She said families (kids 13 and older are admitted) find they communicate more without their electronics and their sense of sight. “You’re more focused on the people you’re with.” “We’ve even had customers come in by themselves,” Avi Levi said.Īnd for the most part, it’s a social experience. “Locals, tourists, date night, blind dates.” So far, she said, their customers have ranged across the spectrum (reservations are accepted, as are walk-ins). It’s a place where we have 40 million people a year come to visit.” “What better place than Las Vegas?” she said. Rachel Levi said the concept has been found mostly in Europe so far but that it seems a natural for Southern Nevada. “We start doing things that are a little more challenging, more fun.” “Once you think you know all about food, what’s left?” she asked. Some reports have a quarter of Americans identifying themselves as foodies, Bergman says, which is why she understands the appeal of the dining in the dark experience. And while people who were born blind or who lost their sight at an early age do have an enhanced ability to differentiate between foods by smell, that goes away when the food is in their mouth.Īt Blackout, particular attention is paid to flavors and textures, to provide a wide variety of both, Rachel Levi said. When people were blindfolded, or food was colored all the same, the ability to discriminate between foods was reduced, according to studies, Bergman said. “I understand the hypothesis, but science would say it’s reversed,” she said. Christine Bergman, professor of food science and nutrition in the Food & Beverage and Event Management Department at UNLV, said the idea that the other senses take over when one is taken away is a hypothesis. “You rely on other senses to help you through the experience,” she said. Rachel Levi, who co-owns Blackout with her husband, Avi, said that for most people, the sense of sight is being taken away for the first time in their lives.
When you’re in the dark, your senses bring out the foods it might be.”
“It’s intriguing - just thinking about what you’re going to be served. “It’s different,” said Steve Onorato, who has twice dined at the 70-seat restaurant. And once a server with night-vision goggles guides them, conga-line-style, through the coal-black door and into the dark abyss, they don’t know anything except that they’ll be eating and drinking during the next few hours.Įating and drinking what? Well, that’s part of the whole mysterious experience. They’re asked about any food allergies they may have, although food preferences don’t carry any weight.
Customers are greeted upon entry and asked to sign a waiver that warns that they’ll be asked to leave if they sneak in a light-emitting device, such as a phone (those get stashed in lockers) or leap up from their table and race off into the dark. The subtext of Blackout, which opened recently on Valley View Boulevard a block north of Flamingo Road, is Dining in the Dark, and that’s its mission in the literal sense. Talk about a blind date: Take someone to the new Blackout restaurant and you’ll both be in the dark in more ways than one.
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