Mad-scientist chef Homaro Cantu has become a cult figure in the Windy City. His restaurant-cum-laboratory is sequestered in the city's still working meatpacking district. Many of the techniques perfected in the basement kitchen are later put to use in the chef's work with NASA and corporate America. Inside the minimalist dining room patrons pay for the privilege of being literal guinea pigs. The daily changing multicourse menus—available in 10- and 20-course options—are printed on edible paper. Flavors are seared into wine glasses by an industrial laser, rigatoni is fashioned from lychee puree, and frozen flapjacks are "cooked" tableside on a liquid-nitrogen-filled box. The spectacle is big but the portions are small.
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