inventolux

That's a long way away from: "However, he'd rather his staff not try to learn from what has already been documented by other chefs. When asked whether his style, full of tricks and puns, edible menus and liquid salads in pipettes, is at all influenced by the legendary Ferran and Alberto Adria of Spain's El Bulli restaurant, or by their cookbooks, Cantu responds, "Moto is a self-sustaining think tank. Our ideas stem from a few basic rules. One: don't read cookbooks, [as] it influences your style and your style will no longer be yours. Two: creating cannot involve copying." http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JA..._n13665880/pg_3 I discourage my team from reading cookbooks as it does influence style. I encourage inspiration utilizing other technology from other industries. Basically I believe we can cook with anything that plugs into a wall. How am I to evolve by following other models? Nobody is born without influence and we are no exception therefore we copy just like everyone else. To be creative is a goal and a philosophy. We may never achieve it but then again who today really has? I'm glad to see you've had a change of heart. We have evolved and moved on, thats all.Respect for Adria has and will always be there. I think there are at least that many already, if you consider them chefs, they work in soup kitchens and homeless shelters, transport food across oceans and live in poverty amongst the people in need to help the sick and the hungry. But 100,000 more would certainly be helpful as would elimination of things that keep this cycle rolling - like the caste system etc etc. Obviously the current system isnt working. I don't doubt your sincerity and in fact I'm glad you don't throw around your charitable endeavors to make yourself look good, but I'm still highly skeptical that walking around in Rajasthan with pictures of chapatis on sheets of paper with the words, "Eat this, it'll make you feel better", is going to do much good. But whatever you are doing... you are most likely doing more than most, myself included - so that counts for something. Only if we actually do something about it. I'm not a chef. As far as I can remember I've never charged for a meal in my life - but that doesn't make me better than you - as I sell my soul every day for the almighty dollar. Your agenda would be vastly different than mine because to me, you ARE big business, maybe not as big as Microsoft but certainly much bigger than a $5 hotdog stand or the Thai joint down the street - regardless of whether you actually make more profit or not. It takes money for R&D. 5 bucks for a hot dog wont do it. The way you come off is like me, as a regular person out here, is like me calling upon my people (whom cuisine really belongs to) to rise up and take back what is theirs, to start thinking like you, to file every $80 patent for anything they can write a description of and draw a picture for before the "high cuisine" chefs take it. It's almost like me calling chef Robin, chef Robin Hood (stealing from the gastronomically rich and giving to the gastronomically poor... plus tax and tip of course) and calling on everyone reading this thread to take and publish as many ideas as they can so they don't fall into your hands. My goal is not to write an 80 dollar patent for every ridiculous and useless idea, believe me, I am the first to point them out in my restaurant which are usually my own. Just the ones that have market potential and can offer massive impact. Many of your philosophies seem contradictory and diametrically opposed to the desired outcome. We dont really know that. Sure hardships we may endure and mistakes will be made but its the opportunity for discovery that made the world round and enables you and I to collaborate over this digital world. But that is just my opinion - from my singular point of view. Cheers, now lets have a beer at the HopLeaf. ← ←

I have to go now... Bill Gates just borrowed a bunch of technology that he now calls "Microsoft Innovation" and has sent cease and desist letters to anyone trying to copy his ideas and now he's doing charity work to try and soften his image. ← Good one, but I have disagree with some of it. Perhaps Gates is softening his image. I really dont care about that. My concern is that creativity drives innovation and innovation drives big business. Big business is whats at stake here. Not some guy around the globe using my veal sweetbreads with goat cheese or my donut soup. I think when certain ideas in the food world become known as public domain that were highly creative in the conceptive stages, they become the property of someone or something else. Big business takes over and leaves the working class citizen helpless. Its retarded in my opinion to send out cease and desist letters to everyone. In my opinion thats legalized communism. Currently those are the laws we live by and I dont agree with all of them. Its a capitalist society, how does one achieve anything? Provide a solution and problem solve. Perhaps todays solution may be wrong but chances and risk are part of the game. I hate quotes but "he who risks nothing risks everything." I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this one. Or is it your opinion that we should just continue to allow the problem to fester. Assisting those in need is something I have been working on even before Moto opened and even before I arrived in Chicago as being on the other side of the coin as it is a large part of my history. Find me 100,000 chefs willing to crank out food aid 24/7 365 days a year then I will hand over my IP to you. And also, I think Adria's influence is everywhere in the avant garde/postmodern world. Its the up and comers I spend more of my time supporting. I think he would he would agree with me as he has shown great support for my philosophy in gastronomy for which I am very grateful. Paying hommage yes, working as a team on a global scale, a must. Evolution....... inevitable.

