VALUE PROPOSITION
HOW CAN THIS BE WORTH IT?
GREAT QUESTION! Simple answer: For most people, its not! But we did’nt create this for most people. So there real question for the consumer becomes: “IS IT FOR ME?”
RAW LAB IS A TRANSCENDENT FOOD & WINE EXPERIENCE THAT IS HIGHLY REWARDING FOR THE INTERESTING & INTERESTED GOURMANDS & EPICUREANS WHO HAVE HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO DINE AT TOP RESTAURANTS ALL OVER THE WORLD AND WHO ARE INTERESTED IN DINING IN A VERY SOCIAL WAY. WE KNOW THIS BECAUSE WHEN THEY COME, THEY TELL US AND THEY RETURN WITH FRIENDS, FAMILY & CLIENTS more than we ever could have imagined.
RAW LAB IS A SINGULAR CULINARY EXPERIENCE MADE POSSIBLE BY OUR USE OF SPACE and A UNPRECEDENTED FUSION OF A SERVICE STYLE AND A CUISINE. IT WAS CONCEIVED OF, DESIGNED and is EXECUTED to appeal to a very narrow MARKET. MOre than “Dinner” and More than a "MEAL”, it is a bona-fide adventure. FOR THOSE FOR WHOM IT IS A FIT, IT CAN BE AN EXTRAORDINARILY REWARDING EVENING.
The best way to understand this layered, intricate and complex offering is to visit this page ( 5 DIMENSION DINING ) and read it, top to bottom but below is a brief overview of the formula which creates a singular experience, value proposition and even a demonstrable ROI.
Our Value Proposition is built on a foundation of
2 FOUNDATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
…that allows us to achieve something entirely different from the traditional MICHELIN STAR / JAMES BEARD / ESCOFFIER - BRIGADE Restaurant Business / Table Service Model. This foundation supportS…
5 PILLARS
…that are the heart of our offering. The characteristics and pillars CREATE…
4 UNIQUE FEATURES
And it is the combination of the foundation, pillars and features that affords us the opportunity to consistently deliver…
20+ POINTS OF DISCOVERY
AND DISCOVERY IS THE DELTA BETWEEN EATING & DINING. IT IS ALSO THE GATEWAY TO DINING AT AN ENTIRELY NEW LEVEL.
This is the FORMULA for our Value Proposition. which engages and enchants in mystical and metaphysical ways. It is an expedition into the 4th & 5th dimension of dining.
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2 CORE CHARACTERISTICS
FUSION CONCEPT
We fused a Service Style with a Cuisine instead of two cuisines, as is typical in Fusion Concepts. We combined the Ancient / Oriental / Japanese Service Style of OMAKASE (traditionally applied only to Sushi) with a Modern / Occidental / Euro-Merican Cuisine of RAW BAR. Most fusion concepts we’ve seen over the past few years have been fusions of cuisines / ingredients. See Wikipedia on Fusion Cuisine
Super cool stuff has been happening, for decades, in this space. We, however, did not create a cuisine / ingredient “FUSION” we created a service style / cuisine / use of space kind of a fusion.
OMAKASE
A style of service reserved for the Masters of Sushi to use in Japan for eons.
USED: Small room. A Master. Fixed Price. No Menu. Extremely high quality product, always. A Sake pairing.
CHANGED: Near zero use of rice and a focus on the fish/protein, over rice, when used. MUCH less formal than the traditional Omakase style. MUCH more fun. Sake pairing limited to ONE sake and added many, many, many wines to the mix.
RAW BAR
A collection of dishes featuring a handful of species. preparations and presentations, traditionally. Typically crustaceans and moluscs, served raw or cooked / chilled.
USED: All the typical species, raw/cured/cooked/chilled preparations typical of Occidental Cultures in N. America, S. America, Europe, Australia
CHANGED: Eliminated the “seafood restaurant” RAW BARS are typically a part of. Expanded it from only RAW or CHILLED to include hot items. Abandoned the table service ONLY model. Turned the idea of a table sharing a few items from the raw bar into everyone experiencing the same item, together, in real time. Killed the concept that these species / dishes could not be amalgamated into a meal that was healthy, filling and sustainable.
2. U-SHAPED BAR
USED:
CHANGED: The shape of the typical L shaped or a straight counter (typical of Omakase) to a U-Shape allowing for guests to face each other more and interact more and cultivate a Salon type of an experience. Encouraged interaction between guests. Added an “Ice Moat” as a feature of the bar which is used in various ways throughout the evening.
