CHICAGO (AP) - A hot dog restaurateur who advertised that he was selling foie gras despite the city's ban on its sale has become the first to be cited.
A city health department inspector turned up just before Hot Doug's opened Friday, slapped owner Doug Sohn with a citation and confiscated the duck- or goose-liver delicacy.
Sohn faces a fine of from $250 to $500 when he appears at a March 29 hearing.
'I was poking the grizzly bear, and it snapped my head off,' Sohn told the Chicago Tribune.
Sohn said last month he framed the city's warning letter about the delicacy and placed it on his counter. He also advertised ingredients for foie gras-laced hot dogs on his Web site and on a board near the front door.
The ban was passed in August because of what animal rights activists say is the inhumane way geese and ducks are force-fed to plump up their livers. The ordinance passed over the veto of Mayor Richard Daley, who called it the 'silliest' ordinance the City Council has ever passed.
Many restaurants have echoed Daley's opinion and continued to dish out the 'fat liver,' but have circumvented the ban on sales by offering it as a complimentary item.
Sohn removed the offending sausages from his menu after Friday's citation, and did not say whether he would offer them again after his upcoming vacation in France -- the birthplace of foie gras.
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