter Armellino of Saratgoa's Plumed Horse

The dinners are all priced at $200 per person, except Lemon Moon, a tad cheaper at $150 per person. Each team will produce a different menu, likely with an emphasis on the ingredient that they're cooking to defend. You can check out some of the menus here -- pistachio-crusted foie gras, foie gras custard, foie gras terrine with strawberry and rhubarb -- they all read like the scene in Forrest Gump where Bubba lists off his favorite ways to enjoy shrimp.

The proceeds from the dinners will go toward C.H.E.F.S.' efforts to lobby against California's impending foie ban and to instead pass a charter that would mandate regular audits by animal welfare experts.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite, though the dinner at Animal -- not surprisingly -- is already sold out.

Location Info

Venue

Map

Melisse

1104 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA

Category: Restaurant

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Lemon Moon

12200 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Category: Restaurant

Animal

435 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA

Category: Restaurant

The Royce at the Langham Hotel

1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave., Pasadena, CA

Category: Restaurant

Tags:

Animal, C.H.E.F.S., foie gras ban, Garrett Snyder, Lemon Moon, Melisse, The Royce at Langham

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Guest

Are the "murderous creeps" that produce a small scale delicacy somehow more murderous and creepy than the chicken and beef producers that abuse millions more animals for the consumption of everyday folks? I think not. If the discomfort of a relatively small number of ducks means a lot to you, then you should be triply outraged by what happens to far greater numbers of chickens and cows every day.

LJ Williamson

I'd be happy to support a foie gras ban AFTER the other factory farm animal abuses of mega corporations like Tyson were corrected. Foie gras is small potatoes compared to the millions of beakless chickens in cages to small to spread their wings, or the millions of cows forced to live on dirt feedlots. Correct those massive and widespread abuses first, THEN sweat the small stuff.

Patrick

http://new.evite.com/?utm_sour...

Burkey Devitt

The following is why we should boycott these murderous creeps for the suffering they cause, all in the name of a fancy, expensive meal. This is a barbaric custom that must be stopped.

"Delicacy of Despair"To produce "foie gras" (which literally means "fatty liver"), workers ram pipes down male ducks' or geese's throats two or three times daily and pump as much as 4 pounds of grain and fat into the animals' stomachs, causing their livers to bloat to up to 10 times their normal size. Many birds have difficulty standing because of their engorged livers, and they may tear out their own feathers and cannibalize each other out of stress.The birds are kept in tiny wire cages or packed into sheds. On some farms, a single worker may be expected to force-feed 500 birds three times each day. Because of this rush, animals are often treated roughly and left injured and suffering.

Dan Hess

You know, I'd be HAPPY to accept a state-mandated foie gras ban if...and only IF...the same state senators who proposed and passed this ban could do this first:

balance and pass a state budget, improve our failing public school system, fix the flawed penal system, re-establish California as a hub of diverse industries across the state, provide better assistance to the increasing number of poor, homeless and in-debt, turn around the real estate market, make a final stance on marriage equality that reflects the state's supposed commitment to equal rights...and so on and so forth.

IF the folks in Sacramento can do all of that...or even HALF of that, then this foie gras lover will gladly never eat goose liver again.

Rade

Don't like fois gras? Don't fucking buy it then. I love it! I can't get enough...but guess what, it's full of fat and will probably kill me...but that's my own problem. Vegetarians need to stop worrying about it, save it for real problems in this world and stop acting like the Food Gestapo

eatavegan

Have you ever seen the one sole foie california producers farm? There is nothing close to what you describe in your ill informed rant. Maybe check some facts before spewing. Or better yet just shut the fuck up in general. What the fuck makes you think you have a right to try to force your dietary standards on me? This bill is the culinary equivalent of the spanish inquisition. Vegan extremists/ terrorists puzzle me. With all the human trafficking, homelessness, unjust wars, and political corruption in the world this is where you choose to put your energy. And on top of this they threaten and harass people who don't share your views.