Speaker 1: Guess what will what's that mango? So today I lost
Speaker 1: half an hour looking up team restaurants that I definitely
Speaker 1: don't want to eat at. Have you heard of the
Speaker 1: Disaster Cafe? I haven't, but I have to admit I'm intrigued.
Speaker 1: So what happens at the Disaster Cafe? So this is
Speaker 1: a failed restaurant concept from Spain, but it's so great.
Speaker 1: So when you walk in, you travel down to the
Speaker 1: depths of the earth, as they put it, and get
Speaker 1: seated in this cave like area. And the first thing
Speaker 1: most patrons noticed is that all the weight staff is
Speaker 1: wearing these hard hats like construction cats. And then when
Speaker 1: you order your food, the trays are all super super heavy.
Speaker 1: But the entire concept of the place is that sometime
Speaker 1: during your meal, you'll actually experience a simulated earthquake that
Speaker 1: measures seven point eight on the Richter scale. All right,
Speaker 1: so let me get this straight. I'm actually paying to
Speaker 1: eat and feel an earthquake at the same time. And
Speaker 1: why is it a seven point eight? I think because
Speaker 1: that's the optimal earthquake setting for maximum dining enjoyment. But no,
Speaker 1: I have no idea. But but the whole concept is
Speaker 1: that you don't know when the earthquake is actually gonna happen,
Speaker 1: So I guess it's for thrill seekers, or maybe for
Speaker 1: people who love playing Russian Roulette over a fine meal.
Speaker 1: So I have to know that was was the food
Speaker 1: any good? Yeah? Apparently the food is great. And like
Speaker 1: most theme restaurants, business was initially strong because of the buzz,
Speaker 1: but eventually the novelty wore off, and the fact that
Speaker 1: the drinks build all over the place regularly and you
Speaker 1: couldn't wear nice clothes there took its toll. So I
Speaker 1: guess the owners snuffed out their beloved disaster cafe. But
Speaker 1: today's Nine Things is all about theme restaurants, because even
Speaker 1: if we don't want to eat at them or invest
Speaker 1: in them, we definitely want to talk about them. Let's
Speaker 1: dig in. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius.
Speaker 1: I'm Will Pearson and is always I'm joined by my
Speaker 1: good friend Mangueshot Ticketer, or at least halfway joined by
Speaker 1: Mangeshot Ticketer. I'm in New York waiting on Mango and
Speaker 1: Tristan to come up here tomorrow. Now, Mango, I have
Speaker 1: to know, is is Tristan sitting behind the glass, and
Speaker 1: if so, what is he doing today? He is indeed
Speaker 1: sitting behind that glass, and today he's looking at recipes
Speaker 1: from his Bubba Gump Shrimp Company cookbook. Wow, he's always
Speaker 1: up to something interesting. Hey, that's perfect because I don't
Speaker 1: know if that still exists up here in New York,
Speaker 1: but if it does, we definitely have to take him
Speaker 1: over there and just just drop him off. I don't
Speaker 1: want to go in, and we'll drop him off at
Speaker 1: the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. So now today, Mango, we're
Speaker 1: talking about theme restaurants. So I'm curious, what are your
Speaker 1: feelings about theme restaurants? You know, I was thinking about
Speaker 1: this earlier. I'm actually kind of conflicted because I mean,
Speaker 1: they're they're obviously tourist trots, and I feel like there
Speaker 1: was an age when I was super into them, right
Speaker 1: like maybe when I was eleven or twelve, I was
Speaker 1: all about going to like hard rock cafes and Planet Hollywood's.
Speaker 1: Then if there was, I don't know, like a Hedgehog
Speaker 1: cafe in my neighborhood, I'm sure I would have begged
Speaker 1: my parents to go. But then you kind of age
Speaker 1: out of them, right like like medieval times and where
Speaker 1: you want to get dragged as an angsty teen unless
Speaker 1: you're into like dragon con or Renaissance fairs. And then
Speaker 1: you get a little older and it's exactly where you
Speaker 1: want to drag your nephews or nieces. I mean I
Speaker 1: subjected my little nephew Ryan a ton of things that
Speaker 1: he wouldn't want to do, Like what what do you mean?
