If you attended any of three Lights Out Dinners held here three years ago, you’ll be excited to know another is scheduled for the Mayan Café on June 21.
If you didn’t but are a fan of truly fun and innovative restaurant meals, then know this is a special event. (In fact, I can’t believe it hasn’t been duplicated at other local restaurants since.)
I think the guy in the back is saying, "Thank God we're not cracking lobster!" Photo courtesy of IdeaFestival.
Three years ago, the Idea Festival partnered with Mayan Café, Asiatique and The Patron (since closed) to host multicourse meals in which diners are blindfolded and the dining room’s lights are dimmed significantly. The point was to get people to think about what they were eating by removing vision from the array of human senses.
I went to the dinner at The Patron that year and had a blast guessing what I was eating, trying to pick out ingredients on taste, texture and smell alone.
Not only did I not recognize as many ingredients as I expected, even Mayan Café chef-owner Bruce Ucan, who was seated beside me, struggled to nail down every element (of course, he did better than I).
Having produced and dined at a Lights Out Dinner, Ucan is tackling the chore again two weeks from now. Such a meal is incredibly challenging, he said.
“You have to create dishes that might not use a fork and knife—they can’t do that blindfolded,” he said. “The same with a soup: how do you eat soup that you can’t see? If we do serve one, it can’t be too hot because they might burn themselves.”
Some of the meal’s four courses will let guests rely on their hands rather than utensils, while others will require servers to help guests find their forks. That a small amount of truly hands-on coaching is required makes the meal a lot of fun.
After each course, the chef tells diners what they’ve eaten and allows them to raise their blindfolds and have a look. (Several times that year I found myself saying, “No way!”)
Ucan said he learned a lot as a diner at The Patron’s LOD and suggested diners at his upcoming meal just relax and enjoy the experience and not try too hard to figure out what they’re eating.
“This one will be a learning experience for the palate,” he began. “When you’re not seeing it, your mind will wonder, ‘What is this?’ Try to leave your expectations behind before it starts, and then just eat, relax and enjoy it.”
If you’re looking for the menu, stop now. It’s a secret, remember?
This is an exclusive event hosted by IdeaFestival and IF University, and provides seats for only 40 people. Cost is $80 per person (inclusive of all food, drink, tax and gratuity). (Note to vegetarians and vegans: meat will be served as a part of this fixed menu.) Despite having no publicity thus far, when I registered for the dinner this morning, seven seats already were sold. So get yours now by clicking here if you want a seat at the table.
I also wrote a story about the LOD meal held at Asiatique in 2009 that also will provide an idea of what it’s like. Click here to read it.
Steve Coomes is a Louisville restaurant industry veteran turned food writer. In his 22-year career, he has edited and written for dozens of national trade and consumer publications including Nation's Restaurant News and Southern Living. A past restaurant critic and food feature writer for Louisville magazine, he pens features for ...
