‘Dinnertainment:’ Elevated Menus At Theatrical Dining Concepts Provide The Ultimate Experience
As dining out becomes a daily occurrence, what draws a customer to one restaurant over another? Is it the food, the décor, or the service? Perhaps it’s the overall experience which is then reported back to friends. With the influence of social media, diners love to share what they are experiencing on Instagram, Facebook, Periscope, Twitter, and Snapchat. Usually the photos of a beautifully plated dish will represent the experience. However, some restaurants are taking the dining experience to a more experiential level and incorporating theatrical elements. No longer is dining out simply sitting at a table with your friends and having a conversation. Theatrical dining is not a new concept. Italian pizza restaurant Miceli’s has the singing waiters and The Magic Castle offers roaming magicians and magic shows. There is also Medieval Times where men, dressed as knights, joust and brandish weapons as diners eat and cheer on the knights. But food is not the primary focus when a diner goes to one of these venues. They go for the entertainment and for the overall experience. Yet, there are experiential dining experiences in Los Angeles that are raising the bar and going beyond performance dining. Theatrical elements are brought into the modern dining environment to enhance, not overshadow, the food.
28 March, 2016
CITY OF GOLD is a tasty documentary on Jonathon Gold, the first food critic ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. It satisfies cravings on all five senses. Laura Gabbert’s feature-length film expertly succeeds in sharing Gold’s favorite hard-to-find, tiny mom-and-pop restaurants in L.A.’s deepest ethnic neighborhoods. She mixes cinematic tools like a chef mixes fine ingredients to create a perfect dish. Close-ups of succulent food combinations sizzle and take us into the heat. Sounds of the street pop and mingle under lively sequences of the city in action underscored by a diverse original score by Bobby Johnson. The camera rides right alongside Jonathon in his green pick-up truck as he traverses scrappy roads to get us to his favorite far-flung discoveries. Slo-mo aerials glide over snarled L.A. freeway traffic lanes at twilight, turning rear lights into mesmerizing red rivers below. We get a peek into the authentic Los Angeles that has taken him years to lovingly, painstakingly uncover with his passionate palate.