Getting Out of My Comfort Zone

Haven't hit any trails for a while, so I wanted to write about an adventure of a different sort.  There's a vicious rumor about my having food issues.  Well, ok maybe it's not vicious.  And, uh, it's not a rumor...I think I have made amazing progress over the years, but there remain definite limits.  I will eat nothing that swims, no game and well, the list is long.

Ken and I were in Chicago for 2 nights this past week, as part of a wonderful reward from Acura. We enjoyed the beautiful Elysian Hotel and seeing the city in its holiday finery.  Our group of 20 headed to Moto on Thursday night.  This avant garde restaurant is located in the Fulton Fish Market area, with a very unassuming exterior.  Our group had a private room downstairs - an intimate space where the walls are decorated with squares representing the periodic table, and glass shelves hold beakers and test tubes and other science experiment items.

I had briefly looked at the restaurant's website, so I knew that it was quite out of the ordinary.  The understatement of the year!  Molecular gastronomy?  What?

We were in for a 14 course meal - one that is so unusual that a waiter explained each course as it was set before us.  We soon realized that the only predictable aspect to this meal was that it would be completely unpredictable.  The first course, quite frankly, scared me.  A large plate lined with a bamboo mat, a mini-menu printed on edible paper, minuscule bits of carrot, radish, and a near-microscopic mushroom - along with other things I can't recall.  My brain was having a really hard time with this!

                                           1st Course - Maki Menu

The idea for the first course was that we were to place this little rice crispy-looking thingy on the edible menu, add the teeny bits, squirt some sauce from an eye dropper, roll it up and eat it.  Oh seriously?  Turns out the menu was some sort of seaweed and I still can't believe I ate 2/3 of it.  I really tried to finish, but the seaweed was so fishy tasting that, well, I just couldn't.  I was thinking at this point - it's gonna be a really long night...

Course 1 - rolled and ready

The head waiter asked beforehand if anyone had food allergies or aversions.  As listing my aversions would have most likely made him quit his job on the spot, I simply said I would not eat anything that swims. 

And what happened next?  The "Black and White" course appeared and it was 2 different kinds of very fishy fish.  Whatever the "black" part was, it got that way from squid ink.  Oh no.  The pic is slightly out of focus, as I was momentarily traumatized by having it placed in front of me.  However, it was soon whisked away and replaced with the cauliflower dish, which was the best cauliflower I have ever eaten.  A few years ago, I would not have touched cauliflower, so this is definite progress!

Black and White

The cauliflower was perfectly cooked, trimmed with very thin fried onions, on a bed of celery root sauce.  Wow!

Course 3 was "Garbage Salad."  It was described to us as "what you'd find if you went dumpster diving behind a pizza place."  That sounded appetizing...but this seemed to be a very popular course as everyone cleaned their plates.  Along with some small bites of capicola, there were "edible packing peanuts" which represented half-eaten pizza crusts, edible cellophane, splashes of pureed romaine salad, pizza sauce, sausage crumbs. 

Garbage Salad

There was a large island near our table where a lot of the prep work was done for each course.  We were able to watch some of the craziness, but still could not guess what was coming next.  Clear glass globes were placed on the island and some sort of hose pumped fog into each one.  These were placed on the tables, where wisps of fog escaped thru a small opening in the top of the globe.  As the fog dissipated, we could see something under each globe...raw oysters.  Eek.  Due to my "no swimming" clause, my dome contained sea beans.  They looked like very skinny green beans, but had little discernible flavor.  I suppose that technically, sea beans would not swim so therefore could be placed before me.  These were used in a later course.

Globes being prepped

Course 4 - "Nose to Tail"  Seriously.  A thin trail across a plate with ham, belly, ears, shoulder, skins and loin.  I took only a tiny taste of the ears - which were like onion rings.  I just had a hard time eating a pig's ear!  I also skipped the skin - too much like those yucky things in bags at convenience stores.  However, the pineapple ham and the others were delish.  Oink.

