Group Protests Restaurant’s ‘Wild Animal’ Menu Specials

FULLERTON — To chef Leo Holczer at the Aurora Restaurant, the alligator is a delicacy that’s best served braised with a slightly spicy tomato sauce on a bed of spaghetti.

To members of Orange County People for Animals, the alligator is an endangered species that should remain off any restaurant’s list of specialties.

Protesting what they consider the illegal commercialization of wild animals, about 25 members of the animal-rights group picketed Holczer’s restaurant Tuesday, demanding that he remove such exotic dishes as “alligator pasta,” “grilled kangaroo chop,” “elk loin with wild berries,” and “lion roast” from his pricey and ever-changing menu.

“We’re concerned that the restaurant is selling bodies of the kangaroo, antelope and alligator, which are all listed as endangered species under the California Penal Code,” said Ava Park, founder of the 2,000-member animal rights group. “We feel that there’s plenty of animals to eat without including wild animals. Wild animals are a symbol of freedom.”

Holczer, standing in front of the restaurant wearing a white chef’s hat and jacket, disputed assertions that he has violated the law, saying he buys his meat from companies that are licensed to breed animals for commercial purposes.

“It’s all managed through an efficient game system,” said the Swiss-born and trained chef, who has owned the restaurant on Euclid Avenue for 13 years. “Plus, as long as man has been on this Earth, we’ve eaten meat. The Bible says this is the way we eat.”

Although the state does prohibit the selling of alligators, antelopes, kangaroos and a number of other endangered species, it tends to prosecute cases only if the animal is on the federal list of endangered species, said Jack Edwards, deputy chief of law enforcement at the state Department of Fish and Game in Sacramento.

“For example, the feds now allow the commercialization of most types of alligators, kangaroos and antelopes,” Edwards said. “Even though it’s technically illegal in California, if we write a violation, no district attorney would file a case because we’ve lost so many cases in the past.”

The animal-rights activists, however, say they are hardly satisfied with the state’s response to the issue.

“As far as we’re concerned, the law is the law,” said Park, who became an animal-rights activist after she visited a university research lab in 1982 and said she saw cats being tortured as part of an experiment. “And we will go to the ends of the Earth to see that it is enforced.”

Meanwhile, Holczer plans to continue to serve up such entrees as alligator meat, which he describes in his menu as the “chef’s specialty.” Although alligator and elk are standard entrees at the restaurant, Holczer offers other exotic meats only as they become available.

“I don’t know why they’re protesting, because we’re not doing anything illegal,” he said. “It’s just meat, and it’s available.”

While the animal-rights protesters waved signs reading, “Orange County says no to lion dinners,” and “Leave wild animals alone,” customers continued to arrive at the restaurant. “These protesters don’t have the foggiest idea what they’re doing,” said Bob Snow, a Fullerton resident who has dined at the restaurant for 12 years. “It’s illegal to sell hunted wildlife, but all of these animals are ranch-raised.”

Said fellow diner Earl Salter of Fullerton: “The food here is no different than what you eat at McDonald’s. This is not stuff that had been running around wild. I’m constantly bringing clients here, and I know they’ll have a great meal and that they won’t be disappointed.”

Although the Aurora Restaurant serves fish, beef and other conventional entrees, Holczer said it has built its reputation on its more exotic offerings. Every year, the restaurant holds a three-day event called “Festival of the Hunt,” at which patrons can sample such dishes as “ostrich with cognac plum sauce” and “moose loin.”

“I was horrified when I found out he was selling these exotic animals,” said Hannah Ryan, communications director of the animal-rights group. “I think he puts it on the menu just for novelty reasons.”