The Radiant Table arrives in San Francisco for immersive dinner experience

CBS News

a day ago

At One Market Plaza, just across from the Ferry Building, The Radiant Table just opened for a six-week run, offering a new kind of dining experience.
"When a guest comes in, they're sort of transported into this alternate realm where they're meeting their favorite chefs, but they're also experiencing their food in a way that they've never been able to do before," said Minkoff.
Sam Minkoff is founder of SE Productions.
He and his wife went to work quickly, building tables, setting up projectors, and transforming a co-working space cafe on the first floor, in just one week, into a colorful, immersive culinary experience.
"The visuals on the table are meant to really complement the chef's meal, and the chefs design their meals around the visuals and vice versa. So, there's a major storytelling component there that allows those guests to kind of dive even deeper into the story of why that dish was created by that particular chef," said Minkoff.
Michael Seiler, the founder of Collective Impact, a strategy firm, isn't leasing prime commercial real estate to just any business. He's looking for visionaries, artists, and entrepreneurs who can offer a different kind of product.
"In downtown, you still see a lot of empty retail and so if you can empower those arts, culture and community leaders to activate the empty retail space, you immediately give them what they need to flourish, to grow, to get more people together, to grow opportunities for community and commerce, and that's what building owners want," said Seiler.
In exchange for prime retail space that would normally cost tens of thousands a month, Minkoff and his team are showing how empty spaces can be used to attract permanent tenants.
Once treasured pieces of downtown property worth hundreds of millions have sold for a fraction of what they were worth pre pandemic.
"What they want is community in their space and vibrancy. They want their buildings to be alive. They want people to be enjoying it. They want people to be purchasing and buying. They want people to enjoy being back in person," said Seiler.
It's experiences like this, art galleries with wine and clay making classes, and expos during SF Climate Week for example, that Seiler sees as a way to create a hub for community and commerce.
"The narrative isn't out yet that San Francisco is back. It's vibrant. There are communities churning out their next version of what San Francisco will be," said Seiler.
It's bringing people to the table, connecting them with the community, and hoping others will want to come back to a thriving downtown.
Each dinner at The Radiant Table features a new chef including some Michelin Star winners.
After its debut in San Francisco ends in June, the Radiant Table will head to Bellevue Washington next.