It's taken me a little bit of time to process my thoughts on this, and I'm not sure I've really finished thinking about it.
I'm unbelievably saddened by this for a number of reasons.
A little background- prior to my first dining experience at Moto I'd done a lot of fine dining in New York, SF, Chicago and elsewhere. Somewhere in my 20's I got to be lucky enough to be taken to some wonderful places and had many wonderful meals, but I always found myself looking for something different, something more creative and eye-opening. Not a knock on any of the places I ate- many were terrific, but I was looking for something new.
I happened to pick up a Gourmet or Bon Appetit magazine around that time with a short piece about Homaru and Moto and an approach to doughnut soup. I knew I had to go.
My first experience I dined alone, which I often do when I travel for work. Sit, no phone, no newspaper, and just take in every sense of a meal. My reaction was intense. I had found what I was looking for- someone willing to push me outside of my boundaries, to challenge my views of what fine cuisine could be and how immersive of an experience you could make dining. Put simply, I was blown away.
I brought my wife to Moto on December 30, 2006 where we shared a two-top on a snowy, cold Chicago winter evening. It was our longest meal together, and our most adventurous. It was at that meal I realized this would be the woman I would marry and eventually have children with.
On July 20, 2007 we returned to do the 10-course. During that meal we went on the kitchen tour where I proposed to my wife in front of Omar and the entire kitchen staff. We both left the kitchen with joyous tears.
We've returned to Moto since and we went to Otom many times while it was open, but nothing can replace those memories and how they impacted my life. Food is one of my passions, and no one has done more for it than Homaru did.
I'm still pretty torn up, even a day later, to someone I wasn't related to, but whose work meant a lot to me. I will miss his creativity and approach to what can be. I'm grateful to have experienced it as many times as I did. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
is making all his reservations under the name Steve Plotnicki from now on.