Speaker 1: Like I forced him to go to that Ninja cafe
Speaker 1: in New York. Yeah, they're They're all those like secret
Speaker 1: hiding spots and the ninja's jumped out at you and
Speaker 1: like clouds of smoke and the sushi comes on a
Speaker 1: bed of dry eyes, so it's all smoky too. And
Speaker 1: I think the weirdest thing is that the ninja's come
Speaker 1: around to your tables to do card tricks. Well, speaking
Speaker 1: of magic, I do know you wanted to talk about
Speaker 1: your favorite magic cafe, and that's David copper Fields Magic Underground, right,
Speaker 1: that's right. So you know when I was a kid,
Speaker 1: I mentioned this to you, but I David Copperfield and
Speaker 1: we actually went to see him when he came to Wilmington's.
Speaker 1: My my mom used to take the specials on TV
Speaker 1: so we could watch them, and I had, of course
Speaker 1: heard about his legendary statue of Liberty trick. That's where
Speaker 1: he made it disappear on TV, right, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: And over the years, of course I saw him more
Speaker 1: as a character than that cool magician you love as
Speaker 1: a nine year old kind of more of a job character.
Speaker 1: But apparently in the mid nineties he spent three years
Speaker 1: trying to launch copper Field's Magic Underground restaurant, and the
Speaker 1: plans were so elaborate. So apparently the first one was
Speaker 1: supposed to be in Times Square and it is just
Speaker 1: too good. So I'm actually gonna read you the description
Speaker 1: from the New York Times article about it. So, the
Speaker 1: designs from the Times Square restaurant called for a heroic
Speaker 1: forty five foot figure to stand astride the front entrance,
Speaker 1: flanked by a pair of eighteen foot gas torches. Neon
Speaker 1: signs were to erupt every hour in a ninety second
Speaker 1: light show, with lights proclaiming the site copper Field's Magic
Speaker 1: Underground emerging from the display. So it's already ridiculous, right,
Speaker 1: And then you get inside. They're supposed to be a
Speaker 1: seventy foot atrium with gargoyles perched on steel trusses in
Speaker 1: a style Mr Rockwell called industrial Gothic. Diners were to
Speaker 1: sit on terraces, nestled around a model to the statue
Speaker 1: of Liberty's torch and to the eye, banquettes and a
Speaker 1: bar would levitate, while a section of diners would suddenly disappear,
Speaker 1: and once an hour a death saw would appear to
Speaker 1: cut a diner and a half. Everywhere there would be
Speaker 1: what became known as the David's large scale likenesses of Mr. Copperfield.
Speaker 1: I mean, it is so amazing, And apparently it was
Speaker 1: like a thirty thousand square foot place, and the New
Speaker 1: York Times rights the restaurant's greatest trick was making thirty
Speaker 1: four million dollars of investment money disappear thirty four million
Speaker 1: dollars and nothing ever came of this. That's not amazing,
Speaker 1: That is that is an impressive trick. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: here is a place I'm fascinated by. It's called oh
Speaker 1: now Are in Montreal, And when you go in, you're
Speaker 1: actually asked to surrender anything that glints light, so we're
Speaker 1: talking watches, phones, anything like that, and then you're let
Speaker 1: into this completely dark room where you eat your meal
Speaker 1: and the experience is supposed to be incredible because all
Speaker 1: your other senses are heightened when you're just focusing on touch, smell,
Speaker 1: and hearing. So I'm curious about this, dude. People ever
Speaker 1: get scared of the dark or uncomfortable when they're there? Well, actually,
Speaker 1: that feeling of discomfort is part of the experience. You know.
Speaker 1: People occasionally will want to leave because they're scared of
Speaker 1: the dark, and then they'll be calmed down by the
Speaker 1: weight staff. But you know, the really interesting thing about
Speaker 1: the place is that all the weight staff is blind,
Speaker 1: and the proceeds from the restaurant go to the local
Speaker 1: groups that support the visually impaired. And the whole idea
Speaker 1: is that people initially go to the place because of
Speaker 1: the novelty of it, you know, or because the food
Speaker 1: is actually supposed to be really good. But from the
Speaker 1: articles I've read, they've really come away from the experience
Speaker 1: with more empathy and kind of this appreciation for how
Speaker 1: the visually impaired navigate the world. That is awesome. Well,
Speaker 1: I've got to say the next theme restaurant on my
Speaker 1: list has a far less humanitarian mission. It's a place
Speaker 1: I have no intention of going and it's called Taiwan's
Speaker 1: Modern Toilet Restaurant. So I read the section on the
Speaker 1: website about it that says business philosophy and direction, and
Speaker 1: it says in April two th six, all Mordern restaurants
Speaker 1: changed their name to Modern Toilet Restaurants. In the future,
Speaker 1: a greater range of washroom facilities will greet new customers
Speaker 1: and old friends alike. So what's the story behind. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I guess it's just good branding. But apparently
Speaker 1: it started because an owner was reading his comics on
Speaker 1: the toilet and inspiration struck and the shop began as
Speaker 1: actually as an ice cream parlor where they served chocolate
Speaker 1: only ice cream and put the scoops in these squat
Speaker 1: toilet containers, and for some reason people went wild for it.
