Travel without leaving my chair
SO, usually the Kahunas post to this blog when we are traveling to far off locations, and we make mention of cultural and sensory experiences that we haven’t experienced before. Which is why it seems fitting to use this space to tell you about a 4 hour trip that Swank Kahuna and I took last night through the Grand Tour MOTO - 20 courses of molecular gastronomy at MOTO here in Chicago.First, if “molecular gastronomy” makes you think of food science to make sweeter tomatoes for Heinz ketchup let’s have a bit of a lesson from Wikipedia: Chef Homaru Cantu
The pics are a sad affair due to seriously low lighting and the desire not to hold up service with a real camera…Swank did her best with an iPhone to at least capture the plates as they came…
Our “trip” started with an edible menu customized with our party’s name and served on a plate with fresh ramps and a sauce that progressively got smokier in flavor as you worked down the plate.
With courses that included a liquefied Greek salad taken as a shot glass (resplendent with the finish of red onion), oil poached octopus with feta, a potato gnocchi that was “loaded” with flavors or essence of bacon and sour cream.
Faux-jito as a palate cleanser mixed table side from syringes, a white truffle custard brulee served with a single bite biscuit to die for, nitro prepared mac noodles, a caramel apple with bacon served with aromatic spoons and forks.
Then there were the desserts…and they would be desserts made by pastry chef Ben Roche that included a Carrot Cake soup that started as a perfect orb before deconstructing at our table side a Chili dog that was actually made of raspberry sorbet,and a Cafe’ con leche that was a slice of frozen coffee served with a cup of liquid biscotti….
Our group started to struggle with the quantity of food around course number 9….the portions were much larger than a tasting menu suggests.
The richness and intensity of flavors began to overload my senses early on. The impeccable and extremely comfortable and accessible service made it an incredible experience. I woke this morning with a bit of jet lag…or perhaps it was the three bottles of wine the four of us worked our way through. : )
