Homaro Cantu death shocked the world. He was 38, young, famed, owner of Moto and iNG, and popular chef known for his intelligent gastronomic ideas. On Tuesday afternoon, Homaro Cantu was seen lifeless in Northwest Side building where he was planning to open a brewery.
Homaro Cantu was found dead by hanging and investigators handling the case are probing it as suicide. What led to Homaro Cantu's unexpected death? Just a month before he died, a lawsuit was filed against him by his previous business partner and investor.
"Homaro was more than a chef. He was a scientist," Giuseppe Tentori, the chef at GT Fish & Oyster in Chicago said. That's why he always came up with goofy and funny ways to eat food."
"I'm saddened, I'm broken up," Trevor Rose-Hamblin, Cantu's brewer and former Moto general manager said. "This guy was my best friend. He was going to be my business partner."
At the time of Homaro Cantu death, his fellow chefs and friends paid tributes to the renowned chef who introduced innovative ways of offering food by blending science and conventional cooking.
Homaro Cantu body was autopsied Wednesday and the Cook County medical examiner's office ruled out his death as suicide. His lifeless body was found about 1 p.m. at 4400 block of West Montrose Avenue building where he was planning to open a brewery/brewpub that he intended to call Crooked Fork.
In March, Moto and iNG investor, Alexander Espalin filed charges against Homaro Cantu for misuse of funds and issues on patenting.
Espalin filed the lawsuit in Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County on March 19 where he alleges Homaro Cantu for failing to pay him his due profits. Espalin claimed investment of $150,000 during the opening of iNG Restaurant (now closed) and during the time it was on the verge of closure.
Aside from accusing Homaro Cantu of misuse of funds, he also claims that in Cantu's cookbook, "The Miracle Berry Diet Cookbook," he used an iNG menu but only kept all the profits he earned from the cookbook, According to Chicago Tribune.
Homaro Cantu also known as "Omar" worked for critically renowned chef Charlie Trotter's kitchen for four years. He left Trotter's kitchen in 2003 and in 2004, he became Moto's pioneer chef until he became owner after some years.
Katie McGowan, Homaro Cantu wife referred to the lawsuit filed by Espinas as "just another case of someone trying to make a buck off of [Cantu] or take credit for his ideas."
Also a month before Homaro Cantu death, his pastry chef, Claire Crenshaw resigned in his restaurant Moto to work for another restaurant. Another unexpected happening in his restaurant was the intended resignation of Moto's executive chef, Richie Farina.
A candlelight vigil for Homaro Cantu will be held at Geek Bar Beta from 5-10 p.m.
Owner of Geek Bar Beta, David Zoltan writes "Homaru Cantu was a geek icon. He brought science to the kitchen in ways that few have dreamed of and even fewer have achieved. I am honored to have known him, to have called him a friend in that too short time that I knew him, and to have been inspired by his imagination."
