The dining room at Opaque
To enter the dining room , our instructions from Mocha were to place our left hand on the left shoulder of the person in front of you, with Mocha leading the way. We could use our right hand to run along the wall to our right. We walked single file through a doorway turning right, then left, then right again and now we were in complete darkness. We were led to our table which felt like it was directly in front of us. Sharon sat to the left and I sat to the right. As we sat in our swiveling leather chairs, Mocha described what was in front of us on the table. From left to right were our forks, directly in front our napkin, next knives, then the bread plate (traditionally on the left). Mocha would hand things to us by first having either Sharon or me place a hand on the closest corner of the table to where she would serve us (my left hand or Sharon's right hand). She would then take our hand and present whatever she was giving us. A very good method as opposed to just trying to hand it to us in midair. It is darker than dark in the room. Of course you try to see your hand waving in front of you. (you can't) You try to see things on the table. (you can't). But it's not a scary experience. It turned out to be a very relaxing experience for me. After determining my surroundings and table placement the rest of the evening went very smoothly.
We were first handed a bread basket. Or more correctly, I was handed the bread basket using the corner of the table technique. The butter dish was given to Sharon, for which she proceeded to put her finger in. Of course not on purpose, it was, in fact, dark in the room. Next was an amuse bouche from the chef. It was a grape tomato stuffed with goat cheese served in what felt like a mini Chinese soup spoon. It was not bad. And this is from someone who doesn't like goat cheese. Next came our first course. The ahi tuna was superb and seared just right. I loved the contrasting crunch of the shoestring potatoes mixed with the smooth wasabi mayo and sweet bite of the ginger. I really didn't try Sharon's salad. She knows I don't like goat cheese and she let me know that there was plenty of it on the salad. I tried one of the walnuts from her plate and she was right there was a good amount of goat cheese. Most likely the same cheese used in the amuse bouche so it wasn't too bad. Before the entree was served we were given a crudite platter of celery, bell pepper and broccolini with three different dipping sauces. We had the option knowing what the dip flavors were, or not. We chose to guess. Mocha told us that the usual result was 2 out of 3. That's exactly what we got. Sharon and I got the curry and wasabi sauces. The one we missed was a red pepper coulis. It was very bland and non descript. Oh well.
Mocha had our entrees next. For Sharon, Pan Seared Mahi Mahi, Warm Chick Pea Salad with Blue Lake Beans, Cherry Tomatoes, Roasted Lemon Sauce and Toasted Pistachio Nuts. My entree, Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Puree, Roasted Broccolini, Green Peppercorn Sauce and Truffle Butter. Now for the big challenge. Mocha describes to us how the the food is plated. With the protein in front of you, your starch will be to the right and the vegetables will be on the left. For everything we had up to now we didn't need to use our forks or knives. I love eating salad with my hands and I convinced Sharon it would be fine for her to eat with her hands too. No one was going to see us. So this is when we would be finally using our utensils. Or would we? Well, Sharon didn't touch her silverware. She just dove right in, two fisting her food. I had beef so I had to use my knife, but I didn't use it too much. They had already sliced the tenderloin, so I used the knife just to get them to a more bite size piece. The rest I ate with my hands. Yes, even the sweet potato puree. There is something so freeing when eating with your hands, but I can imagine this driving a person with OCD crazy. I read somewhere a customer snuck his napkin out of the dining room to see how it looked after the meal. I know my napkin was a mess, I could feel it. I didn't want to see it. There was a sudden burst of laughter from across the table. Apparently while eating one of her delicious green beans, the lack of light caused Sharon to stick one up her nose. She ate it anyways. Yum. (teasing you Sharon) My tenderloin was cooked a perfect medium rare. The broccolini were just right. The sweet potatoes were fine. Sharon's mahi mahi was moist and tender. It took a little longer to get through the entrees but we cleaned our plates (I think).
The dining room wasn't super busy on the night we attended. I believe we were told that there were reservations for a little more than half of the capacity. This was good for me and Sharon because it left us with plenty of time to soak in the environment and have fun. The service wasn't rushed at all. As another little test of our sightless senses we were given a drawstring bag containing items for us to identify. We both got them all. Yay. A fun and doable game. After that was dessert.
The first thing we noticed about our desserts was that were each given the wrong dessert. Not sure if that was test for us or not but you can definitely tell the difference between a panna cotta and a chocolate cake. Mocha assured us we received the correct desserts but I knew we didn't. It really was no big deal since we were going to try each others anyways. It wasn't Mocha's fault, it is the kitchen that tells her which hand is holding which dessert. It's not like she can run her fingers over the food to figure out which is which. Maybe they could assemble the desserts on a different shaped plate to distinguish between them. Just an idea. Both desserts were really good. I tried the panna cotta first. It was smooth and creamy and the basil syrup gave it a unique flavor but not overwhelming. The bittersweet chocolate cake was superb. The vanilla whipped cream was a good foil to the chocolate. I felt the mint with the bing cherries didn't match very well and that the cherries, themselves very good, weren't the right consistency for this dish. I usually have no problems with a match of chocolate and cherries but it didn't seem to work for me this time. Not bad, just not great.
With the meal over, Sharon and I just lingered trying to take in our surroundings and challenge our other senses. Believe it or not it was difficult to listen to other conversations. Maybe it was the layout or the music playing in the background but even when trying to concentrate on other tables (not to be eavesdropping, but just as a test), I found I could only pick up words here and there and not full on conversations. I was thinking that our other senses would be "enhanced" but maybe that takes practice. We kept extending our time at the table but eventually figured it was time for us to leave. We ended up being there for a lost-in-the-moment time of about three hours. I loved the experience. It's really not something you can try at home. It does take this level of expertise and planning to carry something like this off. It is gimmicky and a bit pricey at $99 not including tip, taxes and drinks, but it is an experience that I would definitely recommend to anyone that can afford it.
(I thank you so much Sharon for planning this special outing.)
No comments:
Post a Comment