The Cellar: Dining with the Undead

I went to this amazing event last year, but forgot to post about it. So of course I had to go again. The Cellar is an amazing restaurant that specializes in French dining and wine. The restaurant is underground and makes it seem that we're not in California anymore. This Dine with the Undead event merges their delicious French food with dinner theater courtesy of the Maverick Theater.

Once we got there, zombies would stagger out once in a while and the manager or the chef would drag them away or leave them lying on the floor. We took a small elevator into the restaurant and just as we went down, an zombie lunged at the manager as he shot at it. The restaurant is beautiful with dim lighting. Fake, blood stained spiderwebs are draped over the chandeliers and the statues along the walls. The event is sold out, so if your party is small, you will be seated next to strangers. It was honestly nice to get to know people, chat over the food, and discuss the show. While we were being seated, the radio news program from Night of the Living Dead is playing.

The same manager explains that the zombie apocalypse happens to coincide with this wonderful dinner. He asks us to check for bites and shows us a variety of ways on how to dispatch the dead. He demonstrates how to use a knife on a pumpkin and tries to distract us from the bitten chef. The first course is served, Attack of the Killer Tomato soup, which was creamy and savory. Just as we're finishing, the chef has become a full blown zombie who can no longer cook. Then we have Sea Creatures of the Black Lagoon which are shrimp in a squid ink remoulade that looks disgusting but is actually quite tasty with a little spice.

This whole time, a couple has been arguing and bickering the entire time. The woman is so rude to the assistant manager that he curses at her loudly. Her boyfriend gets sick of her constant complaining and goes to the bar. The manager figures giving the zombie brains will make him remember his past job and complete the main course, so they lead the obnoxious woman to a back room, where we hear her scream. The zombie chef demonstrates his skills and then we are served the main course, Witches Blood Bourguignon. The boyfriend of the obnoxious woman is led to the same room (after he shoots and kills the assistant manager), so the chef can finish the dessert, which is Return of the Mummy, a brownie covered in ganache and butter cream. All of the zombies come out and dance Thriller in their clumsy zombie way.

This is the second year I've been to this event and I enjoyed it immensely. The only downside was the obnoxious older people celebrating a birthday next to us that drank too much and started yelling loudly. The food is beautiful and tasty. You have to be kind of adventurous since some of the fare is outside of one's comfort zone. The wine parings are expertly chosen and not only have fun Halloween names, but go with each course. I highly recommend The Cellar. It's wonderful to have a quality restaurant that has the sense of humor and fun to host an event like this. I will definitely be going next year and I hope to convert some others to come with me.