'Dark Dining' Returns to Abigail Cafe

When you enter the restaurant, you don a blindfold that blocks out your vision. You are led to your seat and a dish is placed before you. There is the sound of live music being played somewhere in the room. Enjoying your meal in utter blindness – that is the concept behind Dark Dining Projects, returning to on February 23.

Dark Dining Projects is led by Artistic Director Dana Salisbury, a Brooklyn choreographer and visual artist. Five years ago, Salisbury was very simply eating an orange with closed eyes when she got the idea for the restaurant series. 

“You feel the texture of the orange, you peel it, you feel the oils on the skin. You take a bite and the juice packets burst open – it was so sensual,” said Salisbury.

Salisbury, who stresses that she is no restaurateur, partners with owners, managers and chefs to bring a one-of-a-kind creative experience to their establishments. She held the event at Abigail last year, and has partnered regularly with their sister restaurant, Camaje, in Manhattan’s West Village.

“We’re psyched to bring it back to Brooklyn,” said Abigail Café owner and head chef, Abigail Hitchcock. “People are always asking when we’re going to bring it back here and do it again.”

Longtime friends, it was natural for Salisbury and Hitchcock to partner together for many of the events.

“(Dark Dining) brings out a lot of sensitivity in people – alertness, aliveness, people just want to throw themselves into it,” said Salisbury.

She collaborates with chefs – in Abigail Café’s case, with Hitchcock – to develop a four-course meal (and wine selection) that plays up on smell, texture and taste, rather than sight.

“It’s a really amazing experience, from a chef’s perspective,” said Hitchcock. “I don’t have the added worry of making things look good, arranging food a certain way on the plate. It’s all about the taste.”

Salisbury also partners with musicians to perform while participants are blindfolded. Not only is eating a meal without sight new for most people, but so is enjoying music, she has found.

“If you take away sight, there is a much broader range of experience,” said Salisbury. “The other senses begin to take over and, much to people’s surprise, they begin to notice different things.”

Like the menu, which is top-secret until after the meal has been finished, Dark Dining Projects does not announce the performers beforehand. Salisbury said it is because she does not want participants to have any expectations.

“We want people coming in who are just going to experience the moment,” she said. “(The event) brings out a vivacity in people, it’s so beautiful.”

Hitchcock says that about a quarter of the tickets for the event have already been sold, and she expects the rest to go as the event nears.

“The cool thing about Brooklyn is that there are so many artists and open-minded people, that (Dark Dining) really appeals to them,” said Hitchcock.

Tickets for Dark Dining at Abigail Café and Wine Bar are $100 each and can be purchased on the web, or by calling 718-399-3200.