david,


you need to try "nigori" sake. unfiltered, served chilled in a filled past overflowing (denotes generosity by the host) square wooden or bamboo cup. i made my way through quite a bit of sake while in japan. sake has as many taste profiles as good wine. i tended to like saki that originates in the northern or colder prefectures. even though it's centrally located, nagano is considered the "roof of japan" with many mts referred to as the japanese alps. remember the winter olympics were held there. the fruit and vegetables from that region are very highly regarded throughout japan. like in wine, colder climate makes for a bit sweeter/fruiter bouquet. by the way, they rarely drink it hot over there, or if so, it's mainly to placate the gaijins (foreign devils). that really came about after the war to appeal to american occupying forces during the winter. they laugh and serve/export us the swill. can't tell much about the quality anyway when it's hot. they save the good stuff for themselves to drink chilled. i had the honor to work in a "izikya", similar to a pub, with traditional japanese food of which maybe 20% was sushi orientated.


i'd be game for a saki event, maybe coupled with a kiaseki dinner. any takers?

jazzfood wrote:they laugh and serve/export us the swill. can't tell much about the quality anyway when it's hot. they save the good stuff for themselves to drink chilled. i had the honor to work in a "izikya", similar to a pub, with traditional japanese food of which maybe 20% was sushi orientated.

I'm certain that until last week, swill had been my benchmark for sake.

It's curious to me that quality would be covered up by heating; I'd think heating would bring out a beveage's qualities, and that it would be chilling that would actually mask bad tastes (thus, on Cold Duck, the warning: Serve WELL Chilled).

Hammond

that generally is the rule food wise, as it's fairly standard to slightly overseason food made to be eaten cold, ie: pate or terrine. but i'm talking chilled, not cold.

Hello folks, youre neighborhood hoodlum here. I will say it was lots of fun having you with us. Perhaps we should begin a byork program. (bring your own road kill).
and now for some attention deficit disorder in an orderly fashion:

esaelP tnod enibmoc otom dna notulp reve. OtoM sevol notulp, tsuj ton taht yaw. fI eno sesoohc ton ot revo ezilautcelletni ymonortsag eno sesoohc ot ezilautcelletnirednu eht gninaem fo lavivrus dna eht gnol mret sesneuqesnoc dlouc eb cihportsatac. OuY tnac etaerc noitagirri no sram litnu uoy od ti ni acirfa. YM laog yadot ta otom si ot od on unem ta lla. oT enid ta otom dluohs eb ot evah rennid dna a wohs ta eht emas emit. nehW uoy ees eht eulb nam puorg, uoy ees eno wohs yadot dna sti noitulove ni 6 shtnom. mI gnitoohs rof a wen wohs yreve 2 shtnom. uoY nac daer lla siht tub ti tnseod ekam yna esnes litnu etsat ti.

SP: mI htiw sdoofzzaj st1 tnemdnemma tnemmoc. Stel ekat sevolg ffo ni eht leets egac ybab.

jazzfood wrote:that really came about after the war to appeal to american occupying forces during the winter.

This is not true. The tradition of warm sake (kanzake) predates American occupation, oh, a thousand years or so. Potted histories put warm sake as a noble beverage in the Heian era (from 800 or so), relatively widespread by Genroku (1688), and a very common national beverage by the Meiji period(1868). The sake was woodier and sweeter. It was brewed in wooden tanks, transported in wooden drums. It probably tasted like a sweet, boozy cedar trunk. You can still get wood aged sake (taru-zake), but it's now the exception rather than the rule. So, warmth was common to cover the roughness until brewing technology improved, stainless steel tanks, and glass bottles were adopted around 40 years ago.

There are also types that are usually served warm. For example, in the winter, a warm cup of a sweet, cloudy unpasteurized (namazake) sake. As you can imagine, people in ancient Japan turned to warm sake during cold winters. If you've been to Japan in the winter (or in the extreme heat of summer) you may have noticed that traditional achitecture doesn't do much with insulation ... hence all the layers or clothes. And warm sake.

As for masking flavors, it needs to be made clear that "warm" (nurukan) sometimes means hot (joukan). Steaming hot. 130 - 140. It's very unlikely you'll be served sake this warm at a restaurant; warm will usually be between 100 and 110. However, if you were, you'd notice that, as with most really hot beverages or foods, the aroma becomes a lot bigger but the flavor is greatly diminished. When we talk about cold (reishu) sake we usually mean cool (jouon). Over ice is a special case (yuk hie). As with white wine, ice cold means it tastes like nothing. Flavor is in the midrange temperatures (the afforementioned temperatures plus hitohadakan, or lukewarm).

Basically, sake has an incredibly wide range of serving temperatures - in common practice, wider than any other alcohol I can think of. Temperature depends upon many factors, from quality, to pairing, to season, to the consumer's preference. And, with that stereotypical flair for precision, every temperature and serving style is given a name, shooting the permutations rapidly into the stratosphere.

