You may have read that, last month, Doug Sohn, sausage guru at the cultish meats emporium Hot Doug's, was the first (and still the only) chef in town to be hit with a ticket for serving foie gras. Well, he was finally arraigned yesterday and slapped with a fine of $250, the minimum penalty. Chicago opted for a tap on the wrist (rather than the maximum $500 fine) since it was his first offense. He also told me: "I have no plans to sell foie gras as long as it's still illegal. It's not worth jeopardizing my business." That's a switch, however, from what he said just weeks before the ban went into effect in August, when he told me he might just sell the bun and give the foie gras away for no charge.
And what happened to the 30 pounds of foie gras and foie gras sausages that were tagged by city health inspectors? He was allowed to take it home. A Department of Public Health spokesperson said, "There's no point in wasting good food."