>  Keeps Diners Completely in the Dark
>
>   By JANE COSTELLO
>   Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>
>   ZURICH -- Nothing looks good to eat at the Blind Cow restaurant.
>
>   It's not that the pan-fried trout with boiled potatoes and the red
>   snapper
>   with green lentils are bad. It's just impossible to see the dishes or
>   the
>   plates
>   they are on.
>
>   Or the silverware.
>
>   Or anything at all.
>
>   That's because patrons at this eatery in this pristine Swiss city dine
>   in
>   total darkness and place their trust in the hands of bartenders, cooks
>   and
>   waitresses,
>   almost all of whom are blind.
>   [Blind Cow]
>
>   Named for the Swiss game of blind man's bluff, Blind Cow is the
>   brainchild
>   of the Rev. Jorge Spielmann, a 37-year-old blind pastor who has been
>   known
>   to
>   blindfold his dinner guests just for fun. Mr. Spielmann was inspired to
>   open the restaurant while volunteering to tend bar at a 1998 public
>   exhibit
>   in
>   Zurich where sighted people groped their way through various dark rooms
>   to
>   catch a glimpse of what it means to be blind. After serving up drinks
>   in
>   the
>   dark, Mr. Spielmann saw the light.
>
>   "For once, you couldn't tell the difference between the hobby blind and
>   the
>   professional blind," he says. "I wanted that feeling to continue."
>
>   Dark Motives
>
>   Mr. Spielmann and four blind colleagues set out to establish a
>   restaurant
>   that would provide jobs for blind and visually impaired people while
>   giving
>   the
>   sighted the chance to appreciate the skills required to cope in the
>   dark.
>   After raising an initial 300,000 Swiss francs (about $170,000) in
>   donations
>   from
>   local businesses and charities, Mr. Spielmann found space in an unused
>   Lutheran church.
>
>   The 60-seat restaurant opened in September 1999. Poetically situated at
>   the
>   crest of a blind curve in a quiet residential neighborhood, the
>   restaurant
>   has
>   stained glass windows that are ablaze in the evenings and a spotlight
>   that
>   shines over the heavy wooden doors. At first glance, the well-lit
>   reception
>   room looks like any other, with a menu written on a large chalkboard,
>   and a
>   receptionist seated in front of a telephone and cash register.
>
>   But any similarities end when a blind waitress arrives with bells on
>   her
>   toes to usher diners into the darkness. One guest is told to place both
>   hands on
>   her shoulders, while other members of the party follow in kind. She
>   leads
>   them through blackened curtains to a dimmed holding area where they get
>   a
>   rundown
>   of the rules: no smoking, no iridescent watches, no flashlights and,
>   above
>   all, no wandering. Guests who need to use the lighted restrooms must
>   wait
>   for
>   her to lead them, to and fro. Any requests during the meal are to be
>   made
>   by shouting to summon the bell-wearing staff.
>
>   The bells also serve to allow the wait-staff to avoiding colliding with
>   each other with plates of hot food. "We still bump into each other a
>   lot,"
>   says
>   Christine Wegmueller, a 29-year-old music student who has been a
>   waitress
>   at Blind Cow since it opened.
>
>   Once the ground rules are explained, guests parade through the pitch
>   black
>   to their tables, as the waitress explains where the chairs and place
>   settings
>   are located. The staff says there is no more breakage at Blind Cow than
>   at
>   any other restaurant, since customers are extraordinarily careful not
>   to
>   knock
>   anything over.
>
>   Once seated, customers place orders and then sit back to feast on their
>   remaining four senses. When the meal is over, diners tread lightly to a
>   lighted
>   reception desk, where people blink their eyes, pay the bill and stuff
>   tips
>   in a piggybank shaped like a blindfolded cow.
>
>   "It's very noisy in there," says Blind Cow patron Patricia Sennhauser,
>   who
>   heard about the restaurant from a friend and decided to make a
>   reservation
>   for
>   lunch. "It was so loud, it was difficult to hear my companion. I found
>   myself leaning forward as if I were blind."
>
>   Another first-time customer had a hard time remembering what she ate,
>   since
>   she spent so much time concentrating on how to eat it. "It was easier
>   than
>   I
>   thought it would be, but I kept touching my eyes to make sure they were
>   still there," says Iris Voegelin, who came to dine with a group of
>   co-workers.
>   "I'm happy I still can see."
>
>   Most customers agree that the menu of modestly priced German
>   specialties is
>   secondary to the atmosphere -- or lack of it -- and that they come
>   mainly
>   for
>   the experience. Mr. Spielmann says his biggest fear was that the
>   novelty
>   would wear off, and Blind Cow would close down in three months.
>   Instead,
>   every
>   seat is booked for dinner through March.
>
>   "At this point, customers have seen it all," says Blind Cow's manager,
>   Adrian Schaffner, who thinks that the concept could be a hit in cities
>   like
>   New York
>   and Los Angeles, where sophisticated diners hunger for new experiences.
>   "To
>   be successful in the restaurant business, it's not just food and drink;
>   you
>   need a message."
>
>   And an open mind. In order for the Blind Cow concept to catch on,
>   experience junkies will need to check their table manners at the door,
>   since dining in
>   darkness invites the temporarily blind to eat like cavemen while
>   avoiding
>   any social repercussions over poor manners. Some diners confess to
>   wiping
>   mouths
>   or mustaches on sleeves. Nobody worries about being seen using the
>   wrong
>   fork, either.
>
>   Others take short cuts. "It's hard for people to use knives, especially
>   when they order meat," explains Ms. Wegmueller. "Lots of times, they
>   pick
>   it up
>   and eat it by hand. It's easier that way."
>
>   Some customers use the cover of darkness to have a little fun. Consider
>   three couples who sat down for dinner recently. When the women left to
>   go
>   to the
>   washroom, the men changed seats. When the women returned, each man
>   leaned
>   over to plant a kiss on the lips of his unsuspecting companion. "One
>   woman
>   said,
>   'Stop! You're not my husband,' " laughs Ms. Wegmueller. "But another
>   one
>   couldn't tell the difference and those two just kept on kissing."
>
>   Inevitably someone would use the restaurant for, yes, a blind date. The
>   woman came in first; she nursed her drink in the dark, and the man was
>   led
>   in to
>   meet her a half-hour later. To the disappointment of the staff, the
>   couple
>   left separately, without having laid eyes on each other.
>
>   Mr. Schaffner sees a bright spot in the story -- and a way to market
>   Blind
>   Cow. Starting next March, he plans to make Monday night "date night,"
>   complete
>   with guest speakers to discuss sex and relationships. "People can ask
>   all
>   kinds of questions in the dark," he says.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Just an email away ......
        Justin




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