Many moons ago Audrey and I were watching one of those odd shows on Discovery Channel – the ones that follow documentaries like “Impaled!” – and they had a bit about a restaurant where you eat in complete pitch darkness with a waiter who is legally blind. While, in the past, I have disparaged LA, one of the very good things about this city is that when you see something odd on TV there’s a high probability that it was either filmed here or has since been copied by someone in this vast metropolis. As it turns out, Opaque operates in Santa Monica, and thus it was that for Valentine’s Day 2010 Audrey ate in complete darkness while I secretly stole her silverware and wine glass.
For those willing to spend a lot of money on a meal that you’ll probably end up eating with your hands, there are locations elsewhere including San Francisco. Note that if your date wants you to “dress nice” since it’s a fancy place, bear in mind that you’ll more than likely discover that you’re wearing some of your meal by the time you leave, unless of course you’re a pro like me. Also, relax your eyes as soon as you sit down; it’s too dark to see anything, and after a half hour I was getting a headache from inadvertently trying to focus. Finally, careful when reaching for the bread bowl – there’s a cup of butter in the middle of it. Here’s a YouTube video that somewhat captures the experience.
The part that is more interesting to me than the restaurant is that there is some small suggestion in this post that you dressed nice and went on a date! I can only wonder how that looks 😛
So, since it is unclear to me as usual from your post, do you recommend it or not?
I like doing things that are memorable and unusual – I swam with whales and went to Antarctica three times – so in that aspect I’d definitely recommend this place. That said, it’s very expensive, so if you’re concerned about the money then go to a concert and pay for good seats or do something else where you wouldn’t be as concerned with price.
And I didn’t dress up that much – I had to wear a tie when we went to the opera in December, which was way more traumatic.