In the last 50 years, the way that we consume food has drastically changed. Take Buffalo Wild Wing's for example, you're offered an iPad to play games as you walk in the door. Sports stream throughout plasma's just about everywhere you look and contests for eating dangerously hot wings commence here and there, as well. Maybe you're more fond of staying in and whipping up a delicious, gluten-free, meal as you binge on Orange Is The New Black, but either way it's evident that the world is in need of a culinary renaissance. People are not only craving a richer dining experience, they're expecting it.
Wednesday, July 29th at 7p.m. Five Crowns will delight and entice attendees as they present Dinner In Five Parts. It's time to be present, taste that subtle hint of mache as it flirts with ricotta salata in your mouth and bare witness to how the dining landscape can shape your sensory experience.
Five courses, five pairings, five musicians, five sets, and five senses amiss the charming Corona Del Mar, English garden. Creative genius Allen Moon, of Santa Ana Sites, has brought together Chris Roundtree, of wild Up, to curate a live set list composed by Missy Mazzoli, Morton Feldman, Andrew Tholl, J.S. Back, and Jodie Landau.
The conventional setting of musicians gathering before attendees will be stripped as performers intersperse throughout the space. Moon explains, “When you're able to break down the barriers it can become a very powerful experience. [Roundtree] breaks down formality and address' accessibility, allowing the audience to experience it in a personal way, that only can happen in this sort of environment.”
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A separate dining soundtrack has been created by Moon, Roundtree, Chef Kling of Five Crowns, and Jim Colombo (general manager of Five Crowns) who plays an instrumental role in the collaborative effort behind this event. John Cage, Björk, Johnny Cash, Gamalan Galak Tika, Patsy Cline, Nico Muhly, AC/DC, Nine Inch Nails, Ornette Coleman, Jefferson Airplane, and The Soggy Bottom Boys are just some of the names that have been thrown on the table. These are by no means random selections, the soundtrack will weave throughout the evening, magnifying the space, and giving deeper meaning to both the menu and the environment that envelops you.
“Magnify and deepen are two worlds that describe what we are trying to do. [We're] creating an immersive environment for the guest to have a more adventurous experience. The most important thing is really the collaboration, instead of one person driving the creative agenda, [we have to ask] what are we each bringing to the table? In this instance that's more than just a metaphor. We're brining it to the dining table. In that sense there's an opportunity for each creator to respond to a suggestion and that suggestion can build upon the overall idea. It's been an absolute pleasure working with everyone at Five Crowns. Everything that a creative person would want, in that the ideas keep broadening and building upon themselves and there's an energy to explore even if it's a little ludicrous” Moon told me.
Fascinated with the idea of filling non-traditional spaces with performances, Moon launched Santa Ana Sites two years ago after working in artist management for 15 plus years. Since launching the company, he has brought entertainment to the Yost Theatre with a Ukrainian folk band called DakhaBrakha, and he has also transformed the Grand Central Art Center, the Santora Building, OC's Racquetball court, Logan Creative, and now he will transform Five Crowns.
Colombo, who joined forces with the culinary team of Five Crowns four years ago, explained, “We want to create a three dimensional landscape. We listen to music everyday, we eat food everyday, and sometimes we eat food while we listen to music, but it's suppose to be much more of an experience. [At Dinner In Five Parts] we'll all be apart of this interconnected story and I don't know if this story has a beginning, middle, and end. It might be this weird roller coaster of emotion; maybe the theme is emotion, and maybe the theme is using music to push things further and create this sort of third experience from what any of us are use to.”
Guests will enjoy cocktails in the greenhouse before large sliding doors open to welcome them on the patio. The goal is to have guests salivating, from a visual standpoint, before letting them take their seats at one of the six tables, to become apart of the performance art.
“We want people to come to [Dinner In Five Parts] and think what the hell just happened? I want more!” Colombo laughed. “I hope it matches up. That's kind of the beauty of all of this. You can try to plan everything but in the end we're trying to create an artist experience and I don't have a pithy quote or anything but to use the metaphor, I think we've set the table properly. We'll only known that evening” Moon said.
Whats on the menu? Heirloom tomatoes and peaches, shaved celery, corn, mache, and ricotta salata. Sea urchin, custard, truffle oil, and mushrooms. Hand-torn black pasta with lobster, calamari, chillies, and scallion's. White wine-braised rabbit hobbs with bacon. Port wine sabayon crushed chocolate cookies and strawberries.
For reservations call Five Crowns at (949) 760-0331.
$149 with wine pairings per person.
See also:
The 50 Best Things About the OC Music Scene
The 50 Worst Things About the OC Music Scene
The 25 Greatest OC Bands of All Time: The Complete List
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