Park Avenue Autumn Using Saddam Hussein's Plates

Over the past few months, the always-changing Park Avenue restaurant has been doing a series of artist-chef collaborations. In January, they served a baked Alaska with an audio component from performance artist Marina Abramovic, in the spring they served a beet-pickled egg designed by artist Paul Ramirez, and in the summer they did a hamachi with beauty products from Janine Antoni.

All of these were pretty weird, but that's nothing compare to what they're running now: chef Kevin Lasko teamed up with New York and Chicago-based artist Michael Rakowitz for a dish of venison in date sauce served on plates that were looted from Saddam Hussein's palaces. A press release explains:

As symbols of the past, they represent the rich and complicated history of a place long misunderstood by its invaders. With over 627 varieties of dates grown in the country, the date is to Iraq as a cigar is to Cuba, or Champagne to France.