From the Ledge

So it all started with an intriguing post from Moto’s Homaru Cantu (yes, the guy who, together with Alinea’s Grant Achatz, put Chicago on the molecular gastronomy world map; who was chosen as one of the Top Innovators in any field by Time magazine; who mercilessly beat Morimoto on Iron Chef) six weeks ago on the foodie blog and forum, http://www.lthforum.com/.  I’d like to invite you to a special event at OTOM on April 30.  Respond quickly.  Hmmm…of course Chicago foodies buzzed, fluttered, and dashed, hoping to snag one of 20 or so slots for this mysterious April 30 event.  Lots of angst went around when there wasn’t an immediate peep heard from the OTOM/Moto crew.  Then, those who got slots received a very strange email from Omar Cantu containing timeslots in GMT time, a sentence written backward, more cryptic notes.  And once you’ve confirmed that you could actually make it on April 30 and how many guests you were bringing, you got another confirmation email back, this time from Darryl Nash, former number two guy at Moto, Cantu co-conspirator in all things scientific, unique, culinary boundary-pushing.  For the past year, he had been at the helm of  OTOM, Moto’s sister restaurant (these guys like to write things backwards and in anagrams, must be the trait of the genius mind!), which had always been billed as comfort cuisine, without the attention-demanding techniques of Moto’s culinary style.  The several times I had been at OTOM since they opened in the late spring of 2007, I’ve found the food to be very good (I especially liked the trio of mini-hamburgers and the mac and cheese), the service exceptional, and the ambience, with its post-modern 70’s Knoll vibe mixed with warehouse district hip, really fabulous, but I really didn’t get a strong sense of what defined the place.  I thought it was a great addition to the Fulton Market area, but last year, I didn’t think it was destination dining, which, understandably, was quite difficult to be in Chicago where great restaurants of every shape, size, price point, ambience, and twist were available at every street corner.  So I was very excited to go to this special event last night- I had a feeling that there was going to be an update, a revamp, a relaunch, but with the playful, idiosyncractic, smart, guerilla-type antics that these boys were capable of, I was sure it was going to be quite the unexpected night to remember.

So I found myself with BFF Linda and blog mentor Tom at 5:30 last night, in the middle of an alley in Fulton Market, behind the restaurant, surrounded by dumpsters, inhaling the lingering smell of fish courtesy of the seafood warehouses that were interspersed between the lofts and art galleries in the area, trying to delicately sip a glass of Veuve Clicquot while Chef Cantu heartily welcomed us and showed-off various glossy food images on his latest version Mac technology (blog mentor Tom and Cantu talked tech while I was trying very hard not to be distracted by the ironic picture of a world-renowned chef with a glass of champagne in his hand and computers in front of him in the midst of dumpsters).  What an auspicious beginning, and an appropriate one:  both an acknowledgement that OTOM sprung from Moto’s loins so to speak, but also that Big Brother Cantu was graciously moving aside, giving way, to Nash and his restaurant to make their own mark, realize their own potential.  And as I sat through the five course (not counting the amuse bouche at the start of the meal and Nash’s version of a mignardis at the end, which was fascinating) meal with wine pairings, the back-alley welcome was indeed genius- the new OTOM menu, I think, is comfort-food Moto, using the best of molecular gastronomy tools and techniques to re-invent, renew, refresh classic food.  That’s the sense of self-definition that I’ve been looking for OTOM to have since it opened to set it apart in the competitive Chicago restaurant scene.

The exclusive dinner party itself felt like a scene from a Bunuel movie overlayed with Wong Kar-wai’s visual aesthetics.  There were fifteen of us in the whole restaurant, sitting at a long communal table that could have sat twice that, dwarfed by a huge screen showing a continuous loop of really sexy, really hot pictures of mouthwatering food and gleaming kitchens, surrounded by the orange glazed mod design of OTOM, with lots of servers silently hovering, refilling wine glasses.  I half-expected Maggie Cheung or a young Delphine Seyrig to come out with our plates, but the two of them could not have upstaged Darryl, who came out and explained every course articulately and engagingly, with his passion for his cooking visibly coming through.

We started with an amuse bouche of Hawaiian pizza - flatbread with a tomato puree and a “carbonated” pineapple, a piece of fruit, which Darryl said was dehydrated and then rehydrated.  Interesting, but it still tasted like pineapple to me.  Then a “wow” of a first course came out, butter poached shrimp with black beans and a rice and jalapeno noodle playfully intertwined with the two jumpo shrimp.  The shrimp were perfectly poached, and the noodle had an interesting gummy texture with a wisp of jalapeno flavor.  It was paired with a California central coast Riesling, whose sweetish tinge also brought out the sweetness of the shrimp.

