Wow! This repeal of the foie gras prohibition has stirred up some emotions! Here is an oldie but goodie. A few years ago a customer caused a little scene at The Cosmopolitan after the server read the duck trio special that contained a foie gras corndog. She was appalled and wanted me to know how disgusted she was about it. I decided to go to the table to hear her side and maybe explain mine. Needless to say it didnt turn out so good. She then sent a threatening email to the owners and promised to have her entire firm boycott the restaurant and tell the SF Chronicle about it unless I sent a written apology. Here below is that said apology, enjoy: Dear Kathleen, I am writing this letter to respond to your experience at The Cosmopolitan on Monday January 29 2007. First off I would like to apologize to the owners of the restaurant for my behavior. Going out to a table to defend myself from criticism is something I have never done before, not in the 25 years I’ve been cooking. I don’t even go to tables to receive praise. It’s always been my way of keeping a level head about what I do. I believe you’re never as good, or as bad as they say you are. I would also like to apologize to you. If my coming to your table to defend myself and explain my position as to why I would choose to use a controversial food such as foie gras as an ingredient in my special appetizer offended you and made you and your guests uncomfortable, then I am truly sorry. It is not in my or the restaurant’s interest to alienate any customers. However I would like this opportunity to explain myself. The reason that I came out of the kitchen at all was because I was told by the manager that one of our steady customers had told our server that she was horrified that we chose to use foie gras. The server said that had you known that fact before, you would have never dined here and felt uncomfortable about dining here now. You then made the point of telling our server to please tell the chef about this. He then told the manager and the manager came to the prep kitchen to tell me. I asked him if I should go to the table to discuss this, thinking that somehow we could turn the situation around by explaining the mindset involved, maybe even lightening up the atmosphere with a little humor. Needless to say that didn’t work out very well. That was a bad decision on my part. I understand how this could have come off as confrontational, however that was not my intention. I merely tried to respond to you and perhaps have both of us understand the other’s point of view. You told me you did not want a debate, nor did you want my point of view. You only wanted me to hear yours. At that point you and your guests walked out. My question to you is what could we have done before that to make the situation better for you? Would an apology from the server, manager or chef had made a difference? Should I have told you I was wrong and you were obviously right? You have every right to be offended at my decision to serve fattened duck liver, just as I have every right to serve it while it is legal. I know that it was inappropriate for me to approach this sensitive issue at the dining table, but perhaps it was inappropriate for you to make such an issue out of it as to make other guests and the sever uncomfortable. I am used to criticism, it is a side effect of putting out a product that carries my signature trying to please three hundred or so people a day. I could appreciate your strong feelings on the subject of the force feeding of ducks to produce foie gras. As I tried to explain, as a chef I try to make decisions that are as free from hypocrisy as possible. However after thinking about it overnight I realize that indeed I am a hypocrite. I suffer from my own version of the “Omnivore’s Dilemma”. On one hand I support the ethical treatment of animals. I don’t want any baby seals clubbed, I am against the wearing of fur, I cried when Old Yeller died, yet I’m a carnivore! Maybe I just delude myself by not thinking about it too much, like when Homer Simpson told Lisa “It’s lamb… not A lamb” I’m a city boy, and aside from some lobsters, crabs and crayfish I’ve never killed an animal I’ve eaten. To tell you the truth even fishing kind of freaks me, the whole flopping around and rigor mortis and such. I really respect vegetarians and vegans, if for no other reason than their dedication to what they believe and their willpower. A license plate I read recently stated that “if god had intended us to be vegetarians, he would have made broccoli taste more like bacon”. All that being said, the real reasons I chose to continue using foie gras are as follows: 1) I believe that as a libertarian, the government should keep out of private lifestyle issues. 2) As long as it is legal, I will continue to give my patrons a choice. I serve plenty of vegans that dine along side carnivores, and even though they are diametrically opposed to each other, they continue to co-exist peacefully eating off the exact same menu. 3) I am opposed to hypocritical, self righteous culinary terrorists who don’t seem to have a problem vandalizing, threatening and even harming humans in the misguided protection of a select few animals that they deem to be too cute or defenseless. As you stated to the owner of the restaurant, that unless you received an apology from me, you would tell everyone in your firm about this and you would write the San Francisco Chronicle. Please feel free to contact me to discuss this matter further. Who knows, maybe you could change my mind. If not, then feel free to forward this to anyone you like. Thank You, Chef Steven Levine
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 01:18:11 +0000