Is this the Famous Original Ray's exception? Nobody cares that Manhattan is full of Famous Original Ray's, Original Famous Ray's, Ray's Original Famous, etc... (without anybody seeming to know if there was in fact at any time a One True Ray's)... A slice joint is a slice joint, and marketing is marketing? But when the technical skill increases, the obligation to respect one's betters comes into play? My lese majeste theory from a couple of pages back seems to be the principle at work here. ← This reminds me of Mac Donalds versus McDonalds in Coming To America.

we should all be so lucky that the only fallout from our transgressions would be for people to discuss them. i merely pointed out no one was defending this man for what he actually did. i thought that after 7 or so pages, it needed to be said at least once. sorry we're not crashing chairs over each others head in order to amuse you, but really there is no coordinated or persistant effort occuring here. there's just a lot of random wrangling with issues of ethics and the nature of inspiration. interesting to some, but not to others, obviously. you're welcome to move on to a discussion that you find more worthwhile at any time, or get back to the TV if that suits you. ← Pointing something out and virtual crucifixion are two different things. I am POINTING OUT the fact that previous posts clearly indicate he made some mistakes, plenty of eloquent discussion has been exercised against him. We get it. The press gets it. Now lets tone it down a bit. Eliminating one bad seed still leaves an entire grove to deal with. Thats all im saying. I have to go now, Ken Lay is on "Behind The Music"

I wont defend Chef Robin's actions. Also I can no longer agree with this forums persistence to drive his name into the ground until he winds up becoming the new milleniums poster child for everything ugly when it comes to defining copycat gastronomy. Thats not cool. Aren't we better than that? I choose to exercise tolerance. The guy apologized, he made menu changes, he will remember this for the rest of his professional life. Enough is enough. Whats next? Front page of the New York Times? Will that be enough? Or how about until he closes the restaurant and lays off all of his people? We just might learn something as I am sure he has. I have to go now, Jerry Springer is on.

Anyway, before I go further off on a tangent, my main point in this post is to reiterate the point that was made earlier: That is, the concept of plagiarism and standards of professional honesty are changing. We should advocate for standards that we believe in, but we should also understand the history of standards on plagiarism. And we should also acknowledge that if there were universal agreement on standards of honesty in cuisine, we wouldn't need to have this discussion at all. ← Standards that are "believed" are ambiguous and cannot be calibrated. Sure, there may be some bad press around Interlude for a short time but the bigger problem will still persist and the only thing we may achieve here will be one more suffering restaurant and 30 plus more suffering employees. Its that problem that can be defined and should be addressed. We need to see how deep "the rabbit hole goes." Maybe this is not the thread for this discussion, but its as close as im gonna get. I have to go now, tomorrow is calling.

What is in bold is a great example of fearing the unknown. You can do that, I choose action. Now my ADHD is kicking in:) When Chef Sean Brock came into my kitchen (both times) and asked me many questions about my food, I provided him with answers to any questions he had. I believe at one point he said "its OK if you dont want to give me the number to your liquid nitrogen guy". I thought that was sad because someone else probaly already told him no, and that sucks. I gave him phone numbers to purveyors, liquid nitrogen producers and anything else I could do to assist him. Then we had an exchange of emails that has ultimately resulted in an exchange of ideas. I have also encouraged him to use as many of my ideas, dishes, techniques as he wishes. I see the big pic sizzle with open eyes and I just want to see another chef on the block move forward in his hopes and dreams. It has been a great thing to see indeed. The point here is not a lockdown of ideas and not to charge someone everytime they point and click while purchasing goods. The point is Social Entrepreneurship. To control the situation and ensure the big picture gets brighter. Im not going to sit here all day typing the preachers doctrine to get my point across. Its been made, negative outcomes are always present in every situation. All one can do is absorb knowledge, plan ahead and hope for the best.

