CAMAS, Wash. — A group of eleven people are at a Camas restaurant for a dinner party unlike anything no one's seen before — pun not intended.
Restaurants are all about the ambiance: At Wyld Pines Public House, the experience is littered with tableside chatter and eye-catching Bigfoot-inspired décor. But with The Black Forest, Wyld Pines' “Dark Dining Experience,” guests make reservations online for $70 per person and are treated to a full seven-course meal.
The catch? Everyone (except the staff) wears blacked-out goggles to deprive diners of their sense of sight.
“It definitely gives you an idea of how if you miss one sense how the other ones work,” said Edgar Garcia Chavez, one of the diners.
Staff guide guests to their seats in a back room and dish out course after course.
Most of this group is the crew of The Blind Kitchen, a content-creating team providing blind-friendly adaptive tools and tips for cooks with impaired vision. Head chef Debra Erickson decided to turn the tables on her staff by getting everyone together for this unique experience.
“I wanted to do this to thank my team for helping to make The Blind Kitchen such a wonderful, effective product,” Erickson said. “I didn't want to give them money. I wanted to give them an experience. And when I heard about this, I thought, 'That is so perfect.'”
“But we like money, too!” Chavez quipped, with a laugh.
Erickson began to lose her vision at 17. She’s now been living with blindness for 25 years. Her mentor, Char Cook, was seated a couple chairs away. Cook and Erickson met and bonded over cooking classes at the Oregon Commission for the Blind shortly after Erickson’s vision loss.
“It's fun, doable, tasty,” said Cook about the Black Forest. “It opens the world to understanding and sensitivity to people who are different than others.”
Diners searched and scooped, several times doing so in vain — with each empty fork, there's a healthy serving of perspective.
“It gives a different kind of appreciation for what we do and what she (Erickson) does, especially to give people confidence,” said Erin Lyon, one of staff members of The Blind Kitchen.
“I heard air bites probably 100 times around the table today where people thought they had something on their fork and they didn't,” Erickson smiled. “You’d think it'd be easier than that!”
Even with heightened senses, each dish remains a mystery until after the meal when Wyld Pines’ head chef Brandon Edgerton goes over each course. Edgerton changes the menu every three months, and he uses locally sourced ingredients for food much different than traditional pub fare.
“Even though I couldn't see what I was eating, I couldn't make sure that my manners were exactly right or whatever, but they're leaving, knowing there's life after blindness,” Cook said.
“It warms my heart,” added Erickson, “because that was the idea was to thank them for all they've done to support The Blind Kitchen and myself through the years.”
