In the Dark About Planning a Romantic Evening? Here’s an Idea!

By Linda Orlando

With today’s global society, trends in fashion, music, entertainment, and even eating out are shuffled from one country to another. Many American restaurant fads have made their way overseas, but one idea that’s been available in Europe for over a decade is just now making its way to the U.S. One of the most popular European restaurants featuring this style of eating is the Blind Cow, in Zurich, Switzerland. A fitting name for this trend, which is called "dark dining"—eating a meal that you literally can’t see.

The phenomenon of dark dining first came to America last July in Los Angeles, with the birth of an event called Opaque. At varying venues such as hotels and local restaurants, Opaque takes place on Saturdays, on an almost weekly basis. Most of the servers at Opaque are also visually impaired or even blind, and dinner is served in total darkness. The idea is causing a buzz in the world of restaurateurs, especially in downtown New York City at CamaJe Bistro.

CamaJe’s dark dining director Dana Salisbury says she hadn’t heard of Europe’s dark dining restaurants when the idea occurred to her. She says she was eating an orange one morning with her eyes closed and she realized that the sensation opened up the world to her while also making the eating experience more intimate. She decided at that moment that most people have no idea how sharp their senses can be, thanks to the hyper-stimulation of senses everyone experiences every day. "I wondered how to offer this intensely pleasurable expanded vision to others, and came up with dark dining," she said. "Because we all love to eat, and it is our first conscious sensory delight."

Thinking that CamaJe’s small, intimate dining atmosphere would be a great place for dark dining, Salisbury took the idea to the restaurant’s owner and head chef, Abbie Hitchcock. The idea instantly appealed to her. "It’s a great opportunity to do something different," Hitchcock said. "To offer our regulars as well as new customers a new and exciting experience." So in September of 2005, CamaJe began putting their customers in the dark on scheduled dates. So far New Yorkers have been quite receptive to the idea, with all 2005 dates sold out well in advance. The Valentine’s Day event last month sold out quickly, even at $250 per couple.

Diners are typically apprehensive at first, Salisbury says, because they are afraid of looking silly or having trouble eating when they can’t see what they’re dong. But Salisbury reassures people that it takes little time to get used to eating without being able to see. "We all know where our mouths are, and we have held utensils in our hands without thinking for years." She says that she and her restaurant’s patrons are all having a ball. "These events are a gas," she says. "They are like throwing a great party without having to shop or wash up afterward." Although she does caution that for people who are claustrophobic or genuinely afraid of the dark, the dinner would probably be more traumatizing than fun.

Dark dining at CamaJe takes the idea further than most venues, because the meal is not only served in the dark, diners are fitted with blindfolds. The dining experience is enhanced by a variety of performances, ranging from tap dancers to body percussionists, and even theatrical performances. According to Salisbury, the European restaurants that offer dark dining pale in comparison. "They weren’t much fun; the means were dull and the ambiance nonexistent. They simply turned off the lights and one ate in the dark."