Opaque Dining in the Dark

Opaque subdues sight in order to set other senses ablaze during a three-course dinner served in a fully darkened dining space. Guests arrive to a well-lit lounge area where they peruse and order from a diverse prix fixe menu devised by an illustrious local chef who engineers each dish to achieve the best in sight-free savoring, compiling interesting textures, rich tastes, and ingredients unlikely to shout "Marco Polo." The aphotic dining room then opens to a staff of blind or visually impaired servers who guides each diner to their seat in a refreshing reversal of roles, offering helpful suggestions and reassurance as guests adjust to their new and mystifying kinesthesia. Forks explore the eclectic textures of mixed green or heirloom-tomato-cucumber salads before meandering through savory dishes of garlic-topped filet mignon, roasted herb chicken, or sundried-tomato-pesto rigatoni. Seared ahi tuna steak dances a textural tango, lavishing tongues with a warm and smoky crust surrounding a cool, raw interior showered in sweet mango sauce, and a choice of desserts brings unlit evenings to a decadent end, as warm chocolate lava cake tickles mouth-roofs with berries encrusted in minty sugar crystals and eruptions of liquid chocolate.