Pittsburgh Restaurant That Served Horse Meat Drawing Neigh-sayers

PITTSBURGH, PA — The Lawrenceville restaurant Cure’s decision to serve horse meat at a special dining event on Monday has angered equine lovers.

It’s also sparked an online petition seeking to prevent a recurrence of the animal being served at what some reviewers have praised as one of the city’s finest dining locales.

Horse is not on the restaurant’s regular menu. But horse tartare was one of the items prepared Monday as part of the restaurant’s Cure’ated Dinner Series, a collaboration with guest chefs curated by Cure chef and co-owner Justin Severino. The guest chefs at Monday’s event were Scott Vivian and Nate Middleton, both of Toronto.

According to the Toronto Sun, Canada is a world leader in the production of horse meat. It’s served up as burgers, steaks, smoked deli meat and even raw as sashimi.

Severino said on the restaurant’s Facebook page that the meat came from a sustainable horse farm in Alberta, Canada.

“It was a Quebec-style feast and horse is a traditional part of the menu,” he said. “Horse is enjoyed in many countries around the world, but it is fairly new to U.S. diners.”

Horse enthusiasts don’t want the meat on dinner plates at Cure or any eatery. Joy Braunstein, the former director of the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, started an online petition Wednesday calling for no horse meat to be served in restaurants across the state. Within hours, the petition had nearly 100 signatures.

“By serving horse meat, (Cure) is promoting and encouraging the horse slaughter industry,” the petition states. “This is a wake-up call to everyone who loves horses and who cares about food security. Let's make sure that no more restaurants in Pennsylvania serve horse.”

Cure opened in 2011. In 2012, it was named one of the Top 50 best new restaurants by Bon Appétit magazine and one of the 25 Best Restaurants in Pittsburgh Magazine. In 2015, Pittsburgh Magazine name Severino its chef of the year.

Was the restaurant right in serving horse tartare? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Photo by Karsun Designs via Creative Commons.