The USPTO was designed so everyday people like myself wouldnt get run over by big business. Creativity means R & D and that costs money. Why not fund ideas with more ideas? That is an environment that sounds exciting to me. We are coming to a crossroads with this "forward thinking", "post modern", or whatever you want to call it. Since I will never do a bottled hot sauce or try to sell a gazillion packets of "post modern mustard", this is the best way for me to maintain integrity in my ideas. Staying ahead of the game is more important than ever. We have the opportunity to tip the scales in the food business. We must be smart and aggressive or we will do what has been done.......nothing. That is just not an option at this point. Basically what youre saying is if you stumbled on the next great idea, lets say it was a solution for packaging foodstuffs on a mass scale. Then to your amazement you noticed 10 companies generating billion dollar plus revenues and starting using it thereby making them millions and they publicly gave you all the credit and no compensation. You wouldnt feel ripped off? It happens every day. Just because its hypothetical doesnt make it a non issue. Its a major issue and needs to be addressed. Looking in the other direction will only let the problem get worse and will continue to make the rich richer and make everyone in the restaurant business suffer due to lack of information.

I believe that if one invites the stage, one just takes that risk. We cant police everyone. What if there were 50 chefs that decided to copy all of Chef G's dishes. Then this discussion would be futile and we wouldnt know where to begin. Photos and pictures that are taken by someone that has created or copied a dish or technique are not infringing on any copyright law. Simply because the picture is of something that has no copyright or patent protection. Now lets say he decided to recreate something Alinea did file protection for, and filed a PCT or international protection for, then the law is being broken. When we cut and paste a photo digitally without authorization, then it also becomes illegal. ← As a stagiere I would agree that with the mentality of locking down all intellectual property you should not allow stages into your kitchen or lab any longer as you stated earlier. That is certainly not the right environment because for all intents and purposes a stage is a working student. I would also argue that everyone in the kitchen is a student. I cannot see an environment of fear for loss of control on intellectual property in a university and cannot see it for a student/stage in a kitchen. I could accept (possibly) a NDA for a regular position in a restaurant or lab position. However, I firmly believe that any chef that accepts stagiere’s particularly into their kitchen must accept and should expect what you may call intellectual property leak, but what I would call lessons from a willing teacher. Further more as artists in truly any field of art the lessons of the teacher do willingly get handed down from painter to painter and chef to cook. My belief is that anything I produce and potentially market in the future from the restaurants at which I have staged is far game. Not only because I feel that this is the normal working of the system but expected and with honor as a form of homage. Stages are your unpaid students and there is a trade off on both sides. ← Now we are getting somewhere. I believe there is a big difference between staging and worker abuse. I dont allow stages for many reasons. One being I dont think in this day and age (especially in America), people should not have to work for free. If I live well, I want everyone that works for me to live well. There is no reason why there should be low wages in my company. I believe employers have a responsability to take care of their employees especially in my case where we cultivate this much creative energy. Also, the sensitive material we work with sometimes never reaches the menu, so I am protecting the revenue that is generated through someone elses IP. Its projects for govt. agencies and R&D for other companies that I am cautious about. Now there are creative ways to indirectly apply knowledge from one subject to another. The printed "edible identity theft deturrent" is just one way to get chefs to be more creative. Lets also get something else correct, signing an NDA doesnt mean one cant disclose anything, its just certain things that cannot be discussed. Believe me when I tell you, my employees have never been happier than seeing the establishment move in this direction. They have benefited and will continue to benefit way more than any kitchen I am aware of. This is breaking new ground for this business and most that scrutinize it, simply dont understand it. Im done with my lunch, I gotta go.

