As planned, I returned to Moto for the five course tasting menu (although it turned out to be eight courses, including the amuse bouche) with a print maker, well attuned to surrealism, in tow.

I was very pleased by the dinner, seeing Chef Cantu work on a larger scale. Not that all of the courses were on the same level (and I must confess that one dish - rather than three - with highly seasoned ice cream pellets would have sufficed [we had caesar salad pellets, green curry pellets, and fried chicken pellets]). My friend was taken by what he considered the "theme and variation" quality of the meal. The meal lasted two hours plus, and as with the 21 course extravaganza - did not leave us bloated. The food was properly paced, and, as before, the wine progression was outstanding (particularly one extravagantly silky smooth California syrah from near Sacramento).

The two finest dishes of the evening were the opening "white elf mushrooms with pearl onions with a squash [or sweet potato] puree). In traditional culinary terms, this was perhaps the finest dish that I have had at Moto. The sweetness of the squash made the mushrooms seem delicate, and the pearl onions added a needed tartness. The dish was a triumph. The third course - "pork belly with Kentucky fried ice cream" (with a pipette of beet puree) was a success as well. Once the ice cream melted just a bit, it complemented the beet and the rich, moist pork belly. The pipette no longer seemed such a contrivance, but a means by which we could construct our dinner to taste.

My printmaker friend appreciated the cheese with the addition of Chef Cantu's ink jet printer. It is an intensely rich cheese (triple cream?), and while the text does not add to the flavor, it does make us realize that there is a mischievous mind at work in the kitchen, deserving all the attention he has received, although hopefully not distracted.

Our waiter suggested to us that the Oatmeal Stout with Venezuelan Chocolate was to remind us of a cheese course (and it came right after the true cheese course), and surprisingly it did, but aside from the oddness of oatmeal in a rather soupy concoction, it wasn't a dish that I am excited about having again (I would have selected the Doughnut Soup). My inside out chocolate cake with hot ice cream was tasty, but as yet I don't find Chef Roche's creations quite on a par with Chef Cantu's - although perhaps this has something to do with different demands of the artistry of a "pastry" chef. Even though he is described as a "pastry chef", Chef Roche is, as yet, more a cook who works with sweets - rather than an experimenter of pastry. Sweets, perhaps, demand a more formal architectural treatment, which a soup or bits of cake can't quite achieve.

In sum, our five course dinner was quite possibly stronger in cuisine terms than the twenty course magical mystery tour. I did have the sense (perhaps a wishful sense) that Chef Cantu is learning how to discipline his experiments. Sometimes it is the graceful little twists that are more powerful than the sharp turns.

Article in Tribune

Some marketing experts see Cantu's plans for edible advertising as a potentially viable way of getting consumers to try products.

"For an advertiser, it's an opportunity to do something very new, very intriguing and very different," said Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "There's a huge interest in looking for the next big thing."

Others suspect encouraging potential car buyers to eat a page from the middle of Newsweek may prove difficult.

Thanks to the very interesting conversation here about this restaurant, we recently ended up at Moto for our anniversary rather than at a more conventional restaurant. Even though not all of the dishes succeeded, we were so glad we went. I really should've written this post sooner, when I remembered the dishes more clearly, but I thought I'd still add a few words. We went for the 20-ish course menu, and several dishes overlapped with the LTH forum dinner, including lobster with orange (yum), packing foam (tasted and looked exactly like a snack my grandma used to make), sweet potato pie (individually the components were great, but didn't go together well for us), doughnut soup (yum), margarita with chips and salsa (pretty good), and maybe a few others.

A couple of memorable additions:

My favorite course was the McSweetbreads: 3 sweetbread nuggets impaled on a flavor injector -- one with honey mustard, one with bbq sauce, and one additional sauce I'm blanking on. It was playful, it was delicious, and it was thought-provoking in that each sauce brought out distinctive notes in the sweetbreads.

We had sea bass cooked tableside with a tomatillo broth. It was an amazing piece of fish, succulent and buttery, but I almost would've preferred it to stand alone without the broth. I felt like the broth covered up the flavors a bit, rather than bringing them out (my husband disagreed on this one).

