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Here are reactions of past guests: “Danny and I had a GREAT time last Saturday during our dark dining experience. It was truly a sensual experience and I ate foods I normally wouldn't have and liked them! The sing along was great! And it was so much fun to see how people's inhibitions came down knowing no one could see them!Attached are the pictures we took - please feel free to use them! Thanks again for everything!!” Chandra Claypool ------------ “I had a great time at the Dark Dining Project. It went above and beyond all my expectations. I came in to work today and told all my co-workers and friends. I would love to do it again. My boyfriend loved it as well. We were only able to take one photo but I will share it once I get home and download. Thanks for the awesome experience.” Tanisha Barnes ------------ "First let me start by saying that I'm a big, big fan of your work. I became acquainted with your work in two different and, I think, uncommon ways, given the format of most of your events. The first time was when I happened to run across the 2007 Bushwick Open Studios, and I just happened to go to your building, and you happened to be doing five-minute, blindfolded, hand-feedings. I signed up, and was really excited about the whole idea, ecstatic really. I couldn't believe this experience was hidden way in a warehouse in Bushwick! (My favorite part was when you violently jammed lettuce into my mouth. Truly.) I signed up for your mailing list, and starting asking my boyfriend, Timothy, if he wanted to go to your dinners, but the ones we could go to were always sold out. I was always salivating for a full, blindfolded meal--the entire experience, as it was designed. Then, he surprised me for Christmas by booking one of your private hand-feedings. You came over to his apartment, and we listened, much to your chagrin and my delight, to a lot of bad Christmas Carols while you hand-fed us the most delectable little morsels. You had us dumbly uncork champagne and wine. It was exhilaratingly humbling and scary. We had a fantastic time with you, and it is definitely the best Christmas gift I have received to date. " Erin Markey ------------ "What an amazing experience! The sound aspect - starting off with the crystal glasses sound - was great. The tactile aspect of having people come around and touch participants was great. The four wines were great to show how much of that experience is visual. Something that might be interesting would be to include the sound of visual information translated into sound. You can set up a laptop and webcam with a free software download of “Seeing with Sound” (www.artificialvision.com/voice.exe) ------------ "It was marvelous. It felt like 'water for chocolate' in the way food can alter consciousness. I felt such a sense of well-being. Nowhere to go, nothing to see. The door was open nearby and we had a soft cool breeze on us, with occasional street chatter and the room chatter on the other side. The food was exquisite and surprisingly unidentifiable. It’s as if I left the category part of my mind at the door. The music was amazing, well matched and well timed. The voice of both were unadulterated, pure. The servers were clear and impeccable, supportive. And thank you for the birthday song." ------------ “I found the evening extremely enjoyable but did have a few comments & suggestions. The food was wonderful, but I would have enjoyed more courses (each with a smaller amount of food). That would have allowed for more play and exploration of tastes & textures. While I realize the night is about the entire "dark dining experience," I would venture to guess that most people in attendance are foodies and thus, would want the food should be the focus of the evening. That could have also allowed for some discussion on what people thought they were tasting. In fact, I would have enjoyed group discussion after each course. Even if the answers weren't given until after we all saw the menu at the end of the night, it would be interesting to hear what people thought they were eating and drinking (discussion of the wine would have been nice too).” Scott Eagle ------------ "We certainly enjoyed the event a lot, much more than we were expecting. It was a sensual joyride. For more details I did write about it in my blog http://www.westfieldblog.com/. I also posted about it in the Manhattan forum of chowhound, http://www.chowhound.com/topics/414346. My screenname there is foodfetish. I will see if I can convince one of the local restaurateurs in Westfield, NJ to do a dark dining event." Stephan ------------ "My husband Ron and I both thoroughly enjoyed our Dark Dining experience at Camaje Bistro. The food was delicious, it was fun trying to guess what we were eating, the staff was wonderful, the massage was spectacular, and the total experience was unforgettable!" Arlene Silikovitz ------------ "My date and I had a wonderful time Dark Dining at Camaje! It proved both an adventurous and romantic idea; a truly novel experience. " Nate Richman ------------ “. . . a fabulous time was had by all. The experience put me back in touch with my primordial self. Cyber-space be gone! Optical brain be calm. I reconnected with all my other senses through one great meal.” Suzen ------------ About a Private Hand-Fed Dark Dining : ------------ About a Private Party: ------------ "Just wanted to say what a great time we had at the Halloween Dark Dining experience at Camaje in the West Village. . . Anyways, onto the dinner. It was really cool! Everyone who I told about it thought it was a really weird idea, but I was totally into it. Just sounded different and unique. What I think I enjoyed most was having conversations in the dark. It reminds me a lot of being at a sleepover party. Where you’re talking to everyone but you can’t see their expressions. Your imagination starts to run wild. You loosen up a bit, too because no one is looking at you...you’re not so preoccupied about your appearance. With a few drinks your imagination runs more free and your inhibitions lower further. . . Eating food in the dark is a really unique way to experience it....especially when no one tells you what it is you’re eating. You discover things purely on flavor and texture. It was amazing, for instance, how much beef tastes like chicken when you’re not looking at it. It’s more of a guessing game of trying to figure out the different flavors, herbs, and spices. My girlfriend was much better at this than I was. Seeing the menu at the end of dinner, sealed in wax, reminded me of the game Clue: finding out the answer to the mystery. . . The cello player was pretty cool and added a neat effect. The crowd was silenced every half hour or so as we would listen to him play this freaky avante garde music. It was kind of like a cult. I loved it! . . . I would definitely recommend this to other 'foodies' with an open mind and a