San Francisco - March 25, 2008

Play with Your Food

Open Restaurant as Social Sculpture

Dinner theater has never whetted your appetite: D-listers performing Death of a Salesman between bites of dry steak and iceberg lettuce? Um, no, thanks.

Thanks to Open, a new “performative restaurant” debuting Friday at New Langton Arts, the genre is getting a second act.

Chez Panisse cook/artist duo Jerome Waag and Sam White are bringing activists, farmers, educators, and folks who dig good grub together for a multifaceted three-courser.

For the first soil-themed show, the meal begins with a dirt tasting by artist Laura Parker. Sniff a variety of earths swirled with water then taste raw vegetables like favas from Tairwa’-Knoll Farms grown in each of the soils. Next, the meal is cooked on stage.

Forget awkward silences. You’ll be too busy chatting up your neighbor on the social, political, and environmental aspects of food, which is exactly the point. Voyeurs are welcome to watch from the bleachers or the bar.

Cue the applause.

New Langton Arts, 1246 Folsom Street, between 8th and 9th Streets (415-626-5416). For information on upcoming shows, go to openrestaurant.org.

  Artsy