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EnviroDining aims to transform dining into a full-fledged experience. (Photo courtesy UGK)
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The new dinner series from The Underground Kitchen, EnviroDining debuts Nov. 2. (Photo courtesy UGK)
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Photo courtesy UGK
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EnviroDining blends technology, innovation and culinary talent. (Photo courtesy UGK)
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Photo courtesy UGK
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This Airstream, named Eartha, will be transformed into a mobile kitchen and lounge, traveling along the East Coast for the UGK dinner series. (Photo by Micheal Sparks)
Micheal Sparks, founder of The Underground Kitchen (UGK), a secretive dinner series that began in Richmond in 2014, has never been about the ordinary. On Friday, Nov. 2, Sparks and the UGK team plan to take it up a notch when they launch EnviroDining, a nine-week culinary experience based on stimulating the five senses.
“We live in an experiential society,” says Sparks, a former fashion designer. “People don’t want what they can experience elsewhere; they want an experience they can remember, and this is our answer.”
In the spring of 2017, BES Studios in Richmond approached Sparks, looking for a UGK event that was outside the box, blending technology and innovation. From there, the EnviroDining concept was born.
“It went so well, everything was so amazing,” says Sparks. “We wanted to re-create that for others.”
Now, every Friday in November and December, diners have opportunity to be taken on a culinary journey via intimate, 40-person dining events.
The unique experience seeks to create dining spaces that reflect the food being served and awaken all the senses, not just the taste buds.
“Our main focus is to make you feel like you’re in the environment the food originates from or feeling like you're part of that environment when you’re eating it,” explains Sparks. “It all comes together and tantalizes every sense. It’s more than a restaurant experience and makes it more pleasurable.”
Attention to detail is the key to making EnviroDining successful, and Sparks, along with UGK Audiovisual Director Lee Dickinson, has a team of 40 people on board to achieve their visions. A host of elements ranging from music to lighting, fabrics and tableware aid in creating the culinary adventure and mapping out a room that is much more than four walls.
“The client can be more than [just] inside a dining room and transported to unusual spaces,” says Sparks. “Cirque de Soleil meets dinner party.”
If Arctic char is on the menu, envision being surrounded by images of deep, frigid waters or flowing alpine streams with peaceful, soothing music; imagine eating handmade pasta while immersed in views of the rustic hillsides of Northern Italy, or indulging in melt-in-your-mouth salmon sashimi presented on blocks of ice among floor-to-ceiling images of massive glaciers.
Each week presents a different theme, but the goal is consistent: Transport guests visually to attractions across the globe and focus on the role the environment can play in the meal.
Unlike previous UGK, ticket limits and the ticket-buying period will be extended so that companies have the opportunity to host EnviroDining holiday parties and brand the events to represent their business.
Sparks says that no two UGK events are ever alike. And though the meals have taken place across the country from D.C. to Philadelphia to Miami, Sparks continues to call Richmond home, and he hosts an event in the city every month.
In addition to EnviroDining, in the spring of 2019 Sparks and UGK plan to introduce a 31-foot 1971 vintage Airstream Excella named Eartha.
“It will allow us to do UGK almost anywhere,” says Sparks, who plans to take Eartha up and down the East Coast. “Oceanside, forest, whatever. One of the big challenges with experimental dinners is we're going to locations that don’t have kitchens.”
Eartha will be transformed into a corporate mobile kitchen, offering flexibility to UGK events. The introduction of the Airstream also means the debut of a private VIP lounge, offering space for up to eight guests to relax and socialize prior to dinner service.
UGK also recently launched Gospel Brunch, a Sunday celebration featuring mimosas, bloody marys, gourmet breakfast food and live music from Virginia State University gospel choirs. Gospel Brunch takes place every second and fourth Sunday of the month until December.
Tickets for EnviroDining are $175 and include a welcome cocktail, six courses, wine pairings, tax and gratuity.
The next Gospel Brunch takes place on Sunday, Oct. 28, with seatings at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tickets are $95.