WHAT THIS MEANS?
It means you give some things up to gain other things. You give up large menus, being rushed to pay the bill, substitutions, waiters, sommeliers and decisions. The implications for all this are profound and best experienced in person. You also give up some elements of style typical of fine dining like elegant stemware, some of the attendance to the table for cleanliness and, of course, privacy.
The traditional RESTAURANT MODEL is great when you want to sit at a table with just your friends and family and receive RAW BAR FARE on platters or a tower, split a bottle or two of wine, and have a private conversation. But what if you wanted to “sit at the bar”, chat with other diners, learn from the shuckers and be a bit more. “social”? Well, we created RAW LAB to deliver that option. It is a cool alternative to the same old, seafood restaurant offering a la carte, table service. We can’t say its SUPERIOR to the old way and we don’t. It does, however, offer some interesting advantages over a la carte, table service in a SEAFOOD RESTAURANT.
Historically, the American RAW BAR MENU (delivered in the SEAFOOD RESTAURANT model has offered the same collection of shellfish and crustacean species, since, well, FOREVER. Shrimp, Lobster, Crab, Oysters, & Clams…served raw or cooked/chilled. Increasingly, extremely sophisticated RAW BAR’s, like ours, are offering caviar service as well as crudo and ceviche preparations of shellfish, crustaceans and fin-fish. In doing so, we can feature typical RAW BAR species/fare (oysters, clams, scallops, shrimp, lobster, crab) while we add other species (especially fin-fish) to the mix. So, in our model we become MUCH MORE than the typical RAW BAR has been…an offering of luxury appetizers featuring a few species of shellfish and crustaceans. Again, we are NOT just an OYSTER BAR, rather a stand alone RAW BAR. And we #RaiseTheRawBar in a few very significant ways. In our business model we have created an “Experience” that allows us to “Edu-Tain” our guests. Specifics below.
FAQ MISSION WHAT IT IS & ISNT IS IT FOR YOU VALUE PROPOSITION PRICING POLICIES DISCOVERY
5 PILLARS
The 2 FOUNDATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS lead to the 5 PILLARS: These are:
OYSTER FLIGHT + CAVIAR TRIP + WINE TRAVEL + MARINE CUISINE + SEA SALT COMPLEX
Forgive us if this all sounds arrogant! It is not intended to sound “superior” as we know this product, service & experience is NOT always a fit for every person, gathering or occasion. But when it is a fit, well, there are things that we deliver that simply have never been done before. And they work. We stumbled into some of this, crowd-sourced other parts of it in real time and the rest, well, we have been perfecting that stuff for 15+ years. Much of it came from the business model and the physical layout of the room, all of which, was a very risky, scary and blind experiment…that worked!
#1 OYSTER FLIGHT
Without a doubt the best, most interesting, informative and entertaining oyster service ever regularly delivered, anywhere. Doubt that? Fair enough. But before you dismiss us as pretentious braggarts, come experience it, or LEARN MORE HERE and see if you can find a way to disagree.
#2 CAVIAR TRIP
Here we defer the credit on how our caviar service became the finest in the world to our guests. It is because of them that this extraordinary experience came to be. All we did was listen and polish it into something we call “The Ride” or “Caviar Trip”. We do it by stripping away all the bullshit (Bellini, creme fraiche and other accoutrement and experience it as the professionals who produce it and trade in it do, naked, or sans accoutrement. LEARN MORE HERE but don’t expect us to give it all away. We have to maintain some of the magic for the moment you are fortunate enough to experience it.
#3 WINE TRAVEL
Our wine service offers up to 15 wines from up to 15 regions, about 11 countries and features a wine from 6 of the 7 continents. Small pours come early and often. Some are paired with just one bite, others, an entire dish. LEARN MORE HERE and take a look at our current line-up. Again, this was not something we planned, rather, something we realized that our model allows us to do. Its a gift.