         "Nose to Tail"                                          

 (with edible menu in upper left corner)               

                      Course 5 - Summer Breeze

We were next served a soup of sorts - the fish-eaters added the oysters, and I put a few sea beans on mine. There was something with tempura batter, and some things that looked to me like sliced squid. OK, so I've never really seen sliced squid...turns out it was kombu - edible kelp. This course was ok (and I ate something that floats rather than swims), but I found it to be quite salty.

Rather blurry photo of the Kentucky Fried Pasta

 - complete with spoon handle wrapped in fresh sage

Course 6 - Kentucky Fried Pasta, Flat noodles with mashed potato sauce, what I think was thin fried chicken skin. Kind of a Colonel's mish-mash. Comfort food, even tho it looked nothing like comfort food.

Earlier, lit votive candles were placed on the tables.  Ambiance?  Maybe, but Moto always has something else going on.  Course 7 was quail breast on a parsnip puree - soon to be poured on top was the warm rosemary oil from the candles!  I did not eat this course, but gave it to Ken.  I don't know what kind of quail is eaten, but I so enjoy the Gambel's quail that run amok in Sedona that I could not bring myself to eat it.

Quail breast and other stuff

Course 8 - cigars.  Cigars?  Definitely not the smelly kind that are lit and smoked.  This was the 2nd-most mind-bending of the courses.  This dish was served with 3 cigars in an actual metal ashtray.   The cigars looked quite real, causing the eyes and brain to say "ick - tobacco tubes" but the mouth to say "wow, yummy!"  Before eating, each of us had "ashes" added to the center of the ashtray and liquid nitrogen created  the smoke.  Turns out, the cigars were delicious!  Each was a differently flavored sandwich, with edible paper bands.  The wrappings were braised collard greens (another first!) and the red tips were sauce.  What kind of brain creates these things?

                  Cigars and ashtray

Cigars complete with ashes and smoke

Course 9 was Forest Foraging.  Food on a log.  Really.  We each had a stick that was spread with a mushroom puree, topped with fabulous braised short rib, salsify, mulberries and mushrooms.  Everyone seemed to love this one, and the guy next to me asked if he should "lick the log" - and then he did!

Forest Foraging - something to keep in mind for future hikes?

The most mind-bending course of all was the "Egg Drop Soup."  Coconut cream base with some kind of small cookie, mint leaves.  Topped with mango that looked exactly like an uncooked egg yolk, and lemon grass water that mimicked the egg white.  The appearance and consistency were exactly like a raw egg.  The brain was saying "eeuuwww, slippery raw egg" but the mouth was saying "Wow!"

Egg Drop Soup

Course 11 was a "Marshmallow Harvest" that included homemade marshmallow, toasted marshmallow crisps and pumpkin sorbet.  O M G.

Marshmallow Harvest                  

Cajeta Custard - Course 12 was a goat's milk custard - brain said "goat cheese - yuk", but this rich custard was wonderful, and topped with a small cookie with chai spices and uh, pine nuts?

Custard

Course 13 wins for most hilarious.  Dessert circa 1991.  This was served on the coolest, arched plate.  Smoked chocolate ice cream (oddly good), blackberry yogurt, chocolate mousse, and a cookie bearing the image of Michael Bolton.  Yes, that Michael Bolton, complete with the hair.  Delicious and so damn funny!

Dessert Circa 1991

Me, eating Michael Bolton's cookie-face            

And now the finale - Course 14.  I wondered what they might do to end this extravaganza, and thought it might involve fireworks.  That turned out to be rather accurate!  The sous chef and others came out to say hello and accept much-deserved accolades.  Then Richie Farina (recently on Top Chef), lit the fuse on chocolate "bombs" that were served to us while still lit.  We were instructed to eat them whole as soon as the flame went out.  This chocolate delight exploded in the mouth, releasing decadent melted chocolate.  I think I may have dreams about this one...

Sous chef Richie Farina lighting the ACME bombs

My very own ACME bomb

This was a dinner I will not soon forget.  Have never seen or eaten anything like it, and unlikely to have this happen again.  Although there were aspects of the food that I did not like, most of it was excellent and the innovation and creativity amazing!