Foie gras plate serves as cause celebre

The pan-seared foie gras with sauteed red grapes and leeks at the Newport Beach restaurant Tradition by Pascal has attracted the ire of a few animal rights groups.

About 17 protesters picketed chef Pascal Olhats’ upscale French eatery on North Bristol Street on Saturday night with banners proclaiming “‘Foie Gras’ How much cruelty can you swallow?” after Olhats repeatedly refused their requests to remove two duck liver dishes from his menu.

Activists from Orange County People for Animals and the San Diego-based group Animal Protection and Rescue League have been asking Olhats for the past six months to bid adieu to foie gras. The fatted duck or goose liver is popular in French cuisine.

Foie gras is slated to be banned from menus statewide in 2012, but Orange County People for Animals and the Animal Protection and Rescue League have been asking restaurants across Southern California to get rid of it sooner. The groups claim ducks are force fed and subject to cruel and inhumane treatment to fatten their livers.

“These ducks are being force fed with long metal tubes to the point they can barely walk, causing a lot of damage and a lot of pain — it’s the cruelest form of factory farming,” Christina Tacoronti said, a campaign coordinator for the Animal Protection and Rescue League who picketed Olhats’ restaurant on Saturday.

A native of France, Olhats said he had a sit-down with a few of the activists after they hounded him for months, but still feel he has the right to serve his wild mushroom duck confit soup with a foie gras broth at Tradition.

“I never saw any ducks suffering [in France],” Olhats said. “There, we all wish we had a duck’s life.”

Contrary to driving customers away, Olhats said the protesters may have inadvertently boosted foie gras sales at the restaurant Saturday.

“When they came, foie gras sales doubled. Every other table ordered foie gras,” he said. “People love foie gras. They love the European tradition and we give them something they can’t get anywhere else.”

Tacoronti said she and other activists will probably visit Tradition again if Olhats keeps foie gras on the menu, and other Newport Beach eateries could possibly be next.

“Hopefully, he doesn’t want us back,” she said.

Reporter BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].