#4 SEA SALT COMPLEX
This might be the coolest thing we’ve ever created. We went down A LOT of Rabbit Holes on this one. In the end we think we’ve struck on a physical and metaphysical masterpiece. In our meal you’ll enjoy dishes supplemented with at least 7 Sea Salts. A least 2 are from ancient / extinct oceans. The others are harvested from living oceans. What an extraordinary way to ingest food that is 300mm years old and /o from all parts of the Earth…in the same meal. LEARN MORE HERE and at OUR BLOG
#5 MARINE CUISINE
Our slogan has always been #RaiseTheRawBar, and we do. A big part of that is the product we source and how we prepare and present it to be a nutritious, delicious, colorful and fun meal and experience. Marine Cuisine is a culinary philosophy that is defined mostly in what we source and how we prepare and present it. Learn more at the link in the last sentence or, simply stated we are sourcing product in a way most restaurants do not. Cost is no object to us when it comes to what we serve because we MUST offer the SMARTEST seafood choices…this is our MISSION and PURPOSE and a large part of our value proposition for a few reasons. The SMARTEST means the SAFEST, HEALTHIEST, MOST SUSTAINABLE & MOST RESPONSIBLE product available. Wild product is sourced only from sustainable and responsible fisheries. Some species are off the table entirely because there are not Sustainable or Responsible options for those species, like Tuna. Farmed product is only sourced from those producers / aquaculturalists operating under what we call “Vanguard Best Practices”. This means they are doing no harm to the habitats the operate in, the people who work for them. Moreover, the product they bring to market is free of harmful toxins. We've been students of this for decades. NOT all seafood is created equally, some is incredibly harmful to us (full of toxins) and very often quite bad for the regions it is produced in. There is HORRIBLE wild product / species and GREAT wild product / species. There is HORRIBLE farmed product, and AMAZING farmed product. Come and learn about it all as you enjoy the best of the best. It’ll change how you source seafood for home cooking and how you order it in restaurants for the rest of your life.
FAQ MISSION WHAT IT IS & ISNT IS IT FOR YOU VALUE PROPOSITION PRICING POLICIES DISCOVERY
4 UNIQUE FEATURES
The 2 FOUNDATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS lead to the 5 PILLARS which support the 4 UNIQUE FEATURES. These are:
PARTICIPATION & ENGAGEMENT + LE SALON + Choreography & THEATER + Atmosphere & ENERGY
PARTICIPATION
When you custom design and build a U-Shaped bar with an ice moat that features a bespoke / functional ice sculpture which is central to the service you have built a “set” or a “stage”. With this amenity, the guests are very much a part of the show. They participate directly in it all. In every part of the service / performance there are comparisons made and conversations had, from start to finish. Questions are asked and answered. Myths are busted. Experiences, opinions and observations between guests are shared. Engagement is universal and it seems phones only come out to take pictures and make videos. And it ends with an exhilarating finish - a jam session. Instruments are handed out to guests (cowbell, tambourine, bongos, maracas…etc). 12 adults turn into kids again for 3 songs. Just before checks are presented a rush of blood comes to everyone’s body. It forces movement after a big meal. And that feels good. Its ridiculous and fun. It’s just one more way in which all of the guests are actors in the play, participant to the experien
LE SALON
Moreover, the U-Shaped Bar, in fact, created something we discovered to magical. What it created is a Salon, literally, in the 16th - 18th Century / European / Renaissance & Age of Enlightenment definition of the term. READ WIKIPEDIA’S DEFINITION / HISTORY OF IT HERE. In this form of a gathering, a host (usually a maven on a subject) curates a performance / presentation for a group of influential guests. These guests participate in, discuss and evaluate the content, talents and merits of the performance / presentation and / or performer, in real time, as a group, before, during and after the performance.
CHOREOGRAPHY & THEATER
Many moments are highly choreographed. Timing has been polished to the maximum effect. This creates culinary theater…a performance, all of which can be witness, by every guest, in real time. Some moments are, admittedly, way over the top, intentionally. Some are less so. Either way, it’s fun and part of why this is DINNER & A SHOW. Music supports an escape into a surreal place. Courses (even some bites and their preparations) have a soundtrack. Most of the music is very unusual or unfamiliar. Nearly all songs feature lyrics that are not in English. Songs with lyrics typically feature Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Pidgin, French, Patois and/or African dialects. Its weird, fun, and cool. Guests consistently ask for access to the playlists which we happily provide. Nothing is played by accident and its not uncommon to see guests grooving in their seats. Volume goes up and down with the moment. And the sound system is impeccable. like a concert or being in the round in a musical production.
