Foodievents

Shedding Some Light on That Breslin Dinner in the Dark

The Breslin is slated to get even darker.
The Breslin is slated to get even darker. Photo: Melissa Hom

Yesterday, Thrillist enlightened us about a lights-off dinner party coming to the Breslin in late September, but since we were still in the dark about a few of the details, we decided to reach out for more. Breslin chef April Bloomfield is traveling, unfortunately, but we did manage to get in touch with Christopher Lynch of Opaque — Dining in the Dark, the West Coast group putting on the event. (They’ve been in L.A. since 2003 and San Fran since 2008, though the concept originated much earlier in Berlin.) Lynch tells us that unlike other gimmicky dinners like Medieval Times or Jekyll and Hyde, this one actually intensifies your experience of the food. With the lights off, he says, all you’re left with are the flavors, textures, and aromas of the meal in front of you. Diners are provided with utensils, but, says Lynch, “80 percent of people will ditch them and go with their hands.”

Lynch was careful not to reveal any details of the menu or the space (not knowing is part of the fun), but he did say that they’ve expanded the typical Opaque dinner menu from three to five courses in honor of their first foray into New York dining. What we wanted to know, though, is, do people make a mess? Apparently not; dining disasters, says Lynch, have been very few, and it doesn’t take long for people to develop a sense of their surroundings. One thing helps, though: “Obviously, we don’t move very quickly.”

Shedding Some Light on That Breslin Dinner in the Dark