Speaker 1: And then I expanded to like a full restaurant where
Speaker 1: you got hot pot and mini commodes. I I really
Speaker 1: don't get this, but according to the site, I know
Speaker 1: that they've launched over sixteen places, and apparently there was
Speaker 1: even like a short lived one in Vegas where you
Speaker 1: could sit on a throne as you ate from a
Speaker 1: tin year throne, but for some reason it didn't take off.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine why. I'm it just seems like such
Speaker 1: a brilliant business model. All right, Well, here is a
Speaker 1: fun one. If you're tired of watching the pit master
Speaker 1: at a barbecue restaurant do his work or board by
Speaker 1: the local hibachi chef, you need to head to the
Speaker 1: El Diablo restaurant in Spain. And that's where the chefs
Speaker 1: actually cook over an active volcano. So I don't get it, Like,
Speaker 1: what is it with Spain and all these disaster restaurants,
Speaker 1: Like first the earthquake thing, now we're real volcano. I
Speaker 1: have no idea, but this one actually does sound pretty fascinating.
Speaker 1: And it's not like those viral videos of people cooking
Speaker 1: steak over lava. It's more just a giant grill over
Speaker 1: a four hundred and fifty degrees celsius fire pit in
Speaker 1: the ground. But it's still pretty cool. And in the
Speaker 1: view from the place it's actually on a national park
Speaker 1: and it's supposed to be just stunning. Man, well, I
Speaker 1: can definitely see the feel of that. Well, if we're
Speaker 1: going for something scarier, I think we should move from
Speaker 1: volcanoes to Spain to Japan's alcatraz e Er restaurant. But
Speaker 1: it sounds a little bit weird, but but what is it?
Speaker 1: It's so weird and again, not a restaurant I would
Speaker 1: ever go to, but it's fun to talk about. So
Speaker 1: according to Atlas Obscura, this place is a kitchy horror
Speaker 1: themed restaurant. Instead of being sort of playful horror, you know,
Speaker 1: like like Beetlejuice or something, it's it's more of a
Speaker 1: jail slash haunted mental institution live. So you go in
Speaker 1: and you get thrown on the floor of a cell
Speaker 1: with some drinks, and to get any more service you
Speaker 1: actually have to rattle the bars and yell desperately, which
Speaker 1: sounds terrible, and then the drinks coming heads, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of tacky but okay, But this is
Speaker 1: the most terrifying part to me. Every so often, killer
Speaker 1: clowns come out to harass you and a friendly. They
Speaker 1: take people to the middle of the room and then
Speaker 1: manhandle them and poked them with fake syringes. It just
Speaker 1: sounds awful to me. Yeah, I was. I was okay
Speaker 1: with the general idea until you got to the killer
Speaker 1: clowns cooking with fake synches. But what I'm curious, like,
Speaker 1: what are the reviews like, do people like it? I
Speaker 1: think they're pretty med from the most part. Like most
Speaker 1: people say, the food is good and the service is terrible,
Speaker 1: but you shouldn't go in the afternoon because the scaring
Speaker 1: is sort of halfhearted them. That's good to know. Well,
Speaker 1: here's one that I don't know if it counts as
Speaker 1: a theme restaurant, but it's from North Korea, so I
Speaker 1: do want to talk about it. So, I mean, I
Speaker 1: realized it's a little late to discuss this, but what
Speaker 1: are you using as your criteria for a theme restaurant?
Speaker 1: All right, Well, so the definition I've found says it's
Speaker 1: where the concept of the restaurant takes priority over everything else.
Speaker 1: So it could be the architecture or maybe the feeling
Speaker 1: or some novelty aspect like killer clowns, poking with sorrentious.
Speaker 1: But I think North Korea's pizza restaurant does count though,
Speaker 1: because it's a manufactured experience of the West that it's
Speaker 1: supposed to be novel there. Okay, so so what's it like? Well,
Speaker 1: apparently it's really weird. Kim john Ill spent ten years
Speaker 1: trying to get it up and running. He brought an
Speaker 1: Italian chefs to train the cooks. He imported cheese and tomatoes.