Then the two vegetable courses came out one after the other, each a terrific demonstration of Darryl’s imaginative technique.  The salad course was his take on the classic Salad Lyonnaise, now renamed Lyonnaise Breakfast Salad.  On one side of the plate was a perfectly scooped out, soft boiled egg yolk resting on delicately shredded egg white bits.  On the other side of the plate was the escarole salad, with a large “bacon egg” perched on top of it.  This was mind-blowing:  bacon was rendered over and over again and mixed with cream and other unidentified dairy products, and then pureed and injected into a balloon (!) which resulted in a very creamy, very bacon-ny product, with a cold center, like bacon ice cream.  For bacon lovers like me, this was fantasy fulfillment of the highest order (who has never thought of sprinkling bacon on everything, including ice cream?)  and was very singular, in terms of both flavor, presentation, and the immediate sensory impact when you bite into it.  This dish was paired with a very solid, very robust burgundy.

The vegetable course was called TV Dinner which came in these authentic, circa 1967, German army mess hall aluminum trays.  So, at this point, the movie in my mind shifted from Bunuel and Wong Kar-wai to Rainer Werner Fassbinder (with Hannah Schygulla bumping off Maggie and Delphine)- what a trip! Everything on the plate was not what you thought it would be.  There was something that looked like mashed potatoes and gravy, but was in fact cauliflower puree with coffee gravy and bits of ground coffee beans on top.  I liked the texture of the puree but I’m not generally a fan of coffee in savory dishes (I like my coffee coming with a cute Starbucks barista, thank you very much).  Then the “protein” looked like fried chicken, but really was a puree of red beans that was then deep fried to approximate the chicken skin.  Interesting concept…I thought the “skin” was crunchy, but once you bite into it, expecting the taste of chicken meat, you tasted red beans instead- a quite jarring effect.  Then there was a slice of what looked like chicken pot pie but was actually a carrot and edamame pie.  This was the best item on the plate; the crust was absolutely crispy and flavorful and the carrot and edamame mixture moist but not mushy.  It was a phenomenal, conceptual course, because it really challenged the extent of complementary interaction of your eyes, your mind and your food associations, and your taste.  This dish was paired with an Oregon pinot noir which I thought was just ok.

Then the piece d’resistance came out:  barbecued pork belly with a cube of perfectly toasted (or was it smoked?) bread with swiss chard resting on it, and “pork beans”, which was pureed pork molded like beans, a very playful, very creative take on pork and beans.  This was clearly, hands down, the best course of the night for me- the pork belly had that indecipherable but harmonious ratio of fat and meat, very tender, very flavorful, with the barbecue sauce not smothering it, but rather enveloping it, tenderly, gingerly.  And the New Zealand syrah that was paired with it was the best wine for me last night (well, other than the Veuve, of course), it was very bold, very smoky, and really dampened the potential of the pork belly to be overwhelming.  This dish was so delicious, I could have eaten three pieces of it. Yikes!

Of course, what’s a menu re-launch without a dessert course?  The Milk ‘n Cookies plate had two chocolate chip cookies, which were each bigger than the waistline of The Biggest Loser winner, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream which hid caramelized bananas and mascarpone.  Although by this time I thought I needed a stomach pump to get more food into my system, I licked my dish clean since the sexy combination of the bananas, the mascarpone, and the ice cream was just too addicting (clearly, I probably should be auditioning for The Biggest Loser myself!).  And when you thought it was all over…it was not.  Darryl’s creative take on mignardis came swooping in- it was a small portion of banana puree bathed in chocolate and ground nuts and covered with diced maraschino cherries, very light and dreamy, an ethereal banana split.  The dessert course was paired with a light 10 year tawny port which felt very apt with the sweetness and richness of the dish.

Service was impeccable throughout the two and a half hour dinner, and conversation among the 15 food lovers present, Darryl, and team OTOM buzzed throughout.  I was so excited to partake of Darryl’s cuisine- it was high-concept, risky, and stimulating yes, but it got the basics (a perfect poached shrimp, a perfect barbecued pork belly) right and well.  I thought all of us at the dinner felt lucky to be in the hands of a master culinary team who had an infectious passion and belief in the power of food to challenge and provoke, and to start conversations and debate.  Again, it was one of those nights, when I had to pinch myself over and over again, to remind myself that yes, this actually was happening, that I was actually savoring another unique opportunity that only a world-class city like Chicago could provide. 

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