There is a growing trend in America, and evidently this all stems from Spain—of cooking haute cuisine with a scientific approach. There are a variety of labels used to describe this style of cuisine, one that requires a background in the science of food preparation, but with techniques foreign to most cooks. Chef Cantu of Moto Restaurant, located on Fulton Street in Chicago’s meat-packing district, calls his approach “gastronomic cuisine,” one that fuses fun and science. Others use the term “Post-modern.” Upon arriving to Moto, you are seated in a bland, white and off-white dining room, small by most comparisons, and the first thing to arrive at your table is water. This refreshing start is enhanced soon enough with a most aromatic “cracker,” a large wafer of parmesan cheese, spicy Italian chilies, and the herbs sage and thyme. Affixed to this aromatic cracker is your menu, edible, and printed “to order” with your name. The menu proffers three choices, a 5-course menu for $70, a 10-course meal for $105, and a 20-course menu “featuring everything chef can do” for $165. These choices list each course, but in a shorthand to give you an idea of flavors, but no idea what will really come. As you munch on your cracker/menu, you make decisions about how hungry you are, and how long you wish to stay at Moto. A Chinese/Japanses character graces each table cloth: it roughly translates to “the idea of something.” As we’d find this was the essence behind the 10-course menu we chose.
Our main server was generous, humorous, and was an excellent example of how to treat guests. Moto has a understated formality in his sparseness (no artwork hangs on the walls), but the environment is relaxed, and business-casual attire is what they request you wear. She was fun, engaging, and when she presented dishes with explanations, she did so with confidence and her engaging personality.
Other servers were less bubbly, but all were excellent stewards of service. While dining at Moto, you can match your tasting menu selection with a corresponding wine menu, which can set you back even more money. Our server was quite flexible, however, and guided me on choosing two glasses of wine to accompany the 10 courses. They were particularly good matches, despite the great variety in the 10 offerings.
- Salmon with Sesame
- Acorn with Bacon
- Covena and Popcorn
- Pomegranate and caped gooseberry
- BBQ Pork with the Fixin’s
- Pasta and Ribeye
- Lychee Rigatoni Fruit Plate
- Two and three dimensional truffle
- Parsnip and Quince
- Kiwi, Mango, mint, and maize
Course 1: ‘Deconstructed’ Salmon Roll, with Nori Powder, Liquid-Nitrogen/Sesame Oil Sauce, and a Tofu Crisp. This was no ordinary salmon, but a “Tasmanian” salmon which had a luxurious texture, fresh, but not at all “fishy,” served raw. The liquid nitrogen sauce was served tableside, out of a copper saucepot, laced with a spicy lime flavor. Eating out of a boat dish that steams (from the liquid nitrogen) was exciting. The flavors in this first dish were subtle, but clean and satisfying.
Course 2: Acorn Squash 2 ways: one, cold, expanded, in a cheese-shaped wedge, and in a warm sauce with bacon and apple liquid. It looked on the plate like a big hunk of cheese, but instead, it was this air-light wedge of acorn squash purée that had been “expanded,” i.e., air-lifted. On top was a maple powder. It was a very subtle flavor, but one that was all about texture: as the stuff melted on your tongue, all that was left was a hint of flavor. The hot component was more flavorful, with small bits of bacon appearing in a small cup. We were invited to try these separately and then together. The whole time eating this course, we begged ourselves “what is this?” The novelty lasted throughout, and what you were left with, was the essence of acorn squash.
Course 3: Corvena Fish with a buttered-popcorn emulsion, Japanese-mint, coconut-milk powder, and a passion-fruit noodle. Okay, this one was “out there.” A type of rare sea bass, anchored in a nice thick sauce that we were told was popcorn. Fruit—coconut and passion fruit? And mint? These flavors, no matter their form, don’t belong together, but here, on this plate, they did. Amazingly, coconut—here served in a powderized form, mixed in the mouth with the salty popcorn emulsion and some how these flavors enhanced the fish. As an amusing foil the passion-fruit noodle added a tart flavor note, and the mint some how tied it all together. This plate was well-executed.
Course 4: Gooseberry with Pomegranate. This was an intermezzo dish, a gooseberry served in its own husk, a second husk filled with gooseberry gelée, and the third, a cup of mint-spiked pomegranate juice. This course wasn’t particularly inventive, but the interesting aspect was being served the berry in its own husk, which offered a perfumed flavor that was absent in the berry. That smell enhanced the experience.