The amuse was a caesar salad in a spoon --shaved bits of lettuce ice, and the other requisite flavors distilled into tiny bursts of flavor. Tasted exactly like a caesar, which was fun.

Bacon with amaranth and frozen horseradish, which was odd. The flavors didn't exactly go together, but they were sort of interesting together and I liked the textures the dish brought together.

A really lovely meal, overall. The staff was very attentive, mostly without being intrusive, although I wish they had let the food speak for itself a little bit more. For example, I was quite capable of figuring out for myself that McSweetbreads were "their playful take on McNuggets." Some exposition is helpful when you're having such a novel experience and you're wondering what and how you're about to eat, but I thought the talking was overdone.

We talked a little bit about when and whether we'd be back. Unlike a great meal at a more conventional restaurant, a good chunk of the enjoyment for us lay in the novelty and cleverness. I think we'd have to wait a good while until Cantu has restocked his bag of tricks. But it's not exactly the kind of place you can head to weekly, anyway, so I suppose that's not all bad.


Btw, we were quite entertained by the couple next to us, who somehow managed to have no idea whatsoever what to expect from the kitchen and were horrified by the food. They stared at the caesar for a couple of minutes looking terrified before eating it with nervous laughter and had to dare each other to bite into the maki in the 4th dimension. I get being oblivious to or uninterested Moto, but going through the rigamarole of getting Friday night reservations there with such cluelessness about the food was boggling (though amusing!).

Thanks for all the pictures and discussion of Moto -- it wouldn't have been at the top of our list without you and we are so glad we went.

Moto 3.0

To visit a visionary restaurant three times in six months might seem like an instance of American excess, but in visiting Moto again I have watched Homero Cantu grow from a (remarkable) enfant terrible to a more confident and mature gustatory stylist. To what to attribute such a salutary change, I can not state with confidence, but perhaps one can only have so many food fights before tiring of the cleanup.

Our party selected Moto's ten course menu ($100 plus $60 for the wine progression). (We had fifteen dishes in slightly over four hours). The food was recognizably Homero's creations, but for most of the dishes the tricks and experiments were no longer the point - but contributed to the overall seductive delight of the dish. With but a single exception the versions of those dishes that I had eaten before were markedly improved. Moto now seems firmly about the food, and less about deconstruction theory. I hope that the chef will not take it ill that I was quite pleased not to be served any "dipping dots" - a few iced goes a long way. At times Moto August 2005 seems a more traditional restaurant than Alinea, as often as not to its credit. (Chef Cantu has not reached the same level of confidence in flavors and savors of Chef Achatz, but, as I wrote previously, Cantu is a work in progress).

Matthew McCammon is no longer Moto's general manager and wine director, and I miss his presence. He was uniquely able to select both appropriate and memorable wines for the chefs creations. He has been replaced by Matthew Gundlach, who does an admirable job. One of the nine wines (a luscious, off-sweet Vignalta "Alpianae" Coli Euganei Fior d'arancio, Veneto 2002) was superb. It was filled with lichi and honey notes without the sticky, too-honeyed tastes of lesser Sauternes. The Kesselstatt Mosel Riesling, an Australian Two Hands Shiraz, and a Domaine Schoffit Gewurtztraminer were also very pleasurable for a summer dinner. A Movia, Ribolla from Brda (Slovenia) was worth trying, assertive and full of spice. I missed the Warwick Pinotage (from Stellenbosch, South Africa), promised on the website and one of the very best of the post-Apartheid South African wines, which was replaced by a good, but not terribly special Paulliac, Chateau Behere (it is supposed to have an aroma of pencil lead, but I couldn't taste that as much as the berries that are also characteristic). The big bust of the evening was a harsh and flat Spanish Bodegas Pucho, Bierzo 2003, served with the bass course. The pairing was linked to the bacon in the sauce, but this was not a wine that attracts me (I am not enamored by Spanish reds, other than, sigh, Sangria).

We settled in to consume Chef Cantu's edible menu, swimming in a cream risotto of puffed rice. We can gave our chef little extravagance, an idea that overwhelmed its pleasant taste. No chef treats his Amuse Bouche more amusingly than Homero.

