Moto has held a Michelin star since 2012. Mr. Cantu eventually took over most of the ownership.

In his early days at the restaurant, when it served synthetic champagne squirted into a glass by a large black medical syringe, Mr. Cantu seemed as if he were out to shock. As time went by, though, critics and diners began to pay more attention to the quality of his cooking as well.

“A 20-course tasting menu can begin with ‘sushi’ made of paper that has been printed with images of maki and wrapped around vinegared rice and conclude with a mint-flavored picture of a candy cane,” said a 2005 profile in The New York Times Magazine. “Should you fail to finish a course,” it went on, Mr. Cantu “will emerge from the kitchen with a refund: a phony dollar bill flavored to taste like a cheeseburger and fries. It may sound like some sort of Surrealist stunt with dire intestinal consequences, but here’s the rub: The ‘food’ tastes good. Good enough to lure diners back at $240 per head (including wine).”

Mr. Cantu filed six kitchen-related patent applications over the years for various items, from an innovative utensil to the polymer box, all revealing a serious purpose to his fascination with gadgets.

Customers might have giggled as they ate a picture of a cow that tasted like filet mignon, but Mr. Cantu said in interviews that his technology for flavoring and fortifying edible paper could help feed soldiers at war, astronauts in space and people in refugee camps.

“My goal with this is to deliver food to the masses that are starving,” he said in an interview with the magazine Fast Company. “We give them something that’s healthy, that has an indefinite shelf life and that is supercheap to produce.”