Course 5: Deconstructed BBQ Pork Sandwich with Giant Black Crouton. “Inspired by our sous-chef who hails from Kansas City, it’s a throwback to Kansas-City-style BBQ.” On one side of a long plate sat BBQ-pork in a rich sauce. It was sour, flavorful (the most flavorful thing thus far), and rich. On the opposite side was a Borg-cube style giant crouton, “as black as anything can get black,” we were told, by being colored by squid ink. This giant crouton was “fried” in liquid nitrogen. We were told to use the giant crouton to soak up the extra BBQ sauce. Also on the plate was an essence of bread crumb. At this point I gathered that this cuisine was very intellectual. It also of course contained healthy doses of whimsy and fun, but there was deep thought required by both the chef and the diner in appreciating what sat on the plate. The giant crouton was delicious, so buttery and tasty. These courses kept getting more interesting.
Course 6: Dehydrated Mac and Cheese with Chicken-Fried Steak, with truffle powder, served in a highball glass. Nuggets of meat intermingled with a rich cheese sauce, covered in a type of truffle powder that looked like someone had sprinkled grated parmesan cheese on top. The macaroni was dehydrated, a crunchy texture. The strong scent of truffle came out of the glass, making this the most successful course of the evening. Texture, flavor, and scent together made this a real success. Eating out of a drinking glass with a spoon was fun, too.
Course 7: Lychee Noodle in Explorator Cheese augmented with white chocolate, rice paper puff, butternut squash, and marinated crabapple. This was a two-part dessert course, a kind of “let’s change direction.” The texture introduced in the first course kind of had a rebound here in the rice crisp. The most successful element was the cheese/white chocolate sauce, that was the mount point for three fruit-noodles, big rigatoni-style, without a trace of wheat or egg. Too strange to describe well, likely only a picture could show you what this looked like… modernist art with flavor.
Course 8: Cotton Candy Paper and Liquid Cotton-Candy Encased in a White Chocolate Ball. This was my favorite dish of the evening. First, a picture of cotton candy was printed on a wafer. It contained copyright and patent information from the Chef. You ate this “paper,” which was the essence of cotton candy. Next, you popped a candy ball, accented with “sprinkles” of various colors in your mouth, all at once, and as the chocolate melted, POW! This liquid popped out, cold, which was delicious, the liquid essence of cotton candy. What fun, what flavor, and what smiles.
Course 9: Parsnip Tapioca with Graham Cracker Sauce. In a little cup we found tapioca “falling” into a sauce, which somehow, was graham crackers. Beneath this, were “real” parsnip pieces. It started out sweet, but as you progressed downwards in the cup, things got more salty. This was an interesting trek, and I liked the flavors of parsnip.
Course 10: Nacho Dessert with Corn Chips, Chocolate powder “meat,” kiwi “chilies,” and sour cream, served with a corn puff, a type of peanut pineapple upside down cake. This was supposed to look like a bowl of nachos, with cheese, and the works, but was a dessert. The corn nacho crisps were real, but the rest made for an interesting dessert. I liked this less than those courses preceding it, but the little “cheese puff” thing that was also served had a most interesting flavor and texture. At this point, neither of us were stuffed. The ten courses were filling, sure, but don’t let the number 10 make you think you’ll leave over-stuffed. An excellent jasmine tea finished the meal, and then off we went, into the night, intellectually engaged by what we had just eaten, and changed by one chef’s definition of whimsy.
I asked our server what the chef calls his cuisine, she told me with a wide smile that he considers himself a “gastronaut.” Indeed, I thought, an apt description.
This was the most interesting meal I’d ever eaten. In coming-up with a rating, however, it became difficult. The service, presentation, and the like (with new silver and plates for each of the ten courses) was 5+ stars. If I were rating the food for novelty, it too would get 5-stars, but when comparing it to more standard fare, it somehow felt just a fraction short. Ultimately, this was a 5-star experience, but the food should dominate the rating.
Moto is fascinating dining experience. I enjoyed the sense of experimentalism in the food. My dining companion questioned some combinations of flavor, unable to fully understand how they fit together. I perhaps enjoyed these quirky combinations more, but I recommend Moto for those interested in an engaging culinary experience coupled with world-class service and wine. Moto might best be compared to another Chicago restaurant, Alinea. I shall like to try it and compare, my next time here in the so-called windy city.
