New Restaurant's Gimmick Redefines "Blind Taste Test"
Le Baron isn't the only pretentious Parisian import coming to town. Dans le Noir? (question mark theirs) is a restaurant where diners eat food served by blind waiters in pitch darkness. Its Lower East Side neighbors aren't in the dark about the eatery's shadiness. -
After abandoning plans for a Gramercy location, Dans Le Noir? sought to take over the old Tonic space at 107 Norfolk Street. As an experimental music venue (and former home of the Bunker party), Tonic could get away with cutting the lights. At last night's Lower East Side Community Board meeting, Dans Le Noir? co-founder Etienne Boisrond allayed skepticism about the same design working in a restaurant where people might want to see what they're shoveling into their gullets:
"Diners eat in the pitch dark and are served by blind people, creating an interesting sensory experience.You become the blind and [the servers] become your eyes."
Whatever you say, mon frere. At least CB3 wasn't deaf to Boisrond's pleas, as board members approved the business. I can see how the concept benefits owners and staff. The utility bill will remain low. Only customers with the most sophisticated palettes will spot the substitution of Hellmann's for rémoulade. And what kind of jerk is gonna stiff a blind waiter on the tip?
It's unclear what customers have to gain from the arrangement, although a literal blind date at least saves participants from the harsh glare of conventional restaurant lighting. And Dans le Noir? might make for some of the most entertaining restaurant reviews since Ninja made Frank Bruni want to go all harakiri mid-rice cake. Especially since no one will be able to spot and woo a critic here, no matter how shoddy his disguise.
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Vassili Verrecchia Shows Off His Favorite Things In His Paris Home
While his brother, Timothee, runs the NYC office, Vassili takes on the Paris-based side of things. To gain some insight to what inspires such a creative and entrepreneurial spirit, we asked Vass to show off some of his favorite worldly and sentimental possessions in his Paris home. See where Vass's travels have taken him...
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"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes." —Mark Twain "I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me." —General George S. Patton "Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." —Norman Schwartzkopf "We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it." —Marge Simpson "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure." —Jacques Chirac, President of France "As far as France is concerned, you're right." —Rush Limbaugh "The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee." —Regis Philbin "The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know." —P.J O'Rourke (1989) "You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it." —John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona "They've taken their own precautions against Al Qaeda. To prepare for an attack, each Frenchman is urged to keep duct tape, a white flag, and a three-day supply of mistresses in the house." —Argus Hamilton "The only way the French are going in is if we tell them we found truffles in Iraq." —Dennis Miller "I would call the French scumbags, but that, of course, would be a disservice to bags filled with scum. I say we invade Iraq, then invade Chirac." —Dennis Miller "You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He IS French, people." —Conan O'Brien "I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of France!" —Jay Leno "The last time the French asked for 'more proof,' it came marching into Paris under a German flag." —David Letterman How many Frenchmen does it take to change a light bulb? One. He holds the bulb and all of Europe revolves around him. An old saying: Raise your right hand if you like the French.... Raise both hands if you are French. Next time there's a war in Europe, the loser has to keep France.