NYC menu offers something new: Silence

NEW YORK (AP) Quiet, please. Your dinner will now be served.

That's the message being sent to customers at a New York City restaurant that prohibits any talking during an occasionally put-on $40 pre-fixe, four-course meal.

Nicholas Nauman, head chef at 'Eat' in Brooklyn's trendy Greenpoint neighborhood, said he was inspired to pitch the tight-lipped consumption sessions after spending time in India, where Buddhist monks take their breakfast without exchanging words.




"As a mother of two 15-year-old boys it is kind of a fantasy to go do that," said Tanya Steel, editor-in-chief of, of the silent-dining experience at 'Eat.' "But as someone who pays money to go out, I would feel like I'm in some kind of silent film; it would be incredibly difficult."

At a recent evening at 'Eat,' restaurant-goers seemed not to mind the silent treatment as they noshed on salads and sipped their soups.

One polite customer walked out the door to sneeze in order not to break the silence. Another could barely hold back a strong case of the giggles. And one couple found ways to communicate with facial expressions, instead of words.

"It's kind of like a meditation," said 'Eat' owner Jordon Colon. "The silence speaks for itself."


Associated Press video journalist Ted Shaffrey contributed to this report.


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