“Eatertainment” is a term made up by restaurant industry writers to describe venues that combine pub-type food for grown-ups with arena and arcade games, from miniature race cars to axe throwing.
In Rhode Island, a few such operations have settled in over the past decade. The latest, called Level99 located in Providence Place, combines the vision of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained engineer and skilled chefs to create a 40,000-square-foot venue that holds 43 rooms where as many as 600 people are met with custom-built challenges and is fueled by Night Shift Brewing Kitchen & Tap, serving 300 diners from a scratch kitchen.
Tom Sadler, vice president of culinary, and Ryan Shocklee, vice president of food and beverage, say the food selections go far beyond pizza. Appetizer selections include “sticky” chicken wings spiced with gochujang, cilantro and sesame with ranch dip and a burrata and labneh dip with Aleppo pepper and barbecue sweet potato chips. There is pizza, and it is just as serious, an authentic Detroit-style pizza, rising up from its square pan with dollops of whipped feta on a tomato-fig jam with artisan-cut pepperoni. The idea is first we eat, and then we play. As Shocklee put it, “Our guests that come here, they come in groups of three to six on average. You know it could be a family, but it is likely to be a business on a team-building night.” Sadler said, “We wanted a total, holistic guest experience. So we’re very intentional about the ingredients we choose and the way we prepare [menu items].”
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FOOD BEFORE GAMES: One of the dining areas at Level99 in Providence Place.
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The pizza with dough made in-house was named the best pizza in Boston by Boston Magazine. The culinary team’s elevated menu is complete with full entrees; salads, including a Nashville hot chicken wedge; and locally sourced wagyu burgers and savory short rib birria, which is done not in the usual taco but as a French dip sandwich.
Sadler spent much of his culinary career developing menu items for Panera Bread. Shocklee is no stranger to the Providence restaurant scene, having been at the front of the house and in management for McCormick and Schmick’s during its tenure in the Providence Biltmore.
“[Level99] is a video game come to life,” said CEO Matthew DuPlessie, an MIT-trained engineer and Harvard Business School graduate who previously worked with Disney and Universal and leads the production team behind the Level99 experience. “This is where you can be the hero in your own entertainment.”
As adults explore the space together, they’ll encounter a series of physical, mental and skill-based challenges. They’ll spin giant wheels to solve word puzzles, snap oversized processing chips into computer circuits and pilot a submarine to diffuse underwater mines.
“One minute you’re in an ornate museum and the next minute you’re in a ninja dojo,” DuPlessie said.
The restaurant operation is referred to as Night Shift Kitchen & Tap, which offers more than 20 local craft beers. It could end there, but the thoughtful approach extends to the décor. The work of over 40 local artists is on the walls and the floor.
Providence was selected as Level99’s second location through the company’s strong relationship with mall owner Brookfield Properties, from which it leased its first location in Natick, Mass. The Providence Place location opened in January.
“Providence residents are mentally, physically and socially active,” DuPlessie said. “The artistic nature of the city is a great fit for our experience. We worked with dozens of regional Rhode Island artists to transform an empty JCPenney into the open world of entertainment and discovery you can step into today.”
“Dining Out With Bruce Newbury,” syndicated weekly on radio, is heard in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Indiana. Contact Bruce at bruce@brucenewbury.com.
