By Karina Martinez-CarterThe Daily Northwestern
Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is teaming up with the Humane Society of the United States to cook up a program to promote the humane treatment of animals.
The Wolfgang Puck chain includes 14 fine dining restaurants, 43 catering venues and more than 80 casual restaurants – including the Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe at 1701 Maple Ave.
As part of a nine-point initiative announced March 22, Puck will eliminate pate de foie gras from all of his establishments’ menus and use only eggs from cage-free hens.
Although foie gras – fatty liver from a force-fed duck – was never on the menu at the Evanston location, the new program will affect the restaurant’s veal, which must be all-natural or “organic crate-free” under Puck’s new program.
Chicago became the first city in the country to outlaw the sale of foie gras last year, arguing that its production – force-feeding grain to ducks and geese through a pipe inserted into their throats – is inhumane.
Puck said in a statement that the menu changes will be implemented over the “next few months.”
Thomas Thacker, a manager at the Evanston restaurant, said he doesn’t think the changes will affect his store very much.
“(Our restaurant) is a little more distant from the corporate headquarters than some of the other Wolfgang Puck establishments,” he said. “We already focus on bringing in high-quality ingredients and a lot of organic products that my chef orders.”
Communication Dean and Evanston resident Barbara O’Keefe, who ate at Evanston’s Wolfgang Puck Monday afternoon, said she was unaware of the upcoming changes but applauds them.
“I’m one of those people who makes an effort to buy eggs that are from cage-free hens,” she said.
O’Keefe also said she expects the Evanston community to have mixed reactions to the changes.
“I think this is an issue people haven’t made up their minds about,” she said. “Some people care deeply and others not at all.”
Thacker said the restaurant has not – and probably will not – make an extra effort to advertise the all-natural and organic tweaks to their food.
He also said he supports the announced changes but is unsure of when they will start integrating the changes into the menu.
“Personally I believe it’s great,” he said. “It helps Americans to be more healthy, and the less impact we can create on the environment, the better.”
Katrine Poe, a Woodstock, Ill., resident, said she thinks the health-conscious efforts will help attract more customers.
“I think the changes are positive and might appeal to people,” she said.
Reach Karina Martinez-Carter [email protected].