Simply put, no. That would require all of my time and I find filing patents less than stimulating. I just file on things that have numerous applications that can cover areas beyond the food world. I dont bother filing on dishes, just new technology. "Molecular" cuisine is breaking new ground. Every day there are new discoveries that major companies have not considered. Therefore those techniques are the ones that should be protected. The US Patent and Trademark Office does not recognize recipes as something that can be protected. They are subject to a lot of abiguity due to ethnic diversities and other factors.

I believe that if one invites the stage, one just takes that risk. We cant police everyone. What if there were 50 chefs that decided to copy all of Chef G's dishes. Then this discussion would be futile and we wouldnt know where to begin. Photos and pictures that are taken by someone that has created or copied a dish or technique are not infringing on any copyright law. Simply because the picture is of something that has no copyright or patent protection. Now lets say he decided to recreate something Alinea did file protection for, and filed a PCT or international protection for, then the law is being broken. When we cut and paste a photo digitally without authorization, then it also becomes illegal.

Then I guess the better question is - what is the purpose for the licensing? In such a matter - wouldn't it be more effective to contribute ideas to a pool and "give them away" so that anyone who can augment it has the opportunity without having to pay anything or face the possibility of being "stopped" or "sued"? Why is it important in the matter of solving world hunger that you protect your claim to the ideas? And to keep it on topic - why is it important in Gastronomy to protect your claim to the ideas? ← Licencing enables someone to recieve compensation for their ideas. When an entity licences something to another party then it is that recieving party that then decides to sue or not. Basically, not me. Could be NASA suing someone or a large corporation. I stay out of the courtroom. Its not my specialty. Because if I dont, then some other company or entity may obtain rights to the technology and use it for something else. Maybe for another ENRON. I am interested in the control and how it is used. The whole point of me explaining the broadness of this printed food is to get chefs to think that maybe one of their ideas can solve a massive problem. They should be rewarded for it.

If your ultimate goal is to solve world hunger - why do you run a restaurant with a $160 tasting menu? Seems to me your efforts would come to fruition faster if you donated your time and effort to a full time endevour with a team funded by donations from public and private sources. ← The restaurant and Cantu Designs are two separate entities. It has taken a lot of R&D to get where the printing technology is today and that means my time. I believe in sticking with my passion for restaurants. So I combine the two. I can be far more effective in my current capacity than looking for angel investors or venture capilaists who will ulimately slow down the progress because its usually about a return for those types which means I lose control over the big goal. So it takes cashflow and I use the system mentioned above with licencing. If the current system of public and private funding worked, it would have already solved the problem. This system begins to get watered down with bureaucracy and scandals. Look at Katrina. A 160.00 tasting menu can allow me more creativity than a 5 dollar hot dog stand.

It's funny because the link in your post went to http://http:web.mit.edu/Invent/ - which because of the accidental doubling of http: takes me to the Microsoft home page... I hope that was an accident. Nice quick edit. All joking aside (even though it doesn't look like it): I just read an article where a judge blocked the sale of an album by Notorious B.I.G. for a song that simply used PART of another song. Is this the ultimate goal? To own the rights to something so exclusively that you can stop others from doing it? ← My ultimate goal is to solve world hunger. In order to maintain the control of my technology that CAN and WILL do just that, I have to file protection and find a way to obtain capital to fund the project. If I dont have protection then someone else will own it and my goal will mean nothing. Food printing technology for the first time in human history has the ability to produce food with most of the nutritional and caloric value quicker than agriculture can keep up with. Just imagine taking all of the food dropped off in third world countries and shrinking it down onto an edible sheet. Then all we need is water for survival. Nutritional aspects can be added or taken away. We can even deliver pharmaceuticals in this manner. The largest problem with combatting world hunger is communication. When we dropped off a bunch of peanut butter bars over Afghanistan, we saw an entire culture continue to suffer. Those refugees had no idea what they were recieving and why. So they simply didnt eat it. If we can obtain a flavor profile of a familiar ethnic dish then print text that explains (in their native language) that is they consume this sheet that has a picture of the native foodstuff, it will taste like the item and deliver the needed madical attention. All this with an indefinite shelf life and by pushing print. That deserves as much protection as I can give it. There are applications that range from space travel to a real solution for identity theft. This is just one of many applications pending. Its no longer just cooking and creating interesting dishes anymore. Its educating my fellow colleagues about their potentional, finding diverse "food delivery systems", and getting everyone to work together, Chef Robin included. My ideas have been copied in the press and others have claimed it as theirs. I really dont care at this point. Its forgivable and its merely lack of information that holds us back. I am interested in that and not the blame game. Its well documented that losing teams are the ones that waste away from within. I look at everyone in this business as part of this team. Some of us just need to be brought up to speed.