The dinner began with what may be the finest of the forty or so dishes that I have had at Moto: Champagne & King Crab. What made it definitive was that it was a riff on traditional haute cuisine. It was a dish that would only barely have been out of place at Everest or even Lutece. The chef presents small piles of perfectly sweet and delicate king crab in pools of sweet pea puree, precisely flavored with a touch of jalapeno. Nestled under our serving implements (a fork and a spoon, to be clear) was a dollop of exuberant citrus cream. Every bite was a delight. The delight was in part the glorious taste and in part that Chef Cantu didn't feel that he needed to strain to stick a finger in the eye of the culinary establishment. This was a transcendent dish. (Perhaps it is significant that my preferred dish from my five course April menu was also the first: white elf mushrooms with pearl onions).

The second course - a Lesson in Cuitlacoche (huitlacoche by another name) - may become a superb course. Now it suffers from a certain pretension, a work in progress. On the bowl's side is a cuitloche smear (an unappealing brown daub). In the center of the bowl servers pour a nitrogenated saffron foam over popcorn (?!). Perhaps I am not a honors student at Moto U. but I require remedial assistance. The dish seemed, like some earlier attempts, to be done for its own sake. Cuitlacoche has such a distinctive taste and texture that pureeing it was a shame, but perhaps we should be grateful that the chef didn't retreat to his inkjet and create an edible image inspired by a dish of "corn smut." Don't even think it.

One of the most striking dishes of the February LTH 21 course extravaganza (the "raccoon-athon," forever memoralized by Time) was Cantu's "Lobster with Freshly Squeezed Orange Soda." This latest version was far more satisfying and demonstrated that the rough edges of Moto are smoothed. As I recall the earlier version, the Lobster and the carbonated orange were given equal stature, but why? We hope for lobster dreams. This lobster was given top billing with the tingly orange comic relief. The poached lobster (again, precisely fresh) was enrobed in a velvety celery root (buerre blanc?) sauce, with a tight scoop of brown butter ice cream. Perhaps ice cream and lobster can't work, but it did this warm weekend. The orange was homage, not sabotage. As in the opening preparation, Cantu creatively rethought haute cuisine, rather than discovering victuals on some other planet. It is cheering to see that dishes are critically rethought.

Because of the passion of one of our party - "Sweetbreads & Cheese Grits", a dish on the grand menu - was added to our menu and it was a jewel. The sweetbreads were prepared in a tempura batter and nestled with cheese grits. Cheese grits and sweetbreads belong together, not at all offal (yes, I'm deeply ashamed ). With the presence of collards, sweet potato, and Krispy Kreme Soup on the menu one wonders whether Chef Cantu is pursing a southern strategy.

We turned to "Artichoke, Balsamic and Macadamia" - one bite wonder. Some at the table didn't find the artichoke flavor sufficiently intense, but with vinegar this good, who would notice. We did, but it didn't prevent a highly satisfying bite.

The next course, "French Fry (Sweet) Potato Chain Links, Sweet Potato Pie and Veal Breast," was another revision from the first menu, and, again, a far superior version. (I had found that earlier version, more curiosity than culinary). This was much better realized, and the chef is coming to reveal his attention to core ingredients, in this case veal breast. If the chain carving lacked the intricacy of winter, but the dining satisfaction was higher. Veal goes well with sweet potatoes in a pairing that might otherwise be startling.

At the moment that the artichoke bite was served, our servers revealed Cantu's Magic Boxes. Tonight he slow cooked sea bass: "Bass With a Grilled Tomatillo Broth." Again it was a remarkably improved version of "Bouillabaisse Deconstructed then Reconstructed Tableside." Even the titles reveals a shift from technology to cuisine. The bass was sited in a subtle broth with the happy addition of chantrelles, paprika, jalapeno, and bacon. It rivaled the king crab for its elegance, and it, too, was a dish of which any chef would be proud.

