Newsmaker: For Chicago chef, it's prepare, print, serve

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What's happening with the edible ads right now?
Cantu: We're setting up a large product line in an undisclosed location. We're talking to major publishers, like Gourmet, Fast Company, about sustaining edible ads for months and months on end. I think it's going to revitalize the entire print ad market because it's going to have instant consumer impact.

We've been approached by car companies to do this, by credit card companies where they want an edible credit card in there. They want to be out of the box, they want to think differently and they want their products to reflect that. We're probably nine months to a year from lift off, but right now we're still building it. That should be done within three months.

What's up with all these crazy, seemingly unnatural things you do with food?
It enables us to follow the process of innovation from A to B. Let's say I have an apple and I'm going to split it up into the basic building blocks...and put it into printheads, and I have the basic binary code to print food in physical form. We can print food in two dimensions from all-natural, all-organic ingredients. It might look very foreign, but so would Twinkies to a person 2,000 years ago.

We can create a third-world food replicator. All we need is a printer. We print an apple, essentially a replica of an apple from one picked at the peak of freshness. You can't tell the difference between my apple that was transmogrified and the one that was picked. We can create stockpiles without having to worry about their shelf life.

You've talked about how the age of growing meat is upon us.
Cantu: Meat in petri dishes for long-term space missions, that's going to happen. We're not going to see a farm on a space shuttle in our generation. There's a guy who grew chicken in a petri dish and it tastes like a chicken. This crosses the line of is it manmade or not...We're bursting at the seams with our food chain and we have to find new ways to think about food. But at the same time it can't be manmade.

We can print food in two dimensions from all-natural, all-organic ingredients. It might look very foreign, but so would Twinkies to a person 2,000 years ago.

How do you deal with people's gross-out factor?
Cantu: It's kind of gross to me...But if it's grown in a petri dish, then it's sanitary, it tastes good, no cholesterol, doesn't offend the PETA people because the poor little cow doesn't get incinerated. That's the road we're heading down. I look at this more as an innovative product design and utilizing the restaurant as a test market.

Any idols or role models?
Cantu: In the 1950s the military went up to Kelly Johnson who was a colonel and said, look, the Russians are developing nuclear weapons that can reach our country in minutes. We need a jet that can fly at supersonic speed...They said here's the other catch, we need it in 173 days...He organized this entire team, but they didn't know they were a team. And he sort of put the puzzle pieces together, probably the quickest and most inspirational example of efficiency. Yeah, it was designed to create a war machine, but it was the efficiency with which he did it. That is an idol of mine, that and Stephen Hawking for his out-of-the-box thinking.

Do you have any chemistry or engineering background?
Cantu: No, I think very counter-intuitively and then logically. I like to think stupid first: Can I get a strawberry into a magazine?

What do you want to be doing 10 years, 25 years from now?
Cantu: Saving the planet.

You see what you're doing as part of a larger trend?
Cantu: I think of it as anti-consumer goods. We don't want to sell more products. That's ruining our infrastructure in the long haul. We're using up too many materials and we're not going to be able to afford to replenish our concrete roads because concrete is too expensive. We need to produce less.

Does that contradict the products that you're developing to sell in big stores?
Cantu: No, because that's going to replace 500 products in the store.

Do you think it's too late to save the planet?
Cantu: I know a little too much and some days I think it's too late. Humanity has the wherewithal to correct its problems, but it's going to take a massive effort. It's going to take the Steve Wozniaks, Richard Bransons, Stephen Hawkings, and not the policymakers.

Take the trans fat thing. Everybody's screaming that the government's telling us what to eat. Well, look at it from a different angle. OK, we're going to make a substitute for trans fat that's all-natural, cheaper to produce. From a commercialization standpoint, you're sitting on a gold mine if you can do that, rather than crying about it. It's not good for us. The challenge for the innovative future is to start thinking, now what am I going to substitute that with? It's how you look at it. Are we going to allow the small bakers to go out of business because now they can't use trans fat Crisco? No.

What could you substitute that with?
Cantu: I can't talk about that. I'm working with a company on that.

What was it like to win on the Iron Chef?
Cantu: The hardest part was getting there with 18 huge boxes of equipment, including a Class 4 laser, which is a miracle by itself considering you can't get on an airplane with scissors.

What do you eat at home?
Cantu: My wife banned me from the kitchen. She does all the cooking. I do simple things, like a bagel with cream cheese. I do eat normal food. Pizza and a glass of beer--that to me is a perfect meal.

Why Chicago?
Cantu: I love Chicago. We're surrounded by cornfields. People want to take it easy here. Chicago by its nature after the fire is a clean slate...Our real estate prices are still pretty low. I can afford to do 50 people maximum every night and sustain a healthy business.

What's the best pizza in Chicago?
Cantu: Marie's on Lawrence.

More Newsmakers

[dargon19888]

Expensive but worth it...

Wild timing. We just ate at Moto this week.

It was an incredibly interesting and fun time.
If you're a vegetarian, you can call ahead and they'll accomodate you.

If you're a foodie and are expecting more traditional fare, this may not be your cup of tea.
If you're a techie,and if you're reading this then you must be, then you'll find it interesting.

Also plan on dinner taking a while.
Think of this of edible art.

[migswell]

would I want to go to BK afterwards?

I hate going to an expensive restaurant and walking out hungry. This seems like a great food gag for wealthy Chicagoans. Eating my menu does not sound like a pleasant experience. Anyone else recommend this place?

[dargon19888]

Well thats one way to never eat at BK again.

We did the 10 course meal.

Was it a lot of food? No. The proportions were enough to get a good chance to enjoy the flavor and texture of the food.

But after 10 courses, you should be ok.

If you want more, there's a 20 course meal, but plan on taking 4 hours to eat.

If you add the selection of wines, you should be full.
(But then again, I don't know how much you eat at a meal.)

If you were to go to BK afterwards, you'll realize just how bland and awful their burgers taste.

With respect to the menu, my guess is that he's using organic inks on rice paper. By itself, not that tasty. But he attaches it to a flatbread that is very tasty. Is it a gimic? sure.

As a restaurant, I would say its a place that you would want to go for only the really *special* occasions.

I recommend the restaurant for what it is. Food as art or entertainment.