Haute Cuisine Meets Interactive Tabletop Animation

Daren Ulmer, the former head of music for Disneyland, likes to point out that the iconic Enchanted Tiki Room attraction was first conceived as a Polynesian-themed restaurant. “That was Walt’s original vision,” he says, noting logistical challenges meant that it evolved into merely an audio-animatronics revue. “He was onto something!”

Ulmer — who now heads independent multimedia production house Mousetrappe, where clients include Disney as well as Universal Studios — is now trying his own hand at immersive dining with The Gallery, a spectacle restaurant in downtown L.A. (330 W. Olympic Blvd.). It incorporates state-of-the-art projection mapping to transform the 80-seat room’s walls, ceiling and communal tabletops into vivid, often interactive videos that run in sequence with the narrative arc of the meal. The business bet is that audiences will gravitate to an event-ized premium restaurant experience that exists beyond the everyday, just as tentpole music festivals such as Coachella, blockbuster franchises à la Marvel and ticketed art extravaganzas like Meow Wolf are profit centers in their own entertainment domains.

The debut showcase, titled Elementa and set to Ulmer’s own Debussy-inspired score, is a five-course meal ($200 per person, not including drinks) overseen by “chef in residence” Joshua Whigham, a longtime deputy in José Andrés’ avant-garde fine dining empire. The menu starts with a root vegetable dish accompanied by digital flora, which bloom in response to guests’ movements. This is followed by, among other special effects, a duck presentation dressed in that quintessential molecular gastronomy topping — foam — while burstable pixelated bubbles float across the table, and a plated course of hamachi and seaweed served as schools of bright fish swim amid coral below. (This trompe l’oeil effect is occasionally undermined by a bit of computer buffering.)

The Gallery, which also includes brief performance interludes, is clearly eager to avoid the cornball, lowbrow associations of its genre, like Medieval Times. Instead, the intended aim appears to be a more affordable variant on Alchemist, Copenhagen’s two-Michelin-starred modernist cuisine temple famed for its integrated image projections.

Ulmer is running the concept alongside Chuck Fawcett, an animatronics veteran who has long worked on projects for Disney as well as Warner Bros., Sesame Workshop and Jim Henson Productions. They’re already considering other locations — beginning with the obvious: Las Vegas and Orlando — but are focused first on rounding out their initial iteration. Elementa will close at a to-be-determined date, followed by an array of other productions. “We don’t want to be typecast,” explains Ulmer. The planned slate includes gospel-style brunches, à la carte all-ages matinee exhibitions and high-profile partnerships with film and music auteurs “where we really see things through their lens.” Also, holiday feasts: “I really want to do one based on A Christmas Carol. The only question is, do we do it Dickensian, or Baz Luhrmannian, or Sleep No More-ian?”

The Gallery’s opening coincided with the annual Themed Entertainment Awards, a conclave for park industry pros held this year at Universal. So, the room was packed with insiders. “It was fun to see this through their eyes,” says Ulmer, adding of his compatriots: “We have a particular understanding of how narrative drives emotions and memories.”

This story appeared in the April 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.