Following this highpoint came the meat dish - "Beef with collards." This was a new dish, and it rather modest. I wished for a more assertive hunk of flesh, but it was not to be. This was a good dish, but would have been better if it hadn't come after the masterful fish in a box. Admittedly in a ten course meal, this is the point that some diners are slowing down, but the presentation seemed designed to display the corkscrew silverware rather than the meat.

As we slide towards dessert, we were presented with "Spanish Strofoam, Manchego & Chorizo," one of the two least successful dishes of the evening. When visiting Moto in February, I was agape at the presentation of butter flavored packing peanuts. What seemed inspired in February seemed annoying in a larger dish that should be about taste. Diners might appreciate these startling snacks at the start or end, but let us be semi-serious. When mixed in a complex dish with cheese, sausage, bayleaf jelly, apple butter, the dish - despite astonishing visual appeal - didn't work in its own terms or as a means of presented Cantu's unique signature, which at the consumption had become somewhat soggy. If this is eye candy, I might diet.

Our palate cleanser was a surprising drink of watermelon and cilanto essences, as processed through a centrifuge to purify it. Some chefs might have been satisfied with a strainer, but perhaps Argonne National Laboratory was free. However achieved, the combination of strong fruit with herbal flavors was a stunning success. In its glass, one was recalled the shimmering light of absinthe, making this green fairy magical.

"Doughnut soup" is a Moto signature: essence of Krispy Kreme. If this won't gain Moto a James Beard award, it is a rich pleasures of dining at Moto.

The first dessert was my least favorite dish. Honesty demands that I confess that I find desserts at Moto generally less compelling than the main courses. And so it was with "Strawberry, Rice Pudding, Peanut & Soy Ice Cream." I might have dodged the bullet had I announced that I am not supposed to eat soy (Nobody should eat soy, but that is a rant for another day). The crisp topping was soggy and the flavors seemed neither bright or compelling.

We were blessed by a more compelling dessert - "Fettuccine Alla Dolce" - slightly sweetened pasta with a light basil thyme sauce, and milk chocolate ice cream. If it was not the most satisfying dessert, it was delightful, again with a proper herbal note to cut the sweetness.

The final touch was a lovely take on a white chocolate truffle, filled with a liquid mango-ginger center. Delicious. The ginger recast the otherwise mundane mango liqueur.

A recognition of the defensible boundaries of haute cuisine is transforming the Cantu style. This was the first moment that I felt ready recommend Moto to any friend who enjoys fine dining, even if they lack a background in Jacques Derrida's mischievous deconstruction. It is satisfying to see that Chef Cantu can paint within the lines, only straying when he must, and not when he wants. I edge Moto 3.0 to 3.5 stars; yet I suspect that I may never award four stars. If I do, I would enjoy the experience measurably less.

Moto
945 West Fulton Market
Chicago, IL 60607
312-491-0058

Cross-posted on LTHforum, eGullet

Soon to be dangerously outfitted with digital camera. Can the blogosphere be far behind?

Louisa Chu recently had a chance to work in Moto's kitchen for an evening, and was surprised with a 20-course GTM in the middle of service.

She's got pictures and a really nice writeup over at her blog, Movable Feast.

It was great to have louisa with us. She is the ultimate restaurant insider and a true gastronomer. The world of food could use more people like her.

homaro cantu wrote: The world of food could use more people like her.

So, what are we, chopped liver frozen in a nitrogen bath?

Not unless its in season. What I meant was she travels the globe documenting her finds and putting her info on the Movable Feast site. I think she has covered more ground than most top ranked reviewers. Thats admirable - shes not in it for the wrong reasons. Im not saying anyone here is in it for the wrong reasons (I dont know everyone here for one). Im not sayin im just sayin man! Cant I have an opinion geez. What is this The New York Post all over again?

