High-concept restaurants that immerse diners in a unique atmosphere and eating experience, allowing them a period of escape and transcendence. While these are primarily premium experiences for now, spots where diners can escape and discover a new world could trickle down in creative ways in 2018, even as a café or a new take on theme restaurants.
Jordan Kahn’s Vespertine in Los Angeles, for example, designed in partnership with architect Eric Owen Moss, re-imagines the, gastronomic experience as a multi-sensory event, converging food, art, architecture, music and sculpture.
Single Thread in Healdsburg, Calif., features ingredients from the restaurant’s farm or foraged nearby, specially designed tableware, dining areas that resemble living rooms, and a service style that is uniquely soothing and soulful.
Mad Rex in Philadelphia, meanwhile, imagines a post-apocalyptic world — where “Mad Max” meets “The Walking Dead” — as a restaurant, bar and virtual reality lounge.
— Kara Nielsen, vice president, trends and marketing, CCD Innovations Inc.