Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Fake Restaurant Mocking Experimental Food Being Brought to Life in Bed-Stuy

 Do or Dine, located at 1108 Bedford Ave., will play host to Underfinger, a fake restaurant featuring seahorse sashimi and a charcuterie glove.
Do or Dine, located at 1108 Bedford Ave., will play host to Underfinger, a fake restaurant featuring seahorse sashimi and a charcuterie glove.
View Full Caption
Facebook/Do or Dine

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — New York's most innovative and exotic new restaurant features seahorse sashimi, sea bream fish sticks with carrot foam and a glove made entirely of cured meats.

It was also completely fictional — until now.

Underfinger, a fake restaurant conjured up as a joke mocking experimental food by a New York food blog, will come alive for one night only, thanks to a popular Bed-Stuy restaurant.

Do or Dine, at 1108 Bedford Ave., will play host to Underfinger on June 9 for a sold-out appearance of "Chef Jasper Paulsen," Underfinger's imaginary head chef and innovator of "farm-to-finger" dining, according to Do or Dine owner Justin Warner.

Warner, who is himself known for inventive dishes like the foie gras donut and spicy Dr. Pepper-glazed frog legs, said he found the imaginary restaurant on food blog the Infatuation and initially didn't think it was a joke.

"When I saw that review, I said, 'I'd love to eat at this place,'" Warner said. "That restaurant didn't exist, but that didn't make it any less real."

Warner reached out to bloggers Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal and the group decided to bring the idea to life.

Outside of some minimal advertising — Warner and Do or Dine have promoted the event on their social media pages and a Twitter account and website for the fake website popped up last week — details about the event are scarce.

"I am living as though all of this is very real and secretive," Warner said.

He's remaining tight-lipped about what will be featured on the menu, but the original blog post offers some hints as to the food being prepared.

Underfinger's "menu" includes a seahorse served atop vodka-infused hay, steak for four with savory doughnuts and a charcuterie glove.

"Instead of a board or a plate, your server will place a different dried meat on each of your fingers, then stitching them together with a single strand of edible silk," was how the post described the meat dish.

"The end result is a salty, delicious fashion statement."

The post also describes a vinegared cauliflower and venison dish as, "[a]n absolutely disgusting plate of food that you’ll pretend to like so as not to seem unsophisticated."

As of Tuesday, all 16 of the $150 tickets were sold.