Moto 4.0 Chicago

Jay Jacobs, the former New York restaurant critic for Gourmet, wrote of what he termed the “home-field advantage.” As applies to dining, it is the “Cheers” phenomenon, the place where everyone knows your name. And an advantage is to be had. These restaurants provide social comfort and the assurance that any problem will quickly be set right. My upscale Chicago go-to place is Moto. Moto is where I bring friends whom I really wish to impress with the possibility of cuisine

Dining at Moto is not for everyone, and perhaps is not for many. A diner who wants to stick a toe in molecular cuisine should choose the snappy and accessible Butter. But Moto provides an unforgettable and joyous evening. And, unlike so many other establishments, the entertainment is dancing on the plate and in the twinkling of eyes. I never have so much fun as when I dine on Fulton Market Street. The other grand molecular establishments - Alinea, for one – have a seriousness of purpose, absent at Moto. And, happily for diners, their price points are different (if $300 can be differentiated from $400 for the full show – less expensive for smaller menus).

Chef Cantu’s problem – or perhaps it is our problem – is that at times he seems constrained by his techniques. One feels that he has set his challenge as what dish can he make using one of his Tom Swift toys, rather than beginning with the conception of the dish and then discovering the method. Some dishes were spectacular creations, but others were modified versions of previous efforts. We were served an edible menu, dippin’ dots, nitrogenated fruit, fish cooked in a box, pizza and salad soup, liquefied Krispie Kremes, packing peanuts - greatest hits, but with the danger of soon becoming same old, same old. At his best, Chef Cantu serves remarkably evocative dishes, but at times his ideas are cramped. And as dearly as I love Moto, his genius does not shine as consistently as Trotter or Achatz. Still Cantu regularly provides a cuisine of amazement, a Cuisine Agape, distinct from what has been labeled as Molecular Cuisine. At least in the West Loop, shock and awe triumphs.

Our group of four (Renka, Pdaane, Jygach) decided on the Grand Tasting Menu. This is not the choice that I would have preferred. Once one knows the range of Chef Cantu’s abilities, he seems more accomplished working on the larger plates of the five-course menu. However, my three companions were Moto-virgins, and we selected the twenty course tour.

Moto (and other similar outposts) does not make a course-by-course evaluation easy. The menu is designed to misdirect diners: “ITALIAN food” (the pizza and the Caesar salad soup); “Chili-Cheese Nachos” (the final Ben Roche dessert with frozen mango, milk chocolate, diced kiwis and candied tortilla chips); and “Synthetic Champagne” (apple cider and verjus). The servers announce the ingredients, but in the rush, this scribe could not inscribe the complexity of the dish.

Although I didn’t realize it at the time (and although I would have enjoyed the hefty version on the five course menu), the dish that I best recall is “Rabbit and Aromatic Utensils” (utensils with a sage tassel). The dish was served with several preparation of rabbit, scarlet runner beans, white truffle power, and puffed rice. The serving was too small for its intensity, but it was a brilliant combination. A second astonishing dish was Maple Squash Cake – a squash soufflé with maple flakes and cider sauce and diced bacon. It was one of the most complete and integrated dishes I have enjoyed at Moto. The “main course,” a perfectly cooked Lamb Chop with stone-ground mustard, braised cabbage and ground kielbasa, revealed Chef Cantu’s skills in a recognizably traditional preparation, Passion Fruit and Crab, perhaps owing something to Wylie Dufresne’s attempt to create noodles of everything, was remarkable with a surprising, herbal Japanese shiso sauce and buttered popcorn puree. The Hamachi and Nitrogenated Orange worked as well – or perhaps better – than when the citrus was paired with lobster, and the Bass baked tableside had a lovely paprika smokiness. The Chili-Cheese Nachos, although a conceit, was the most impressive of the five desserts.

I find Chef Cantu’s ice creams are less appealing; the least stirring dish was Jalapeno ice cream, too salty, served with toasted quinoa. The goat cheese snow with balsamic vinegar was quickly passed over. Tonight’s doughnut soup was bubbly. I preferred the velvety version I was served at my first meal.

At the first dinner (our seven-and-a-half hour banquet referred to in Time), I commented on the wonder of the wine pairing. Since then, Moto has a new wine director, Matthew Gundlach, and I had been less impressed with the pairings, but tonight was splendid. The vintage Quebec beer (Unibroue 2005, Chambly) was eye-opening. Also notable was a 2004 August Kesseler Spatlese Riesling Rheingau, a 2004 Huia Pinot from New Zealand, and a honeyed Austrian Meinklang 2001 Trockenbeeren. We quaffed memorable dozen with only a single unimpressive pour (a 2001 Susana Balbo Brioso Mendoza). The Martini library, a set of colorful cocktails served in plastic pipettes, was an odd, giggly curiosity.