Speaker 1: They made these very specific rules, like the exact measurements
Speaker 1: that one olive should be from another, and supposedly they
Speaker 1: worked over and over to perfect the recipes. But I
Speaker 1: read this one review on Epicurious. It says this. It says,
Speaker 1: the whole thing is supposed to be someone's idea of
Speaker 1: New York or Italy, but the olive oil is rancid,
Speaker 1: the pizza tastes like cardboard and flavorless. Maybe the whole
Speaker 1: idea is propaganda to give the West a bad name.
Speaker 1: But the best part is that at the end of
Speaker 1: every night to North Korean lounge singers come out and
Speaker 1: seeing off key Frank Sinatra tra tune. For anyone who
Speaker 1: needs another reason not to go to the US, that's ridiculous. Well,
Speaker 1: I know we've got two more restaurants to go, but
Speaker 1: why don't we tackle those after the break? Welcome back
Speaker 1: to part time genius, who were talking theme restaurants so
Speaker 1: will So far you've talked about cooking over a volcano
Speaker 1: and visiting North Korea for what sounds like pizza and
Speaker 1: possibly food poisoning and a horrible lounge act. It almost
Speaker 1: feels like you're going for a disaster tame here. So
Speaker 1: how are you going to close this out? Well, I
Speaker 1: did have that one touching story about the totally dark restaurants.
Speaker 1: You gotta give me some credit for that. But but
Speaker 1: you're all right, I'll try to make up for it.
Speaker 1: So I've got one that's sure to keep you relaxed,
Speaker 1: and it's my Hico Mono a k a. Tokyo's Hammock Cafe.
Speaker 1: And I think part of the appeal of the cafe
Speaker 1: is that if you're visiting and kind of running around
Speaker 1: the city NonStop, this is the perfect place to kick
Speaker 1: your feet up and get a drink. And in fact,
Speaker 1: there actually isn't a single chair in the place. It's
Speaker 1: just hammocks. So that reminds me of my favorite place
Speaker 1: that used to be in the Empire State Building. It
Speaker 1: was like a nap store where you could go in
Speaker 1: and take ten or twenty minute naps in these space
Speaker 1: egg ponds. It was so great. Yeah, exactly, But but
Speaker 1: actually there's one catch to this place that there is
Speaker 1: a time limit on how long you can stay. And
Speaker 1: if the restaurant is big, see your cap to a
Speaker 1: ninety minute time still too bad. Yeah, I don't not
Speaker 1: ninety minutes feels like enough time to have a nice nap.
Speaker 1: But uh, I mean, I really do like hammocks, but
Speaker 1: I hate falling asleep around other people, and I'd have
Speaker 1: such a hard time not falling asleep if I nestled
Speaker 1: into one. But I do like that idea. Okay, So
Speaker 1: here's my last theme restaurant, and it's also from Japan.
Speaker 1: Have you heard of the Future Sweets Factory and Santa City, Japan?
Speaker 1: I haven't even heard of Santa City. What what is this?
Speaker 1: So this place is it's kind of like a kid's
Speaker 1: only Willy Wonka factory for pastries and it sounds amazing.
Speaker 1: So apparently no one over twelve can go in. And
Speaker 1: this famous pastry chef started because he remembered a time
Speaker 1: in Japan when kids could run wild and be kids.
Speaker 1: But in a growing city, he felt like there wasn't
Speaker 1: enough for them. So parents actually leave their kids at
Speaker 1: the door, and then the kids go in and they
Speaker 1: watch chefs work with crazy robots and making new types
Speaker 1: of inventions and delicious sweets. But the other part of
Speaker 1: the whole experience was that the chef thought that parents
Speaker 1: weren't talking enough to their kids, like they were always
Speaker 1: on social media or doing work on their phones. So
Speaker 1: the only way you can actually find out what sort
Speaker 1: of fun and mischief happens inside is to ask your
Speaker 1: kids about the experience. And I guess I have a
Speaker 1: conversation over some of the delicious pastries they bring out.
Speaker 1: I love that well. I think after your talk of
Speaker 1: ice cream, toilets and psycho clowns, you've totally redeemed yourself
Speaker 1: with this one, Mangoes. So I think I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you today's trophy and thank you so much. That's it
Speaker 1: for today's nine Things, Mango. I look forward to seeing
Speaker 1: you and Tristan up here tomorrow, and I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see the look on Tristan's face when he gets
Speaker 1: to go to Bubba Comstrom Company, when he just gets
Speaker 1: draft off there. All right, we'll be sure to check
Speaker 1: back in tomorrow. We'll be back with a full length episode.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. The brok