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Landing with an extravagant thud in mailboxes everywhere right now is that annual testament to the state of specialty foods industry, the Dean & DeLuca holiday catalog. It’s surprisingly appealing for being, in the end, just another catalog. It doesn’t even rate as conventional food porn — no oversized, gleaming, so-close-you can-taste-it art like a cookbook, or the Williams-Sonoma catalog. Probably adding to my enthusiasm is the fact that I don’t spend long lunch hours the rest of the year at D&Ds in New York trying to decide if I can afford either a 1 oz. slice of pate or crackers. There’s still distance and mystery; maybe even a little excitement reminiscent of the Sears “Wish Book” era.
Chicagoans may in particular enjoy the sight of an entire fatty lobe of foie gras glistening naughtily on page eight. Send one to your favorite alderman if you have a spare $120 plus the mandatory next-day delivery charge.