Like other diners, we were given a tour of the kitchen. Let me confess my misgivings. My guests (and I) welcomed meeting with Chef Cantu. However, this was an attempt to make the backstage a performance. Wearing goggles (and being warned not to remove them), we were to be wowed by technology. Yes, this was a memorable break, but perhaps distracted from the fact that we were there to eat and perhaps distracted the staff who were there to cook. This tension between cuisine and technology is the line that Chef Cantu must tread carefully.

Moto is a restaurant to treasure and to revisit. When I wish to persuade friends that some meals will never be forgotten this is where I take them. There are many worse things than to be known as the man from Moto.

Moto Restaurant
945 W. Fulton Market
Chicago (West Loop)
312-491-0058
http://www.motorestaurant.com

Martini Library

Edible Menu

Tasmanian Salmon, Daikon and Yuzu

Italian Food (Pizza and Caesar Salad Soup)

Maple Squash Cake

Synthetic Champagne

Goat Cheese Snow and Balsamic

Hamachi and Orange

Passion Fruit and Crab

Fall Fruits and Aged Sherry

Baking Bass Tableside

Bass Baked Tableside and Eggplant

Rabbit (with Aromatic Utensils, not shown)

Jalapeno, Cilantro and Avocado

Quail and Persimmon (with Splatted Sauce)

Lamb with Kielbasa

Mac and Cheese (Lychee pasta)

3 Cotton Candy Stages

Flapjacks Prepared Tableside

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Banana Split Deconstructed

Doughnut Soup and Pancakes

Chili-Cheese Nachos


http://www.vealcheeks.blogspot.com

At his best, Chef Cantu serves remarkably evocative dishes, but at times his ideas are cramped. And as dearly as I love Moto, his genius does not shine as consistently as Trotter or Achatz. Still Cantu regularly provides a cuisine of amazement, a Cuisine Agape, distinct from what has been labeled as Molecular Cuisine. At least in the West Loop, shock and awe triumphs.

You know, I never posted on my dinner at Moto because I did not feel I had much to add, and I feared my report might discourage others from going which I do not wish to do, because one should go to Moto at least once for the experience. But I have to agree with the above.

For me, Moto is something I am very glad to have done. I would consider going back, but I am not really planning to. If one enjoys food as theater, playing with your food, and having your food toy with you, Moto is a great place. And anyone who is serious about upscale dining should go for the experience.

But the theater, the experimentation, the play, often outweighed the deliciousness of the meal. There were hints in my meal, and in the various reports on Moto (including your continued excellent reports, GAF) that Chef Cantu has the potential to get it right so every bite is both an adventure and delicious, but until then I will go for the more reliably delicious. Call me a fuddy-duddy.

dicksond wrote:For me, Moto is something I am very glad to have done. I would consider going back, but I am not really planning to.

I think that makes twice in one week that I have agreed with Mr. Dickson. I feel that Moto is a one trick pony...but it's a hell of a trick and well worth experiencing.

Moto is a multi-trick pony - the question is when do you want your pony do tricks and when do you want a smooth ride.

GAF,

I think we both agree that Moto is a wonderful restaurant. I remember fondly our dinner there...all 7 1/2 hours of it. I was constantly surprised and delighted with every course and I wouldn't have missed it for anything. But as time passes, I remember less and less about the food itself although the memory of the presentation stays with me. I guess that's my point. Although my dinner there was a standout experience wise, I never say to myself, "You know, I can go for some edible menu tonight. Let's go to Moto." For me, Moto is the kind of place that I am perfectly happy to have experienced just once. I get the "joke". Still, I see your point about bringing guests from out of town there because it is such a unique experience. I certainly wouldn't try to talk anyone out of going there because it is well worth it. In fact, I encourage anyone who has not been to go and enjoy a truly unique gastronomic experience. I probably wouldn't even balk at going back myself if I were with someone who would appreciate Moto and has not been before.