Richard “Richie” Farina started his career beginnings as a pizza maker. During this two year period Richie also honed his skills by catering with a family friend. Seeking a bigger challenge Chef Farina decided to enroll at Johnson and Wales University in Providince Rhode Island seeking a Bachelors in Culinary Arts. With Chef Farina’s help, the school won the National College Ice Carving Championship 3 years in a row. After working in several top restaurants in Boston Chef Farina seeked a home and a bigger challenge. Off to Chicago he went and landed a job with Moto Restaurant in April 2008. In just two short years Chef Farina worked every station including all of the front of house stations. Now he was being groomed as the restuarants sous chef. In 2009 Chef Farina was one of four characters on a nationally syndicated television show for Discovery Networks titled Future Food that featured the whimsical creations of Moto Restaurant. As one of four lead characters on Future Food Chef Farina gained national recognition as one of the most creative talents in the restaurant world. Chef Farina’s work has reached hundreds of national television and print outlets including The Travel Channel’s No Reservations, The Today Show, The New York Times and many others. Currently Chef Farina is the Executive Sous Chef for Moto and is a contestant on the hit Bravo television program Top Chef which is slated to air in the fall of 2011. Richie describes his experience at Moto as “by far the craziest and most fun place I have ever worked. I am happy to call this place my home.”

Chris Jones

Chef De Cuisine

Moto Restaurant

Cooking started for Chef Chris Jones in his grandmother’s kitchen.  Imagination and inspiration were his driving forces.  What started as playing with his food soon became a path.  Unconsciously, enrolling in a few Home Economics classes in high school, now, at 27, Chef Jones is considered one of Chicago’s most talented chefs.

Chef Chris Jones was educated early to believe that if you want success you have to go out and make it for yourself, no one will hand it to you.  This blazed his path of working his way up through restaurants.   One thing that gave him and edge against his competition was his willingness to step up and “throw down” in a kitchen.  Described as having true stamina, Chef Jones motivates his kitchen to put their best foot forward.

Chef Chris Jones had his first big break in fine dining while working at Le Francais in Wheeling.  There he executed his determination to excel in the culinary field even without a recognized culinary degree.  Some qualities: such as determination and heart, simply can’t be taught in a classroom.  Being out in the work force and carving experiences are just as important in order to gain integrity in the field.  Developing these characteristics is just as recognized, and in some aspects can be more courageous.

At Moto, Chef Jones has creative freedom and implemented ingenious plates while never forgetting about presentation and more importantly taste.  Chef Jones is a talented individual, who is constantly working closely with and being mentored by Chef Cantu and Roche, to develop cuisine that is innovative and revolutionary.  Chef Chris Jones is truly passionate about the food he presents as he feels it is a reflection upon himself.

Matthew Gundlach admits that he was first attracted to the hospitality industry merely for the free golf, one of the perks he enjoyed while working at several private country clubs in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin during and after high school. But what surprised him was his growing interest in spending time off the greens and in the dining room. He realized this was more than a passing interest and over the next decade, committed himself to pursuing a career in the hospitality industry. Working at some of the finest restaurants and clubs in Madison allowed him to develop a finely tuned palette and to perfect his personable style of polished service. Taking his young, promising career to the next level, he moved to Chicago having landed a position as a member of the wine team at the esteemed Charlie Trotter’s.

While at Trotter’s, Gundlach was an invaluable member of the team working alongside some of the most talented wine professionals in the country. With regular on-site and off-site wine tastings, one-on-one meetings with wine producers and ongoing training at this four-star mecca, he elevated his wine skills to the highest standards. A mutual friend introduced him to Chef Homaro Cantu, who recognized Gundlach’s passion and offered him the opportunity to join the moto team, spearheading the wine and beverage program. With Postmodern cuisine just beginning to emerge, Gundlach saw his new position as a challenging and exciting offer – one that quickly paid off for him. Recognized for his potential, dedication and leadership skills, De Vito and Cantu soon promoted him to general manager.

As general manager for both moto and otom and as director of operations for Moto Management Group, he rounds out the young, dynamic leadership team. As sommelier and wine director, Gundlach constructs wine progressions to compliment Cantu’s 10 and 20-course tasting menus, as well as Nash’s artistic a la carte selections. Wines are best described as eclectic, cult wines from regions spanning the globe.

Gundlach is the first to say that “there is something enjoyable in every glass of wine: it’s just up to the guest to experiment and have a little fun along the way.”

As a young boy growing up in Beaufort, South Carolina, Ben Roche did the kinds of things boys that age do – make “volcanoes” and create Alka Seltzer “bombs” in his best friend’s kitchen. But for Roche, those early scientific experiments were more than a passing childhood fascination; rather they laid the foundation for a career as one of this country’s most innovative pastry chefs. As Executive Pastry Chef for Moto, Roche’s kitchen has the usual ingredients one might expect to find, but also houses tanks of liquid nitrogen, helium and nitrogen gas, items more frequently seen in a lab than in a kitchen.