ATMOSPHERE, ENERGY & ESCAPE
When you eliminate common items from the view of guests (anything you’d see at home) and build out ways to feature uncommon objects (things you rarely see) you can create an alternative universe. . Our space has the feeling of being underwater, on another planet, in the future. Light and decor are used to suspend time and reality. Gone or hidden are the typical decorations and equipment you are often surrounded by in a dining room. The principal feature is our living plant canopy which is created by our use of space. Guests are able to escape from life for a while. Finally, the energy this all creates between the guests is metaphysical. The result is a mystical space and experience.
FAQ MISSION WHAT IT IS & ISNT IS IT FOR YOU VALUE PROPOSITION PRICING POLICIES DISCOVERY
20+ POINTS OF DISCOVERY
The 2 FOUNDATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS lead to the 5 PILLARS which support the 4 UNIQUE FEATURES that create 20+ POINTS OF DISCOVERY (or Elements of Style which we rate from “rare” to “unique” to “singular”). These are:
WELCOME TOAST - A glass of champagne in your hand within 30 seconds of entering the room - RARE
ICE ICE BABY - An ice moat / bespoke ice sculpture created daily which is integral to how the wine service is conducted as well as the food preparation and presentation. - SINGULAR
ROOT - Fresh Grated Horseradish Root (a la minute) on an oyster - SINGULAR / RARE
RHIZOME - Fresh Grated Wasabi Rhizome (a la minute) on an oyster - SINGULAR
TOUCHING - Holding / Feeling a Wasabi Rhizome - SINGULAR / RARE
FEELING - Holding / Feeling a Wasabi Paddle (Stingray Skin on Wood) - SINGULAR / RARE
PERFECT PAIRING - Perfection in a French Mignonette (explained) which delivers the most famous pairing of all time (Salt & Pepper) in the most elegant, obvious and simple way but is generally impossible for any Raw Bar or Restaurant using table service / platter service style to deliver - SINGULAR
SMOKIN’ - Cold Smoked Oyster with its own sound and light show - SINGULAR
SEEING IT ALL - Watching every oyster served being shucked and dressed, topped or treated, live, for each guest - SINGULAR
PORRON - Txocolina enjoyed the Basque Way with The Porron with coaching for extra style, grace and aplomb - UNIQUE
SHRIMP CEVICHE - The chips we use - RARE AF, in America
BEYOND SUSHI GRADE SALMON - The finest salmon on Earth
LOBSTER CAESAR - You’llm dream about it. - UNIQUE
CHILLED SALAD FORK - RARE
SALMON TOWER - Salt + Fat + Acid + Heat, Sequestered - RARE
DOLCE - How to enjoy a HEALTHY, sweet end to a meal - RARE
COACHING & GUIDANCE - Where else can you dine WITH the Chef for the entire experience, ask questions, hear his answers to other peoples questions…etc - SINGULAR
BOTTOMLESS OLD BAY GOLD FISH - In both regular & hot styles. Silly and fun but if you are from the Chessapeake area, you know its not just that. Irreverent and silly but also fun. - UNIQUE
ATMOSPHERE - Dining beneath a canopy of living plants in a space that feels like an Octopus’ Garden. Guests are transported into a fantasy land. A sense of escape is inevitable. You’ll feel like a fish in an aquarium on another planet, in the year 3075 - SINGULAR
SOUNDTRACK - Highly curated playlists have been created and choreographed to dozens of moments, treatments and actions. Music is critical to the performance. Very little of it will be familiar to you. Lots of songs in languages other than English. - SINGULAR
LIGHTING - Changes, Evolves, Supports certain presentations…etc. - SINGULAR
DINNER & A SHOW - Without the hassle of getting from dinner to show. AND, yer among the players. The show features EVERYONE, not just the Chef who is also your DJ, Bartender, Sommelier, Mermmelier and Host. - SINGULAR
BELLS, GONGS & CHIMES - Used throughout the experience. Silly, but fun. - SINGULAR
JAM SESSION - How it all ends. Grab an instrument. Play a long. - SINGULAR
It’s fair to argue that each of the 5 PILLARS and 4 UNIQUE FEATURES could be listed as layered points of discovery here, but by now, you either think we are insane (yer right) or you are enchanted by our model and offering (yer also right). Those who are inspired by the details we’ve put into explaining our service tend to come and experience RAW LAB and ask really great questions that leads to amazing discussions, participation, laughs and learning. ITS MAGIC and we thank you all very much.
FAQ MISSION WHAT IT IS & ISNT IS IT FOR YOU VALUE PROPOSITION PRICING POLICIES DISCOVERY