The history and process is pretty fascinating. I highly recommend the Sake World web site and newsletter:

http://www.sake-world.com/

rien

homaro cantu wrote:uoY nac daer lla siht tub ti tnseod ekam yna esnes litnu etsat ti.

nemA.

Wohs txen ruoy ot drawrof kool I.

Hammond

homaro cantu wrote:Hello folks, youre neighborhood hoodlum here. I will say it was lots of fun having you with us. Perhaps we should begin a byork program. (bring your own road kill).
and now for some attention deficit disorder in an orderly fashion:

esaelP tnod enibmoc otom dna notulp reve. OtoM sevol notulp, tsuj ton taht yaw. fI eno sesoohc ton ot revo ezilautcelletni ymonortsag eno sesoohc ot ezilautcelletnirednu eht gninaem fo lavivrus dna eht gnol mret sesneuqesnoc dlouc eb cihportsatac. OuY tnac etaerc noitagirri no sram litnu uoy od ti ni acirfa. YM laog yadot ta otom si ot od on unem ta lla. oT enid ta otom dluohs eb ot evah rennid dna a wohs ta eht emas emit. nehW uoy ees eht eulb nam puorg, uoy ees eno wohs yadot dna sti noitulove ni 6 shtnom. mI gnitoohs rof a wen wohs yreve 2 shtnom. uoY nac daer lla siht tub ti tnseod ekam yna esnes litnu etsat ti.

SP: mI htiw sdoofzzaj st1 tnemdnemma tnemmoc. Stel ekat sevolg ffo ni eht leets egac ybab.

Like your food, this message takes some effort to understand, but is worth the effort. As much as I would love to do it, I don't think I will be able to dine at Moto every 2 months for the new "show", finances being what they are. I appreciate the effort though.

sorry if i'm mistaken on the origin of the hot sake. i took the word of the people i was staying with (natives) and didn't think to check further. i will say that i rarely if ever saw them drink it warm, and i spent part of the fall and most of the winter there. i did see them drink it as a 1/2 and
1/2 though, mixed equallly w/beer-o in large glasses.

You misspelled "dluoc".

extramsg wrote:You misspelled "dluoc".

Nick, on LTH, we've tried real hard not to correct posters on their grammer, spelling or general typing skills.

I'm planning to return in April, but this time for the five course menu. Larger dishes will require a somewhat different philosphy of cuisine. We will live with each dish for more than a few brief minutes. They need to not just dazzle at the moment, but last as a culinary event. I'm excited.

However, Chef Cantu's email is like his cuisine, if you don't pay close attention it goes by you pretty quickly.

I'm actually aiming for a mid-April return myself -- my upstairs neighbors, who are actually very old friends, have heard my raves and seen my pictures and so I'm just going to have to make sure they get there. And if the event that Cantu mentioned as we were leaving is open to the public, I'll look forward to attending that as well.

I'd also really like to go with someone who hasn't been exposed to it yet, which seems to be getting tough. As it is, before I posted my pics and comments here, I showed them to the aforementioned neighbors, coworkers, and the members of a music discussion listserv I'm on, and got some fascinating comments back. (The last were particularly fascinating; many of them had read the NYT article but had no idea they were about to read a first-person account of it.) But I think I want bringing friends to Moto to be the equivalent of reliving fun Christmases by enjoying the next generation's reaction to it.

I'm still rolling around reactions to last Tuesday night and am probably not done yammering yet. Every time I think about that "vegg" I remember how sharply vivid the smell of beet and of carrot were. That may be one of the best things I've eaten in a long, long time. I mean, I don't even particularly like beet, but it was so seductive. I keep thinking about things like a similar chocolate globe but with the air inside redolent of, say, raspberries as well. That one presentation could be taken in so many different directions. (I wonder if the ice is light enough that the globe could be filled with helium and floated to the diner...)

Bob S. wrote:I keep thinking about things like a similar chocolate globe but with the air inside redolent of, say, raspberries as well. That one presentation could be taken in so many different directions. (I wonder if the ice is light enough that the globe could be filled with helium and floated to the diner...)

Bob S, I think the idea of injecting raspberry-scented vapor into a huge chocolate globe sounds very Moto-esque. And I believe the idea of a hovering dinner has been "floated" by the hoodlum himself. fehc utnac, era uoy gniredisnoc gnihtyna ekil siht?

Hammond

in this months food arts there's a blurb on a basque gastronomic conference. one man's opinion: "following a teeth-gritting experience, the avant garde chefs seemed so full of themselves. some of what they do reminded me of little boys playing with their chemistry sets. they are so determined to create new things and are so contemptuous of tradition. i realize i have a narrow view about food, i think it's about flavor. i don't want the waitress to interrupt us with instructions on how to eat the chef's dishes, as though i'm the audience for his great performance..."


i think by in large, cantu had the flavors down and i enjoyed the show. nor did i find him or his staff the least bit arrogant. @ least not this time. in hindsight if i can point a finger anywhere i'd say the meal lacked a certain sensuality that i associate with wonderful food. it appealed more to my mind than to my heart. if he can find the delicate balance, i think that would insure his success.

jazzfood wrote:it appealed more to my mind than to my heart. if he can find the delicate balance, i think that would insure his success.

jazzfood, I agree with you whole heartedly. It was a heady dinner, and my approach to it was more of the head than the heart or the tongue. It is a balancing act, and I think Cantu will find his center: he's enthusiastic, adventurous, and trained. It might be interesting to have dinner at Moto in about a year...

