Insatiable: The Homaro Cantu Story at the Chicago International Film Festival

Hello there.  Today, I'm blogging as Jessica and not as Bunny and Brandy's nameless narrator because this particular post is something pretty personal, so please forgive this rare intrusion into my own elaborate fantasy world.

On Monday night, I was invited to attend a screening of and reception for Insatiable: The Homaro Cantu Story, a film by documentarian Brett Schwartz, as part of the Chicago International Film Festival at AMC River East.  The film, as you can probably tell by the title, told the tale of Chef Homaro Cantu, innovator, culinary genius, and all around wonderful human being.  If you've read my tribute to the late chef, then you'll know exactly why this film was especially meaningful to me and why I was more than honored to attend this particular screening.

Director Brett Schwartz

Schwartz first learned of the work Homaro (or Omar, as he was known to family and friends) was doing in a 2005 New York Times article.  He then spent three years following Omar around, witnessing first hand the man's manic energy as he spearheaded project after project, constantly striving to innovate the food industry for the betterment of humanity.  As asserted in interviews all throughout the film, it was hard to be around Omar and not get caught up in his lofty schemes, and Schwartz does a fantastic job of letting the audience feel his desire to save the world.

It was a troubled beginning in life that shaped everything Omar tried to do as an adult.  He didn't just want to create extraordinary food, he wanted to eliminate world hunger, decrease pollution by decreasing food miles and packaging, and even take sugar out of the American diet vocabulary with use of the miracle berry.  He truly was a mad scientist, but one with a heart and a great sense of humor, which comes through brilliantly in the film.  Sure, there is that hint of hard-ass chef (especially when he relates the story of Moto's first Valentine's Day service, where he almost purposely cut the power to the restaurant to escape an overbooked service), but that same conviction is what drove him to try and create an ambitious empire of innovation on par with companies like Apple or Tesla.

Sadly, many of Omar's plans never came to fruition or started to crumble in front of him during the final years of his life.  iNG was forced to close down after flooding issues made them a high risk tenant.  Moto lost one of its driving forces in Richie Farina when he decided to leave and pursue other opportunities.  Well publicized legal troubles began to plague Omar, slandering his character by portraying him as careless with the money of his investors.  The film doesn't shy away from any of the controversy, and for those who know what's coming, the latter part of the film feels not just like a "gut punch," as Schwartz put it, but a gut punch in slow motion.

The thing that brought me to tears was the final moments of the film, in which the camera pans through the Fast Forward Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry, which showcases some of Omar's forward thinking inventions, like the 3D food printer and a polymer table top oven.  This was the very exhibit in which I first heard of Homaro Cantu, Moto, and all the wondrous things going on down on Fulton Market.  This was what gave my friend and me the idea to stop into Moto for a drink one blustery fall evening seven years ago, where our experience there changed my life by inspiring this very blog.

My nostalgia for that moment was further enforced by the reception after the screening, where Moto alums Richie Farina and D'Andre Carter (along with D'Andre's team from his catering company, Feast and Imbibe) served up small plates of their signature flavorful and stunningly presented food.  Both these guys hold a special place in my heart and my history; Richie, because he was the person who toured us through the kitchen at Moto when I returned there for dinner as Homaro's guest in June of 2010, and D'Andre because of his patience with me when I shadowed him as a "guest chef" one fateful day at iNG in December of 2012.

The food, as to be expected, was the perfect showing of skill and mischievousness, like the miniature beef and broccoli with a pipette of soy sauce, the tuna and avocado mousse push pops, or the strawberry short cake shaped like a tiny ice cream cone.  But it was when Richie emerged from the kitchen, that trademark Cheshire cat grin plastered across his face as he gestured to a plank of small round balls, that I nearly burst into tears once more.  These were S'Mores Bombs, a signature dessert from the Moto days, that look like an innocuous chocolate truffle, but have a flammable marshmallow wick and a magical, liquid graham cracker center.  This was the very bite my friend and I were offered that night in October of 2009.  We had paid for a single cocktail each because it was all we could afford, and the staff, over hearing our humming and hawing over whether to split the dessert flight they used to offer at the bar, took it upon themselves to bring us the bombs.  That magical presentation of watching the wick burn down, the glorious moment of tasting the graham cracker as it washes over the tongue... That was what had caused me to send a tweet of thanks to Homaro.  That was what caused him to send me an invitation to dine at Moto.  And that was the meal that started the blog.

Monday night, as I looked at that little melting ball of chocolate between my fingers, I held back tears because I never thought I'd get to experience that moment again.  But there it was, the bite that started everything, given back to me with just as much generosity as it had been given almost exactly seven years ago.  In a year that has been very emotionally tough for me, I needed Insatiable to remind me that there is still a hell of a lot of good people in this world, and we all need to do our part to inspire the best in each other.

You can follow Insatiable: The Homaro Cantu Story on Facebook to find out where it's playing next.  I also encourage you to consider a donation to the Cantu Children's Trust, which goes towards ensuring Homaro's two girls are promised a bright future.

The writers of this blog were invited to attend this event free of charge in order to facilitate the writing of this post.

Food News: Insatiable- The Homaro Cantu Story at Chicago International Film Festival

From the Insatiable Facebook page

As many of you may know, the late Homaro Cantu holds a special place in the heart of the writers of this blog.  Not only did he inspire the creation of this blog in the first place, he supported, promoted, and encouraged us as this little site was first getting on its feet.  It is for that reason we have always considered him to be the guardian angel of Bunny and Brandy's Brunchtime Blog, because we experienced first hand his generosity, passion, and never ending capacity for kindness.

