Info About Homaro Cantu's "ING" Continues to Trickle Out

By Anthony Todd in Food on Feb 7, 2011 5:20PM

Last month, we confirmed that Homaro Cantu, the mad scientist behind Moto, was opening another restaurant. It was to be called "ING" and promised to be our favorite restaurant named after a suffix, but no other information was available. Bits and pieces have come out - due to a quirk of postage, Time Out Chicago got the invitation to the media preview first and posted some potential menu items. Cantu sent Kevin Pang at the Tribune an unmarked pill (Pang made another staffer try it) and we got an email over the weekend telling us that all Otom Groupons would be refunded - the final confirmation that Otom was out and ING was in. Now Cantu has started tweeting out videos of the new space.

Cantu sent out this video yesterday evening. It shows almost nothing, but here's what we do know. ING shares the same minimalist decor as Moto, with a similar wooden wall niche at the back of the restaurant. ING will be brewing "nano-batch" beers in-house - super micro brews that will change daily. If the dishes on the media menu are any indication, the flavors will be interesting but not completely radical - one dish labelled "Waffles" has coconut sorbet, mango, buttermilk, which sounds like a heck of a combination, but a reasonable one. On the other hand, viewed without any prior knowledge, the menu at Moto looks pretty tame, at least until the liquid nitrogen starts gushing. If you want to find out more, follow ING and Cantu on Twitter.