It's funny you should mention that because we were just discussing that matter. First let me say I am not, as far as I know, sympathetic with outright plagiarism, but I have the following questions because in some places I feel as though hairs are being split: Where is the line drawn? Should you only be obliged to credit if you duplicate another dish exactly? Or should you be obliged to credit if you use a new technique known to be brought into being by another? If you do something that has been done by a corporation or giant food processor - should you be obliged to credit? What about other people that work in your restaurant that come up with ideas for dishes or techniques but then move on because they were stages or consultants or designers? What if you adopt the readily identifiable concepts of a known working chef? Should they be credited? ← Yes, out of respect one should credit another party if they choose to make a carbon copy of a dish. I also agree with Fat Guy on his earlier post. Your next question about where is the line drawn. That will take time and evolution to answer. I just dont know. If we take it all the way then lets just give Einstein credit for everything because we all use his laws of physics everytime we transfer energy to food. The question about people who move on: I have posted this before, everyone who works in my restaurant or wants to step into my kitchen (effective 6/05) has to sign an NDA. This includes all engineers, scientists etc. While they are employed they are entitled to an ESOP with Cantu Designs. Dependant on time spent and other factors once the program begins. The key is keeping the idea quiet until something is filed (which is basically keeping it in my head for a while). After something has been filed, then its up for discussion with the team and can be ammended by those under the NDA. Stages are no longer permitted for several reasons. One being why should one of my employees put in a lengthy commitment when someone else can simply walk in off the street and gain from the benefit of their hard work? Now someone can simply dine and probably just figure out most things that way. But the real interesting things that happen may never make it to the table and that isnt something we just hand over. It will more harm than good to disclose the information prior to filing because it could become a nightmare to figure out who owns and creates what. Dont misinterpret this as not being open source, most of it is. Yet even with open source someone still owns the IP. This subject may be the focus of a large article in Fast Company next month that will be more broad and informative. My goals are not to own every idea on the block, they are much different than that. The link below is closer to what I want to achieve. http://web.mit.edu/Invent/

You forgot this. The problem goes much deeper than the scope of the current topic. The truth is, much of what I have seen at most restaurants has been done by food processors decades before. They make billions, we stay in poverty and fight in a saturated market. The Interlude situation is just one of countless examples examples how due to lack of funding, restaurants will continue to copy off each other. So I dont blame Chef Robin entirely, (although the evidence deserves a slap on the wrist). Freakonomics is a great place to start. My hope is to not turn this into a bashing subject rather one that tries to solve the many problems in restaurants. That may be another thread, but one that must not be ignored.

Here is something of interest. Take a smoker and point the smoke into a bath of LN2. Freeze the smoke. There is one more thing that must be added to the frozen smoke to complete the effect. (Because this technique is patent pending for something other than food, I cant say but if you play around with it a bit it will come to you). Place the "frozen smoke" onto a plate and watch it disappear into thin air without any heating element whatsoever. You can also place oysters into LN2 and seconds later they automatically shuck themselves. That one saves a ton of time. The liquid encapsulation process from alginates to HPMC and CMC can also be shaved from hours to mere seconds.

