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Dine in the Dark with Chef Adrianne
Local Chef hosts the first of many "Dark Dining " special events to
be held at her Kendall Restaurant
November 30, 2009 | By Tiffany Savinon and Joshua Ballantine, South Florida News Service
Chef Adrianne Calvo recently served 50 guests a fivecourse meal they could not see, just taste , at
her restaurant in Kendall.
She was launching Phantom Nights, a variation of previous Dark Dining events she started in
September at Chef Adrianne's Vineyard Restaurant and Wine Bar.
"The event is like a wine tasting , but blindfolded," Calvo said. "I guide my guests through the
experience."
For approximately two hours Calvo sashayed across the restaurant guiding her guests through the
meal, asking them to touch, smell and taste it.
"By taking away the sense of sight, the other five taste senses sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami
are heightened," said Calvo. "People are more apt to experience the food's full flavor."
Natalie Paavola and Michael Nass, from West Palm Beach, were excited to experience Dark Dining.
"This was the first time we did this, and we loved it," Paavola said. "Your senses are very aware of
what's going on, but you have to guess what you are eating."
For Phantom Nights, the restaurant was transformed into an old opera house, resembling the Phantom
of the Opera. The restaurant was turned into a gothic theater with phantom masks adorning the tables,
candelabras melting their wax and red velvet drapes.
The candlelit evening began with champagne, followed by wine, a five miniaturecourse meal and a
few surprises. Calvo started with a course she called "breakfast," which consisted of applewood
smoked bacon and doughnuts coated with condensed milk.
The following courses included roasted butternut squash soup, shrimp and tamale, grilled MahiMahi
with grilled asparagus, osso bucco served with double baked potato and pork tenderloin with goat
cheese and dried cranberries. The dessert was chocolate truffles with strawberry.
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Yanessa Ayra and Alain Caballero, who came from Broward County for the event, followed the orders
of the chef, got messy and fed each other their warm dessert.
"We knew this evening would be something we would never forget," said Ayra, as she fed her
boyfriend. "We didn't know we would have to feed each other."
Calvo graduated top of her class from Johnson and Wales University in 2004. That same year she
became the youngest chef at the fivediamond Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami. In 2005, Calvo left the
hotel to begin writing her own cookbook, Maximum Flavor, which was published that same year. After
two years marketing the book, Calvo started her own restaurant, and a year later, she wrote her
second book Driven by Flavor Fueled by Fire.
"As a testament to my career, I believe people will drive for good food. If it's good, if the experience is
good, if the ambiance is good, they'll drive for it," she said. "Why be part of the herd?"
Yanessa Ayra's brother, Luis, and his girlfriend, Ines Diaz, drove one hour from their Pinecrest home for
the occasion.
"The meal smells good. It's very mushy," said Diaz, pressing her hands into the food. "I think it is shrimp
with tamal en cazuela."
Throughout the evening, servers wearing white masks moved across the room, maintaining the rhythm
for an organized dining experience.
"We expect the evening to be fun and relaxed with lots of food and wine going around the room," said
Bruce Ramil, a server at the restaurant.
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