Talking of bizarre, by some coincidence both of these questions, sent in by two different readers, concern the same wonderfully titled "A La Cart" (geddit?) episode of the perenially-popular forensics show, which, as reader #1 noted, ran on Oct. 4, 2007.
Somehow we managed to miss it, even though it was the one where Grissom and Sara's romance was officially revealed and we'd really meant to set the DVR. But from episode summaries we've read, we gather that one gory story involved a mangled body scattered over the freeway, the result of a go-cart race gone horribly wrong, while the other plotline revolved around a random murder carried out to discredit a novelty restaurant by the unsighted and slighted party who felt that his "dining in the dark" concept had not been properly compensated.
Both stories involve distinct venues allegedly located in Las Vegas, so the question is, fact or fiction?
First to the go-carts, where the answer is a little of both. The location where the episode was filmed does indeed exist. It's called MB2 Raceway and is located in Sylmar, California. It's open seven days a week and you can get more information by calling 866/986-RACE or visiting their Web site at www.mb2raceway.com/index.html.
However, although it wasn't used for the "CSI" episode, Las Vegas does have its own indoor go-cart track. It's called Fast Lap and is located at 4288 S. Polaris (just north of Harmon) and is also open seven days a week. Prices for non-members start at $25 for a race, which lasts 10 minutes (15-20 laps). You can find Fast Lap in our "See & Do" section or visit their own Web site at http://www.fastlaplv.com/. You have to be at least five feet tall to ride and be 18 years old or accompanied by an adult.
As to why the Californian track was used for the filming, we can only speculate, but most likely it was cheaper to take the crew there than to Las Vegas. From a comparison of the Web sites, MB2 looks a little flashier, too, but they may just have a better graphic designer.
Now to the stranger story of "Blind," as the restaurant in the show was called. And again, the answer is a mixture of fact and fiction. The fictional part is that there's no such restaurant in Las Vegas -- at least not yet -- but does such a place exist? Yes, and as with the ice bar QoD we ran on 8/4/07, we've discovered "dark dining" restaurants are to be found in various locations all over the world.
From our research into the topic, our understanding is that the whole concept of dining in darkness was started in Switzerland by a blind man who held dinner parties at his home, then opened a restaurant called Blindekuh ("the blind cow") in Zurich, in 1999, staffed by blind people. The "dining-in-the-dark" theme has since moved to Germany (Unsicht-Bar has venues in Cologne, Berlin, and Hamburg, while Opaque also has a Berlin location), Paris (Dans le Noir), London (Dans le Noir's second venue), Moscow (its third), Australia (Black Out, Melbourne), Vienna (Opaque), Canada (O.NOIR, of Montréal), New York (CamaJe Bistro), and, of course, California (Opaque has locations in W. Hollywood and San Diego with plans to open in San Francisco and, perhaps, Las Vegas).
All the above-mentioned restaurants are working on the principle that if you're deprived of one sense, in this case sight, your others are heightened, hence you experience the flavors, aromas, and textures of your food more intensely. Some of the venues have minimal background music, while others have none, encouraging you to also listen and hear more intently. Some, like Opaque, Blindekuh, Black Out, and Unsicht-Bar are totally blacked-out; CamaJe, on the other hand, is lit, but offers patrons the option of wearing hi-tech blindfolds ("mindfolds"). Sometimes the wait people are blind, not least because those used to blindness can navigate much better in the dark, while at other venues, like Black Out, the staff is sighted, but they wear night-vision goggles. Some of the restaurants, like O.NOIR, donate a portion of their earnings to charities that support the blind and visually impaired, which is also another reason why many of these restaurants favor hiring blind staff.
We understand that some foods, like peas, are generally kept off the menu, for obvious reasons, while soups are served in mugs. Although cutlery is provided, we gather, not surprisingly, that you end up using your hands a lot more than you normally might at a high-end restaurant. Groping is definitely frowned upon, as is murder.
If anyone's tried any of these restaurants, please relate your experiences and we'll add them as updates to this answer. And we'll keep you posted if we hear of any further developments with regards to a dining-in-the-dark venue opening in Las Vegas.
http://www.mb2raceway.com/index.html
http://www.fastlaplv.com/