Hammond

i'll meet you there.

David Hammond wrote:And I believe the idea of a hovering dinner has been "floated" by the hoodlum himself.

It would certainly bring new meaning to "I just couldn't put my dinner down fast enough."

I remember seeing an exposition by Chef Cantu on eGullet on the four ways food can be levitated. I would guess that if you went to Google's "Advanced Search" page and searched for levitation and ions, limiting the search to the domain eGullet.com, it would turn up quickly. Interesting reading.

And jazzfood, I agree with you that overall our dinner did not suffer from the flaws listed in that Food Arts article. One of the reasons I want to go back parallels GAF's interest in seeing how larger dishes affect the experience. I'm hoping that will bring home some of that sensuality.

i'd go back @ a latter date to check his progress. i'll try alinea next though, just scored reservations for may. in the meantime, i suppose if i want the sensuality i associate with stunning cuisine i'll have to enjoy it in a more traditional setting, or @ home. am i stuck in the status quo or just spoiled?

Deepfry on the GTM at Moto.

why do i feel slightly cheated after reading the new account w/the identical menu? minus the roadkill. not one thing done specially for us, as i prefered believing. must have stopped innovating last month. maybe his mom took his chemistry set away.

Well, the two dinners were only 10 days apart. (You can go to places like The French Laundry or Inn at Little Washington 5 years later and see the same menu more or less.) The fact that it *felt* like it was specially made for you, though, should say something...

Moto photos @ Deepfry.

Erik M.

Erik M. wrote:Moto photos @ Deepfry.

Erik M.

Feh! This is LTH, home of superior Moto Photos

Anonymous fame. Seen this yet?

When a recent guest at the chic Chicago restaurant Moto brought in a Tupperware bowl of warm raccoon meat and asked chef Homaro Cantu to "do something special with it," the master chef did not flinch. Employing one of his latest innovations, he turned on his Canon inkjet printer and, using meat-flavored inks, printed out an illustration of a raccoon on edible starch paper. He stewed the meat with juniper, placed the paper on top and dubbed the tasty entrée "road kill," much to the delight of his guest, an avid hunter. All in an evening's work at Moto, where customers are starting to catch on that whimsy is the chef's specialty. "We're dinner and a movie, all wrapped up in one," Cantu says.

Snort!

There is the truth, then there is the great story! Who knew what innocently bringing a container of raccoon would do! It's how legends are born.

Thanks Nick for highlighting this.

BTW - I recently donated the menu from that dinner to the Chicago Historical Society.

Regards,

C2,

Avid hunter? Was that me or you or...

Hammond

You should pick up the magazine and laminate it. The myth making would be more worth it if they mentioned you guys.

extramsg wrote:You should pick up the magazine and laminate it. The myth making would be more worth it if they mentioned you guys.

Ultimately, you never know what was said to the reporter, what we read is their interpretation.

No doubt I am picking up the magazine and so is Hammond. LTHforum's first oblique mention in Time magazine!

GAF wrote:I have been musing deeply on our meal last night. The ideas encased in food will not leave my thoughts. If, for no other reason, is one of the most memorable meals of my life. I can�t bring myself to claim that was one of the most delicious meals of my life in purely gustatory terms (although there were many very delicious moments and several astonishing ones). And on this a crucial and important paradox rests....

Moto is a young restaurant and Homaru Cantu is a young chef. If in the years ahead he is able to filter his brilliant ideas from his other ideas, he will become a member of the pantheon of truly prodigious chefs. If his ability is not to shift ideas, but can gather around him a group of acolytes who can incorporate his ideas while drawing back from his missteps his position as a powerful influence will be secured. But if this cuisine pushes further into creating dishes just to demonstrate that they can be created, then we will have been treated to an experience that will remain deeply embedded in our memories, but not in our dining choices in 2015.

GAF,

Thank you for your thoughtful insight into your experience at Moto. It's nice to see such time put into a review of something that deserves it. Though I probably won't be eating at Moto any time soon, I'll keep Homaru Cantu on my watch list. Maybe when Moto 2.0 is released [per suggestion by Bob S.]

-snekse @ Omaha

Hi. It's been interesting reading the Moto thread and hearing about the LTH dinner there. I went to Moto last week and have posted an entry about that dinner on my blog, At Our Table (http://atourtable.blogspot.com). We ordered the Grand Tour Moto and accompanying wine progression. If you're interested, there are photos and descriptions of every course in my write-up. Much is similar to when LTH dined there, but a few courses are different and so perhaps of interest to you. Always fun to see how they tweak the menu over time.