CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Have you ever wondered what it's like to dine in complete darkness?
Eminent psychologists have been advocating dining in the dark as the ultimate gastronomic experience for years. And one would think that dining in the dark was thrilling enough, but what about when you do it in a haunted building?
This Halloween season, guests are invited to not only find out what it's like to dine in total darkness, but also do it at the haunted Hubbard Inn in Chicago's River North neighborhood. Be warned, there are some jump scares!
"We took this idea of dining in the dark, and in a lot of other cities we've been doing it with blindfolds - giving people blindfolds as they come in - but we wanted to make it a different experience in and of itself, so what we've done is we've completely blacked out the room. People come in, the lights are still up and then once everyone is sat, we turn all the lights off so they cannot see; and then all the servers have night vision goggles, so they are serving in these night vision goggles. It's insane," said Becca Braun, Associate Producer Fever Originals Chicago.
Throughout the 90-minute haunted, sensory dining experience, guests will hear "spooky ghost stories" as they are served a surprise three-course tasting menu paired with wine.
"I can't give you specifics on the menu, because people do find out what the menu is after they have eaten. We want to create a sensory experience, so we want people to be surprised and try to guess what it is that they are eating. I think it has been said that eating is 80 percent your eyes, so by taking away that use of sight, you are really forced to use your other senses, like smell and taste, to kind of determine what you are eating," Braun said.
"Audiences are given the option of three different courses, so there's a meat option, a seafood option, and a vegan option. That's all the audience knows ahead of time, and then once they have dined and they have done the experience, we put out a QR code and they are able to scan that and see what it is that they ate."
3-Course Dinner Menu
Surprise your senses and test out your taste buds. Just choose your favorite color, and the rest is taken care of...
• Green (Vegan): Starter: fresh, crisp and zesty summertime flavors; Main: a savory yet sweet, earthy surprise with contrasting textures; Dessert: classically delicious & familiar tastes, presented uniquely
• Blue (Seafood): Starter: fresh, crisp and zesty summertime flavors; Main: tantalizing flavors meet tender textures in a fresh ocean wave; Dessert: pillowy clouds of goodness with a floral, herbal twist
• Red (Meat): Starter: fresh, crisp and zesty summertime flavors; Main: deeply savory with a lashing of sweetness and textures; Dessert: pillowy clouds of goodness with a floral, herbal twist
So, how does one eat in the dark?
"It's easier than you would think. We have people walk in and they lights are still up. We seat them and they get an idea of where they are in the room, what the table setting is like, we have silverware and napkins placed out for them, so they know where everything is. And then when the lights go out and the servers come with the meals, they place them down in front of them and say something along the lines of, 'alright, your first course has been placed in front of you, your silverware is to the left' or wherever it is on the table, giving them kind of an idea of where things are on the table in the dark, and then people just kind of have to feel around. It's really, really fun to watch people try to do this in the dark through the night vision goggles, but you'd be surprised, people are pretty good at adapting to it quickly," Braun said.
Haunted Dining in the Dark, at Masq at Hubbard Inn, located at 110 W. Hubbard St., runs through October. Tickets are $89 and are available on the Fever app and on the Fever website. Note: an 18 percent service fee will be charged on-site. Guests are encouraged, but not required, to dress in cocktail or Halloween attire.
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