Nah... who needs to season food with something like "taste" when you could simply make a dish and then scan it's makeup at the molecular level and then reproduce it exactly from a store of "blank matter" (sorta like culinary stem cells) - that way there is only 1 person involved in the process. You could hire Google to write an algorithm to calculate the statistical probability of whether an idea will suck or not based on access to the genomes of all known edible substances, every food review ever written and all the written philosophies on human nature. You just enter in the combination of ingredients in the box and click submit and get back a big SUCK or DOESN'T SUCK and an explaination why. Hmm... on second thought - maybe that is taking things too far? ← Its not that simple. I DO work with some of the worlds most advanced algorithm creators (who make google look like minus infinity) and we are trying to create the worlds first food emulator for the Mars mission. So yes, for the next 25 to 35 years this would be taking it too far. Unless you know something the worlds preeminent computer scientists dont. I dont mean any disrespect, im just saying, know the subject in its entirety before making the almighty judgement. Is that taking it too far?

I think you should take it a step further. Eliminate human employees all-together and replace them with robots. Have the robots sign non-disclosure agreements. Lock the doors, install retina scanners and have everything come out a little square hole in the wall on a conveyor belt. ← Funny you should mention that, everyone that steps into the Moto kitchen has to sign a 4 page NDA that protects all patents pending. Robots are interesting but they cant season food and they cant tell me when one of my ideas suck. Also, everyone who obtains a position at Moto is eligible for an employee stock option from Cantu Designs. (Highly unusual for a small company) Thats a tradition worth protecting. I do it not only for ethical reasons, but also so my employees dont have to live in poverty. They should be rewarded for their creative abilities. As they should be trained to not only run a restaurant but take care of their future employees.

but 17 out of 26 is a bad batting average in any country and what about the dish on the cover of gourmet magazine another evolution ? maybe comp dinners are clouding your vison....... ← I look at this from a legal perspective. There is no legal protection for copyright infringement of recipes. The US Patent and Trademark Office does NOT recognize recipes as intellectual property. Show me a chef that has filed on them and that would be a first. What they do recognize are inventions or devices that have the ability to produce an unusual recipe or food product. The very second someone discloses an idea, technique, invention to another party without filing the measly 80 dollar patent, they have sacrificed their foreign rights to that IP. So anyone outside their country can use it at free will for whatever they want. Public domain or not thats just the way it is. It doesnt matter if it goes into print, on television or into outer space. There is no legal protection whatsoever. The only legal protection I see on this thread is we have no right to copy Interludes pics and post them on this website. So those that have decided to remove those pics have done the correct thing. Im not saying I agree with the copying of Wd's, Alinea's or my dishes. Im just saying education rather than just getting upset about this is key. When chefs find themselves researching and developing at a more efficient and creative pace than the giant food corps, its time to start thinking the way they do. File and licence. Another point, following in the "great tradition" of staging doesnt make any sense to me either. If the philosophy of pushing the envelope is to be creative, then CREATE! Sure I staged in plenty of restaurants and learned plenty along the way. My philosophy soon became to be as diverse from those restaurants as humanly possible. Very few people are as nuts as I am to make that their career goal. So, we have eliminated the stage process. It has become a haven for copying. So to me their is no great tradition. Let me throw a hypothetical situation out there.... What if a major food corp's scientist were to pose as a stage? 3 years later you see one of your ideas on the shelves of stores worldwide. Whats worse? Another restaurant using the idea or the food corp taking it and running. It has happened and is currently happening to plenty restaurants that have not filed on any of their ideas. The problem will only get worse until restaurants stop fighting over the measly scraps that are left for us. The key is protection and proper prior art research. The unfortunate part here is pride. Many chefs are proud of what they do so they want people to see it. Thats understandable. In todays world of here today and gone tomorrow its a race to the finish. So many of us want these new ideas in print or on TV. Well, thats immediate gratification, but it just makes the whole problem worse. We will continue to work in an industry that suffers from low wages, low success rate (8 out of 10 restaurants fail in the first year) and the creativity that has existed for so many years in restaurants will continually wind up in the hands of others that better understand the legal protection process. The great news is we are just beginning to realize our creative drive isnt something that can be learned in a classroom. Its something that has existed in this great business for many years. Now its time to reclaim what is ours and to stop being so damn competitive with each other.

