Dinner at Moto

Welcome to Moto. Your menu will be out in a minute. The chef just put it in the oven.

And so began our anniversary dinner at Moto, a marathon meal on the frontier of the culinary scene. Twenty courses. Four hours. It was epic. It was unforgettable. It was the perfect way to celebrate our first anniversary in our new hometown.

Beginning with the edible menu, every course was filled with unexpected surprises made with futuristic cooking techniques. Nothing was as it seemed. it was fun, it was whimsical. It was mindblowing.

A snowman made of foam melted under a zesty margarita to make a fruity sauce for tuna ceviche.  A watermelon bubble tea sipped through a large straw had bubbles of sonified scallops instead of tapioca. Tiny funnel cakes were made from dark pheasant meat. A cuban cigar was recreated from pork and collard greens. And a sushi roll served with red lacquer chopsticks was really rabbit bacon and risotto.

The dishes kept on coming. Tiny mesmerizing little bites, each a work of art. A few, like the reconstituted crepes assembled to look like cheese slices, pushed the envelope a little too far, but on the whole, the food tasted as amazing as it looked.

The meal finished with a bang when a dehydrated marshmallow fuse attached to a tiny chocolate truffle was lit on fire. I popped it into my mouth and was amazed to taste the essence of a S'more: chocolate, smoke, graham crumbs, and marshmallow. A lot of tastes in a tiny chocolate bite. A surprise, right up until the end.

Wednesdays are a time to use pictures as a writing prompt. Check out the Wordful, Five Minutes Wordless, not so Wordless and Way-back wednesday posts to see how others were inspired today.

Moto Restaurant
945 W Fulton Market
Chicago, Illinois 60607
(312) 491-0058