A group of Dans le Noir servers hold on to each other during a training exercise. (
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Walking into the bar area of Dans le Noir in London seems no different than strolling into any other restaurant. People mingle, drinks are served and, when table settings are in place, customers are guided to their seats. But that’s when things get shady.
Actually, they get downright dark.
Staffed primarily by waiters and bartenders with visual impairments, Dans le Noir — soft-opening its sixth location this weekend at 246 W. 38th St. — is a restaurant that operates in complete blackness (its name is French for “in the dark”). The result? Patrons are put at the same sensory disadvantage as their servers.
When guests arrive for their reservations, they enter a lit bar/lounge area, where they are debriefed and asked to sign liability waivers.
Valuables, including light-emitting cellphones, are stored in lockers.
A “guide” — the term Dans le Noir uses for waiters — then asks dining parties to line up and to each put a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them, before leading them into a pitch-dark dining room where everything has been painted black.
The hallway from the bar features three maze-like bends that make sure no light finds its way into the dining room — as does the path leading to the kitchen.
For customers, navigating that hallway can be harrowing. For 39-year-old guide Adam Linn, it’s no problem.
“I take the subway [to work], so this is easy,” says Linn, a Boston native now living in Brooklyn who lost his sight to a genetic disease 27 years ago. He is one of 15 guides with varying degrees of visual impairment who trained at the restaurant last weekend.
Linn suspects eating in the dark will cause diners to think of common foods like chicken and beef in a new way. “It’s reintroducing yourself to the familiar,” he says.
Another guide, 50-year-old Samuel Davis of The Bronx, claims he lost his vision when a “jealous girlfriend” shot him in the head in 1984.
“They’re going to be shocked,” Davis says of first-time customers. “When I became blind, I was the same way. The [first step] is acceptance — accepting what’s around you. Then you can get through it.”
For those who can’t, there are panic buttons near tables. Infrared cameras in the dining room provide additional security. And don’t worry if you hear barking. It’s not coming from the kitchen, but from the guide-dog kennel downstairs, where the servers keep their companions.
Vulnerability is part of the experience, according to Dans le Noir co-founder Edouard de Broglie, who debuted the concept in Paris, the City of Light, in 2004, before opening outposts in London, Barcelona, Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia.
De Broglie can see, but he was a visionary working in technologies geared toward helping the blind before becoming a restaurateur.
At Dans le Noir, diners can choose from four “surprise” prix-fixe menus — meat, seafood/gluten-free, vegetarian and chef’s choice — but they aren’t told in advance what specific dishes they will be served. Allergies are taken into account, however, on the globally accented American menu, which ranges from $43 to $57, depending on whether it’s a brunch, pre-theater or dinner seating. (Prices will increase slightly with the restaurant’s “official” opening Jan. 10.)
“We don’t disclose what you’re eating because we want you to experience [the meal] with your other senses,” says de Broglie. “You taste the food like you’ve never tasted it before. In the dark, you realize the white fish doesn’t have a lot of taste. Vegetables are very different because they’re very tasty. You can tell a carrot from a pea.”
Many people second-guess their nose for vino when they can’t read labels from the $25-to-$98-per-bottle list, says de Broglie.
“A lot of people think they know wine, but in the dark, they become much less expert,” he says.
The social experience is every bit as interesting as the dining. Half a dozen communal tables line the room, and patrons are seated with other guests. “We want you to interact with them,” he explains.
And you never know who might be sitting next to you: According to de Broglie, Prince William has told him that he and Kate Middleton enjoy dining at London’s Dans le Noir because it’s one of the few places where they enjoy anonymity.
“We are a restaurant, of course, but not really only a restaurant. The food is not the [entire] point. It’s the experience,” de Broglie adds.
Though not totally blind, 28-year-old general manager Marco Valente has 20/200 vision — meaning he can see light and shapes, but has difficulty reading. Poor eyesight hasn’t stopped the Westchester resident from working in the restaurant industry for the past 12 years, including running his own place in Stamford, Conn., when he was just 19. “We find [blind people] are more dedicated to their work, and know how to use their skills efficiently,” explains Valente, who recruits staff with the help of International Lighthouse and Visions/Services. “This is their day-to-day.”
And de Broglie insists that his blind employees have better memories than those who have the option of using notepads.
But make no mistake, this conceptual restaurant is no charity.
“We are not a foundation. We’re a company,” says de Broglie.
“We didn’t hire Marco Valente because he was blind. We hired him because he’s the best general manager we could find. If a chef that is not blind is better than the chef that is blind, we take the chef that’s not blind,” he says. For the record, chef Carl Alioto can see just fine.
De Broglie also says his legal team and insurers are well-prepared for opening this restaurant in a country more litigious than most. “I know there are some Americans that are like this,” says the Parisian, conceding, “There is a danger in the dark. If it’s not possible in New York, we’ll close and go somewhere else. The world is a big place.” It may not come as a surprise that Dans le Noir donates 10 percent of its profits to charity. What is surprising is that those charities include an orphanage and programs for people with walking disabilities.
Here, it seems, the blind are getting by just fine.