This really isn't a very valid argument. Body temperature is 37C. Frying oil is typically something like 190C, for a difference of 153C. The boiling point of liquid nitrogen is -196C, for a difference of 233C. In order for there to be an equivalent difference in temperature, the frying oil would have to be 270C, aka 518F. Do I think that people should wear safety gear if they are working with an oil at 518F? You bet I do. Liquid nitrogen also has a significantly higher specific heat than typical frying oils. What this all means is that being hit in the eye with a splatter of LN2 would be much worse than being hit in the eye with a splatter of oil from a fryer. Somehow I have a hard time imagining someone working with their bare hands a few inches above the surface of a 518F fryer. ← I can dunk my hand in LN2, one cant do that with 500f oil. The difference is the rate that LN2 goes through evaporation and therefore loses its ability sustain a temperature (by decreasing its density) longer than hot oil, or even hot water. So the comparison of temperatue alone simply doesnt work. I have been splattered plenty of times with LN2, not a single injury. I have plenty of war wounds from other "safe" kitchen devices and ingredients. In fact we have used LN2 on a hot burn immediately after contact in order to reduce the effects heat can have on skin. A very useful tool indeed. Not only do my blue gloves absorb LN2 but they have also cracked because the LN2 obliterates the polymer fibers they are made of. Perhaps they arent the best pair, but I did get the most expensive I could find from one of the largest LN2 suppliers. I just find them useless and they make my hands freeze. Everyone in my kitchen will tell you the same.

That's a little ridiculous. People are not blowing up kitchens with any regularity. Telling people not to wear gloves and goggles when working with Ln2 is irresponsible. ← That just proves my point, kitchens dont blow up just like only someone who has no idea what they are doing will injur themselves with LN2. Do we work with gloves when we cook or wear a mask when we pan fry to prevent oil from splattering into our eyes? No, but accidents happen. Ever heard of someone in a kitchen losing a finger or getting a 3rd degree burn because of LN2? I have not. Thats not to say we arent extrememly careful when we work with it. We are very respectful of the element, just like we are careful when working with any gastro techniques/devices. This is like SARS in my book, more people have died from drunk drivers in the past 60 seconds than the entire history SARS has existed, yet everyone freaks out when they hear about SARS.

You can order cocktails with tasting menus at Moto, right? I may be alone in this, but I would love to see a mixed drink/cocktail tasting as an option at a place like Moto. Not everyone is into wine, I'll drink Riesling but I don't really enjoy it like I enjoy a good Mojito. If I could taste several cocktails without getting sloppy drunk, I'll be more inclined to come back to the lounge when I just want a couple drinks, and I'll be more inclined to do a tasting menu again. ← We have created some very different "mixed drinks" that we can pair with foodstuffs. Are they cocktails...perhaps to some extent. However they are far from the norm. The wine progression list is also being expanded with 2 new categories. "Synthetic Pairings" or "reformulated vintages" and "Laserization Creations". The whole wine/synthetic/laserization/mixed drink option I feel is still the best way to experience Moto, so we are beginning to apply ourselves to the category in the same way we approach the food. Matt Gundlach and I believe that a glass of wine or a "mixed drink" should not be limited to the historical standards of the experience. So you are not alone in your quest for a nice mixed beverage experience. There is no reson that we cant customize something that can be intellectually stimulating as well as something that goes against the grain. This option will definitely evolve in the coming weeks. Just as it has evolved since the last post above. HC ← Thanks for the reply to my question! You seem very open to blending unconventional and conventional things to make the dining experience enjoyable for all tastes. A big reason why I changed my mind about where to go as I just made a reservation for Moto in June. I think I'm going to enjoy it and better yet want to come back frequently, and I think my dad will enjoy it as well. I like what you've done with the lounge-sometimes I might just want drinks and dessert, sometimes the five course menu, sometimes the longer ones for a special occasion, like the dinner I'm treating my dad to. You definitely present more options than other places of your caliber, imho. As I stated in another thread, I look at pics of your food and think "That really looks good!" Is it possible to have a New York Yankees logo imprinted on one of your edible menus? I'll contact the restaurant as the date gets closer, I'm just curious if that's something you would do. ← Its possible to print anything. The only issue with the NYY (they are my favorite team of all time) is copyright infringement. All of the images I use I generate myself with photo shop or by hand to avoid this. Is this for your dad? ← Yeah, it's for him...we'd eat it on the spot, no evidence! But I understand if you can't do it... would you be willing to do a picture and a birthday greeting? I'd pay extra for it, you'd certainly get my repeat business(which from what I'm hearing about Moto you'll get anyway). He grew up in NY, so I was raised on the Yankees, with the great teams in the late 70's, the looooong 15 year absence, to the great team the last ten years. We see them play the Tigers in Detroit every year, and this year I just thought it would be perfect to take him to Wrigley for his birthday, since neither of us have ever been there, and they happen to be hosting the Tigers. And of course, I want to take him to the best dinner he's ever had in his life. ← We dont charge extra for that stuff, its part of the package. Any player in particular that he likes? Perhaps an old baseball card?

