The restaurant Eat, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, began “silent dining” in September 2013. Patrons were required to eat in silence. The term “silent dining” had been cited earlier, from August 3, 2010 on Twitter.
 
Another controversial restaurant policy is “dark dining” (dining in the dark).
       
 
The Lambshank Redemption
2 August 2010
The Sound of Happy Eating…
... is silence. Not sure where we picked that line up from but it’s oft-quoted at family meals. Once the eating starts, and the tastebuds are gainfully employed, the ability to speak is greatly diminished. That’s not just a bloke / multitasking thing: it’s a very human reaction, particularly when confronted with something playful and delicious. But how would you fare with a deliberately silent meal?
(...)
La Stua de Michil is a restaurant run by the wonderfully eccentric Costa family at their hotel, La Perla, which sits in the eye-wateringly beautiful Alta Badia region of the South Tyrol. The region boasts 18 Michelin stars across 15 restaurants and La Stua contributes one of those, thanks to the cooking of Arturo Spicocchi.
 
Current hotel proprietor Michil Costa is an unusual chap, as demonstrated by a wine cellar that features dancing champagne bottles (“because they are so happy to contain these bubbles,” explained the sommelier) and a quite literal shrine to Sassicaia. He also has a fascination with all things spiritual and that, according to our lovely local experts Sabine and Nicole is how the idea of Le Chit Te Stua - the silent meal - came about.
 
Twitter
Neil Davey‏
@DineHard  
Shhhh… New blog post about silent dining… http://thelambshankredemption.blogspot.com/
1:31 PM - 3 Aug 10
 
The Wall Street Journal
September 17, 2013, 3:06 PM
Brooklyn Foodies Supper in Silence
By Richard Morgan
Dinner was served, minus the din.
 
As a pilot run for what it hopes to make a monthly event, Eat, a restaurant in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, served a capacity crowd of 17 people a $40, four-course dinner (plus palette cleansers) of organic locavore fare in 90 minutes of total silence on Sunday night.
 
Nicholas Nauman, Eat’s 28-year-old managing chef and events planner, said he was inspired to hosts the meals by silent breakfasts he enjoyed at a monastery in the Indian Buddhist pilgrimage city of Bodh Gaya.
 
Delish
Silent Dining the Latest Restaurant Trend?
September 19, 2013 at 11:29AM by Zoe Bain
Eat RestaurantAfter bringing babies into bars and hangover yoga, Brooklyn is on to its next trend — silent dining. That’s right, according to the Wall Street Journal, a restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn held its first ever silent dinner over the weekend. The restaurant, called Eat, served 17 people a $40 pre-fix meal for 90 long minutes of total quiet. Diners were not allowed to talk at all, and if they did, were asked to eat the rest of the meal outside on a bench. Chef Nicholas Nauman, Eat’s chef and creater of the event, hopes to make silent dinners a monthly affair.
 
Eater
Hipsters in Brooklyn Are Doing ‘Silent’ Dining Now
Tuesday, September 17, 2013, by Erin DeJesus
A restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn recently hosted a pop-up dinner in which all guests committed to a complete vow of silence during the meal. The Wall Street Journal reports that attendees at Eat’s four-course, “organic locavore” dinner ate in silence for the entirety of the 90-minute meal, and “punishment for talking was having one’s plate… removed and placed on a bench outside, where loudmouths could finish their meals.”
 
Twitter
rock1053‏
@Rock1053  
A new trend in dining is “Silent Dining”. Everyone eats their whole meal in silence and if you talk you are kicked out. Would you want to…
9:52 AM - 19 Sep 13