Chicago Magazine – January, 2005

Techno Chefs

by Jonathan Black

They’re young. They’re smart. They’ve got impeccable restaurant pedigrees and imagination to match. And now three talented Chicago chefs are leading a science-based culinary revolution from their lab-like kitchens. Homaro Cantu at Moto goes so far out on a limb, no one’s ever used the word “restraint” to describe him. His kitchen is unlike any other. The garde-manager-a cool, well-ventilated area where cold dishes are prepared-is dwarfed by four cylinders (two of carbon dioxide, one of helium, and one of liquid nitrogen) that look big enough to power a space probe. There are stacks of strange-looking clear boxes that might contain lab mice. But no; they’re Cantu’s self-cooking ovens, which thanks to an ingenious layer of polymer, retain heat for up to six hours if unopened. Cantu brings a box to 350 degrees in an oven, slides in a piece of fish, and then it’s delivered to your table, where, through a couple of courses, you watch it cook. Right now he’s thinking of food that levitates. He is working on ways to invisibly support food, including injecting helium into foams and spherical encapsulations that would be lighter than air. Cantu is also thinking about an inflated ball of helium that will spin and release food-friendly perfume. Aroma, you understand, is the next frontier. Grant Achatz has come up with a crop of new devices. Trio, during his glorious reign from 2001 to 2004, was known for its unusual presentations, including “The Antenna”, a skewer that allowed diner to eat without using their hands. He was fond of the vertical, constantly pushing to get past food that “lay down.” Now, like Cantu, he wants to suspend food, “like when you hang clothes out to dry and the wind blows them.” “The majority of the menu at Avenues is very straightforward”, Elliot Bowles quickly points out. “Frog legs risotto with shaved truffles and fried parsley and garlic emulsion. It’s all classic. Of course, on the chef’s menu,” he adds with a twinkle, “you’re putting yourself in the chef’s hands.” One dish consists of blood sausage and a sea scallop – live. “If you drop a little salt you can watch it twitch.” He pops oysters into a soda gun, which injects them with CO2 to give them “fizz.” Maybe you wonder whether these guys can actually cook – or whether they’re like cubists who picked the art form because they couldn’t draw faces. Rest easy. Bowles was among Food & Wine’s best new chefs in 2004. Achatz was in F&W’s class of 2002. Cantu was named Chicago’s best new chef in the pages of this magazine last May.