really, so how come all the pro's insist you use it in the books, Dani Garcia, El Bulli, both my meals at morimoto ny and fat ducky ????? ← The only "pros" with LN2 I know are the ones that work for the LN2 companies. I go through 1,000 litres of LN2 every week. Thats enough to be considered a pro, but I am far from a pro when it comes to the knowlegde the scientists have. I can tell you LN2 is no more hazardous that working with gas burners. One just has to be careful to have adequete hvac and dont keep your hands in the thick fog or liquid for too long. The rules of engagement are similar to a gas flame. If anything, gas is MORE dangerous because it can blow up the kitchen if youre not careful.

You can order cocktails with tasting menus at Moto, right? I may be alone in this, but I would love to see a mixed drink/cocktail tasting as an option at a place like Moto. Not everyone is into wine, I'll drink Riesling but I don't really enjoy it like I enjoy a good Mojito. If I could taste several cocktails without getting sloppy drunk, I'll be more inclined to come back to the lounge when I just want a couple drinks, and I'll be more inclined to do a tasting menu again. ← We have created some very different "mixed drinks" that we can pair with foodstuffs. Are they cocktails...perhaps to some extent. However they are far from the norm. The wine progression list is also being expanded with 2 new categories. "Synthetic Pairings" or "reformulated vintages" and "Laserization Creations". The whole wine/synthetic/laserization/mixed drink option I feel is still the best way to experience Moto, so we are beginning to apply ourselves to the category in the same way we approach the food. Matt Gundlach and I believe that a glass of wine or a "mixed drink" should not be limited to the historical standards of the experience. So you are not alone in your quest for a nice mixed beverage experience. There is no reson that we cant customize something that can be intellectually stimulating as well as something that goes against the grain. This option will definitely evolve in the coming weeks. Just as it has evolved since the last post above. HC ← Thanks for the reply to my question! You seem very open to blending unconventional and conventional things to make the dining experience enjoyable for all tastes. A big reason why I changed my mind about where to go as I just made a reservation for Moto in June. I think I'm going to enjoy it and better yet want to come back frequently, and I think my dad will enjoy it as well. I like what you've done with the lounge-sometimes I might just want drinks and dessert, sometimes the five course menu, sometimes the longer ones for a special occasion, like the dinner I'm treating my dad to. You definitely present more options than other places of your caliber, imho. As I stated in another thread, I look at pics of your food and think "That really looks good!" Is it possible to have a New York Yankees logo imprinted on one of your edible menus? I'll contact the restaurant as the date gets closer, I'm just curious if that's something you would do. ← Its possible to print anything. The only issue with the NYY (they are my favorite team of all time) is copyright infringement. All of the images I use I generate myself with photo shop or by hand to avoid this. Is this for your dad?