Worlds away from Moto, Roche’s first kitchen experience was as a dishwasher in high school. While at work, he could often be found watching the chemical reactions taking place in the baking process and Roche realized he was hooked. After graduation, he enrolled in the Baking & Pastry program at Johnson & Wales University (Rhode Island, 2000) and worked nights at Pastiche, an upscale dessert bar and café in Providence. After 18 months, he left to fulfill his school externship in Hook, England at Tylney Hall, a boutique hotel just outside London. Roche returned to the States in 2002 to join the culinary team at Ouisie’s Table, one of Houston’s most esteemed restaurants. Six months later, Roche was offered a position as baker at the world-renowned Charlie Trotter’s, where he elevated his skills and was exposed to the highest level of cooking and artistry – and also where he met Homaru Cantu. The two science-minded chefs connected immediately, and when Cantu had a pastry position open up at his recently opened Moto, his first call was to Roche. After just four months, Roche was elevated to the Executive Pastry Chef position.

Now side-by-side in the kitchen at Moto, Roche and Cantu inspire, collaborate and support one another to bring their forward-thinking ideas to fruition. Known to use a class IV laser, cutting edge technologies, and liquid nitrogen to create intensely aromatic food and drinks and thought-provoking dish concepts, Roche’s only concern is having too many ideas to present at one time. “Working in the kitchen at Moto is all about a new way of thinking. Our flavor combinations might seem familiar at first but many of the traditional principles of a dish are stripped away, leaving the diner to experience delicious mental stimulation and surprise,” states Roche. New dessert experiences like No Smoking in Chicago and Chili Cheese Nachos are good examples of his culinary philosophy brought to the plate.

The sought after pastry chef has shared the stage with many distinguished innovators and food specialists and his talent as a pastry chef has caught the attention of consumers and critics around the world. He has appeared on Dinner Rush and Dinner Impossible, both on The Food Network, as well as on Iron Chef America and Roche has presented at the global gastronomic forum Madrid Fusion, Stanford University’s Design School, Poptech!, Taste3 and many other events. It’s fitting that the young, curious boy experimenting in his friend’s kitchen now creates some of the most technically innovative and “explosive” desserts — as he has found in Moto a kitchen where his love of science and the culinary arts is in perfect harmony.

Chef Homaro Cantu is blazing the way into the new era of Postmodern cuisine. Heralded as one of America’s most daring chefs, Chef Cantu pushes the limits of known taste, texture and technique in a stunning futuristic fashion at Moto.

A scientist at heart, Cantu is driven by insatiable curiosity and endless possibilities. And it is fair to say that the same enthusiasm that drove Cantu to dismantle his father’s lawnmower multiple times and chomp on $5, $10 and $20 dollar bills as a young boy still consumes him. Described as a “techno chef” or a “real life Willy Wonka”, he brushes off these labels and merely calls himself a cook when asked. But if you delve a little deeper you will learn that this young, talented chef is aiming to shatter the rules surrounding the table by introducing new technologies in the kitchen. His goal: to entice 21st century diners to embrace unimaginable edible creations.

But make no mistake; Chef Cantu has not lost sight of what brings us all to the dinner table – great tasting food. While guests may be positively shell shocked with some of the mind boggling creations at moto, rest assured that this young chef can cook. Having grown-up in Portland, Oregon, Cantu graduated from Le Cordon Bleu. He then worked his way up the ranks in nearly 50 kitchens on the West Coast before moving to Chicago. He moved to Chicago to work at Charlie Trotter’s and spent four years there attaining the coveted title of Sous Chef before leaving to open moto.

To dine at moto is to gain a glimpse of the inner workings of this culinary prodigy’s mind and the future of gastronomy. Offering tasting menus of 10 and 20 courses, Cantu stretches the imagination and takes you on a culinary adventure from the very first bite which may even be your menu. Homaro prints the evening’s offerings on edible paper. These functional and delicious menus assume many final forms on the plate including risotto and alphabet soup.

This type of out-of-the-box thinking touches the entire dining experience – sometimes literally. One of his many inventions for which domestic and foreign patent applications are pending
is his polymer box. A perfectly self-contained oven, the three-inch opaque box made of super insulating polymer is brought to 350 degrees in the oven before a raw piece of fish is placed inside. The box is then delivered to the table where it cooks right before the guest’s eyes.

While your experience at Moto is sure to expand one’s mind and palette, Cantu is not blazing new culinary trails for shock value alone but rather to change the way that people perceive and eat food. He views moto as his laboratory and tests new technologies in the kitchen daily. Scientific elements such as liquid nitrogen and helium and devices such as a centrifuge and a hand-held ion particle gun make regular appearances in the moto kitchen. And Cantu will be the first chef to zap food with a class IV laser, a cooking technique he will unveil in Spain in January 2006. With such lofty goals in mind and an impressive track record, it’s hard to imagine what will be served up next at Moto. As Cantu modestly explains, “Gastronomy has to catch up to the evolution in technology and I’m just helping that process along.”