sense of adventure. Hell, maybe I’ll do it again too!" Jeff Paris ------------ “We loved the Dark Dining experience. . . . We had not been to Nell’s despite its being in our wider neighborhood, but had heard of its reputation for lovely food, so we had the added dimension of experiencing the seats, the steps the corners, the sound ambiance, the whole spatial sense freshly. We imagined the color the décor completely differently from each other. I pictured black leather cushions on the benches with a dark reddish wood around it, he pictured painted wood and light cushions. No idea at all what the upholstered back rest part mightlook like - I pictured mossy green but did not like that idea so rejected it. The wines were the best part. I am not a sensitive wine drinker so it was a lovely experience to have the wines chosen to pair with the foods, and to appreciate that combination and the aroma and flavors of the wines. It was interesting how challenged we were to figure out what we were eating. Textures were very important, the combinations of flavors in a dish or on a plate became heightened by the blindness. And the blindfolds were comfie I'd like to have some of those, can you tell me where to get them? I kept myeyes open, since there was room for that in the blindfold, but Gary kept his eyes shut most of the time. I could see the flash of the camera from timeto time though I DID NOT PEEK! It just lit up the edges of the mask a tiny bit. We began to feel like Stevie Wonder (I heard others mention it too), starting to move our heads differently, as sightless beings, to hear better,or to make a more emphatic direction change, hard to say why, maybe partly a balance thing. One needs to be very comfortable and trusting. It is a trust exercise for sure in addition to the other things. . . . The Food: The bread was great - loved the textures. Appetizers: loved them, the little puffs with goat cheese and crostini with seared tuna I think. The sea scallop was incredible! With corn bisque around it and the gnocci, and the little green sprouts - nice mix of textures and flavors. It was only 2 days ago and I thought I'd never forget, but now I'm not so sure about a few things... That scallop was memorable! The "meat" we had with the parsnip puree and green bitter leggy vegetable was good too,w as rare and a little hard to eat, but delicious - we guessed it was lamb at first, then clearly not lamb, but not clearly anything - duck as it turned out which I have seldom had. I loved the hucklberry bits in whatever that was, the parsnip puree? Such a tangy surprise!! The dessert was good too and the sauterne was a perfect match. While everything was fabulous and delicious the meal overall could have benefited from another texture. It was a little bit too much the same with the thick sauces and purees. Fresh ripe tomatoes or toasted something, or a cool thing, or sour thing - something a little more punchy and different would have been good. And a smaller dessert with more exciting flavor than the pear with pear ice cream - it was a little bland for me and too much of it (of course I had to eat it all) - maybe a lemon sorbet with a marzipancookie and mint or something like that. I think having slightly different items would be good so that everyone is not eating exactly the same thing and a people could share what they havethat's different (not to make a huge amount of extra work or cost) - "oh, you got a melon pickle, can I taste it if I give you a bit of my whatever this thing is, it's so delicious, it's crunchy and a little sweet with a hint of anise, what do you think it is?" Too bad the tap dancer got in bad with the bees! Though I enjoyed having a hand and arm experience in place of it. The music was lovely and I liked the fantasy menu with great descriptions at the beginning. What a fun idea, beautifully executed. I would surely attend another eventlike this, no doubt about it. Budgeting for it would be needed, so I want to be on your email list to anticipate the next one and save up. Thank you for your artistic and creative adventuring that allowed us to participate so deliciously. The inclusive, interactive performance ART aspect is so intriguing - I loved that, and it looks like you are involved in all kinds of fascinating things. I would love to meet up with you again on any kind of adventure. My hat's are off to you and the chef and all who made this event such a terrific reality!! Thank you , thank you." Kari Berger with Gary Kelfner ------------ "I thoroughly enjoyed the Dark Dining at Neil's in Seattle last week. The food was excellent, rich and complex. The wines were all very good except the Washington red. Most of the Washington reds I have tried are raw or unfinished. The whites are generally very good. The long food list monolog was confusing. The violin piece was outstanding, great selection and well performed. (PS; can you please send the composer and piece, I would like to buy it.) Having it dark and everyone TOTALLY QUIET made it possible for us to be 100% in the perception of sound and the emotional fields the music awakened. My suggestion is to do the same thing for the perception of taste/texture/olfactory sensations without talking. The challenge will be to get people to remain quiet with no music so they can focus on taste for one course. When you start talking about the food you are no longer payingfull attention to the sensations. Do this early in the evening before too much wine is consumed (but with a good complex wine). Thank you for a wonderful sensual experience. Please come back and do it again." Dan Morris ------------ "I meant to respond sooner--we both LOVED Dark Dining. It was maybe the best dining experience I've had. Maybe because I'm so into food, but I really liked not seeing the food or having the presentation get in the way of experiencing the tastes, smells and textures. I might begin to close my eyes while eating! The food was fantastic. We will go back there to dine, maybe with [other family members]." Shirlee Reade ------------ "What a wonderful experience. My husband and I loved it! The food was fantastic (as anticipated) and the experience was very unique. I truly expected it to be much more difficult than it was, although using fingers helped a lot. I was a challenge trying to pick out the different flavors and ingredients. I must say, we were right in most cases although the squab threw us a little bit. The entertainment was very different and enjoyable. The skit made me think of the days riding with my parents in the car listening to "The Green Hornet". The Cello was so soothing and relaxing that I almost wanted to nap and the tap dancing was terrific. I loved the way it traveled from room to room and you would hear it near then far. Great experience, Dana. Thanks. We will hope to see you back inSeattle again sometime." Joyce A. Nugent |
©Dana Salisbury 2007 |
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