“Foie Fridays” Starts Tomorrow

In protest of the recent foie gras troubles in California (where a complete Nanny State ban on foie gras is due to take effect on July 1), Philadelphia chefs are teaming up to support their West Coast brethren in fighting the good fight. In order to bring a little light and make a little noise, chefs like Jason Cichonski of Ela have called on their colleagues to bring foie gras to the people.

The result? Foie Fridays. And the first one is tomorrow.

This all started when Cichonski replied to a tweet by Kevin McKenzie of Amusing My Bouche. Together, they hatched a plan to throw up some love for the chefs in California, and the suppliers that were harvesting foie gras the humane way. It was a very DIY kind of thing, and McKenzie tells the story best himself on his blog.

And while this whole Foie Fridays thing is still a little bit up in the air, what we do know is that participating restaurants (and there are quite a few of them) are going to be serving one $10 foie gras dish every Friday in June, running up until the July 1 California ban. The dishes will be unique, tweaked individually by each chef, and will be more accessible than your traditional foie gras dish  at such a low price.

Restaurants rumored to be participating include South Philly Tap Room, Opa, Sbraga, Supper, The Corner, Interstate Draft House, Lemon Hill, Valanni, and Lacroix. Joe Cicala at Le Virtu confirmed that he will be preparing a foie gras ravioli for tomorrow night while Jeremy Nolen of Brauhaus Schmitz is putting together a pork and foie sausage appetizer (something he tried while standing up for his neighborhood at the Foobooz South Street Pop-Up at Cook, and which completely floored the crowd).

To keep up with which Philly restaurants are playing along, check out #FoieFridays on the Twitter. Or just check back here tomorrow when we hope to have a menu of all possible Foie Friday indulgences around town.