Chicago chef Homaro Cantu found dead

Chef Homaro Cantu, known for blending science with his gourmet creations, has been found dead in Chicago.

He was 38.

Cantu, who was chef at restaurant Moto in the West Loop area of Chicago, was found in a building where he had planned to open a brewery, reports AP.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Cantu appeared to die of hanging, and his death was being investigated as a suicide, police sources said.

"I'm saddened, I'm broken up," Trevor Rose-Hamblin, Cantu's brewer and former Moto general manager told the Tribune. "This guy was my best friend. He was going to be my business partner."

The Cook County medical examiner's office confirmed the death but did not release a cause, says AP.

Cantu's unusual cuisine included edible menus, carbonated fruit and a fish preparation that cooked in a tabletop polymer box.

Before opening Moto, Cantu spent four years as a chef at Charlie Trotter's Chicago restaurant. He met his wife, Katie McGowan, when she was a guest chef in Trotter's kitchen. They were married in 2003.