Film maker Brett A. Schwartz began filming a documentary about Homaro Cantu at a time when the chef's life was filled with a dizzying array of new projects, which all came to a halt with his untimely death.  After many years of cutting together intimate footage of Homaro in his element and interviews with some of the people who knew him best, Schwartz is finally getting a chance to bring his project to the public.

Insatiable: The Homaro Cantu Story is set for its final showing as part of the Chicago International Film Festival this evening at the 6:15 @ AMC River East.  Tickets can be purchased here and include not only entrance to the screening, but access to a special reception at Chez that will include a menu of hors d’oeuvres by former Moto Executive Chef, Richie Farina along with Chef D’Andre Carter former Executive Sous Chef of Moto and now Executive Chef of Feast & Imbibe. For those unable to attend tonight's event, Brandy will be posting her full recap of the evening in Wednesday's post.  We do hope to see some of you there tonight to help us support not only an important film, but to join us in celebrating the life of a brilliant chef and a wonderful man.

A tribute to Chef Homaro Cantu

Hello friends, my name is Jessica Berson and I have been the voice of Bunny and Brandy for four years now.  The original concept of this blog was to keep behind a semi-anonymous facade, but something happened yesterday that for once requires my own words, and not that of my whimsical, fictional creations, so I hope you will forgive this (hopefully) one time only breaking of the fourth wall.

In the fall of 2009, a friend and I were looking for something to do on a Wednesday night.  Somehow, we landed on the idea of going for a drink at Moto (at the time, there was a small lounge space at the front of the restaurant), just to check out all the crazy mad food science happening there, like edible paper and cocktails in test tubes.  The guy behind the bar must have been amused to find two rubes like us sitting in front of him on an otherwise slow weekday night, and although we had only ordered one drink each, he chatted with us, fixed us up with some absinthe shots (in a test tube!), gave us a taste of some European gin, and even insisted we try a dessert before we left, a chocolate sphere in the shape of a tiny cartoon bomb with a light-able marshmallow wick and a liquefied graham cracker center.  It was an amazing night for two girls who were barely making ends meat while working at a famous Chicago comedy theater.

So elated was I that we had been treated so well that I went home and tweeted Moto's chef, Homaro Cantu, that although I could never hope to afford dinner at his restaurant, I thoroughly enjoyed my brief time there, where his staff were second to none.  Almost right away, I got a DM back from him offering me something extraordinary: a dinner at Moto on his dime in exchange for writing about the experience on social media.  I broke into tears and called my mother.  I felt so lucky that I actually went out and bought a lottery ticket that day.

A few months later, my friend and I were treated to the dining experience of a life time.  We were presented with thirteen courses in total as well as wine pairings and a tour of the kitchen by Moto's future executive chef, Richie Farina.  I wore a dress I'd bought for about $25 from Target especially for the occasion and had lived for a week on egg noodles and frozen vegetables so that I could afford to leave a tip.  As I had told the Chef, at that time in my life, I never thought there was a chance of me being able to have a night like that, a meal like that, and I wouldn't have without the generosity of a man who knew what it was like to be living on the edge while yearning for much more.

That night in June of 2010, a seed was planted and took hold, which would eventually bloom into the founding of this blog in October of that year.  Along with my photographer friend, we decided on brunch as a way to sample Chicago's culinary scene without breaking the bank, as brunch tends to be cheaper than dinner.  When we set up our rating system, we decided to judge every meal on a curve, as compared to the single greatest meal of our lives, which is why we have always used a scale of 1-5 M's to define our idea of perfection (M for "Moto" of course).

As my blog blossomed and grew with my changing life style, Chef Cantu was still there helping me and inspiring me.  I was there with friends for one of the very first dinners at ING, returning again when the miracle berry dinners started, and then being invited once more when the theme dinners entered the space.  My day job circumstances changed and I was able to take my mother to dinner at ING for Christmas for a few years, a tradition she came to look to as the greatest culinary experiences of her life.  I was even invited to guest chef at ING one afternoon, where a staff of patient and polite professional chefs smiled on as I mangled some hard boiled duck eggs and desperately tried to learn how to plate with a pair of tweezers.  Chef Cantu allowed me to reprint two recipes from his amazing Miracle Berry Diet Cookbook on this blog.  He even personally promoted my blog, posting links to it on his social media accounts, which was an amazing boost for me in the eternal battle of getting one's content noticed in the haystack that is the internet.

Yesterday, Chef Homaro Cantu passed away.  I cannot adequately express my devastation at this news.  Although I only met Chef Cantu a few times in person, I always felt as if he was the guardian angel of this blog, a silly little website which gave me the creative outlet I needed to stay sane while working a necessary but not unpleasant day job.  In fact, I have kept the paper version of the menu from my dinner at Moto on my desk since that day so that  I could always remember what had inspired this unexpected, yet joyful and fulfilling part of my life.  I will never forget all of the kindnesses extended to me by Homaro Cantu, a virtual stranger who changed the course of my life in ways he will never know.  Thank you Chef, thank you for the greatest meal of my life, for showing me how food can truly be elevated to art, and for inspiring me to do what makes me happy.  Your spirit of kindness and generosity will never be forgotten and the legacy of talent you leave behind will continue to inspire Chicago and the world for countless decades to come.

My thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.  I encourage all of Chicago's food community to join me in contributing a donation in his honor to The Trotter Project.