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Tribune News Service

By Todd Martens
My dinner course is served. It is covered by a Campbell’s-inspired soup can, lightly angled so strands of broccoli are peeking out. I lift the can to uncover a slow-braised short rib and mashed potatoes. It is an American dish to represent an American artist – Andy Warhol.
The room is filled with projections, scenes of bustling New York traffic paired with bachelor-pad-like guitar riffs. Warhol silkscreens are shown on a wall above a dinner table.

It is a Friday night in West Hollywood, and I am surrounded by a mix of out-of-towners and those celebrating an anniversary. While this is a special occasion, we are urged to get a little messy with our food – to use our hands, to paint with a salad, to draw on a cookie.
Play is the primary side dish at 7 Paintings, a tech-infused dinner event that aims to be a crash course in fine art.
That selection of vegetables paired with mini cups of colourful dressings? Guests are encouraged to mix and match the vinaigrettes into a mess of hues in a nod to abstractionist Jackson Pollock. And yellowfin tuna with dashes of avocado and taro chips? That is an edible tribute to Banksy, of course. What does raw fish have to do with stencilled street art? It is bold, heavily angled and has a short shelf life? Maybe?
“Have you ever eaten a painting before?” says Nadine Beshir, the Dubai-based creator of 7 Paintings. “We try to get people out of their comfort zones and eating paper. I want to bring out the child in them.”

An international dining trend
Held at Sunset House Los Angeles until the end of August, 7 Paintings is the latest example of immersive dining to arrive in the city. These events often involve guest participation and are accentuated with advanced multimedia technology and sometimes theatrical elements. In Hong Kong, The Murray’s Cassia Room staged a series of these dinners during the city’s Art Month in March.
Similar international stand-outs include Eatrenalin at Germany’s Europa-Park. The dining-room-meets-ride – where participants are whisked around the space on trackless “floating chairs” – has just received a Michelin star.
Ibiza’s Sublimotion has similar haute ambitions, putting 12 diners together in a room that comes alive with otherworldly projections and performers.












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But tech-driven immersive dining experiences have never trended in Los Angeles. In 2025, The Gallery, where fantastical cityscapes and projections surrounded downtown LA diners, stood just a couple of months before the concept was abandoned.
“The economics of a restaurant are not the same as the economics of theatre, and the challenge of combining the two lies in thinking outside the box with respect to pricing and cost structure, such that the customer perceives high value from both the food and the experience,” says Daren Ulmer, The Gallery co-founder.
Entrepreneurs keep aiming for that careful balance. Le Petit Chef & Friends is currently running at Deme at Downtown LA’s Hotel Figueroa. The event features a fully animated film projected on plates and tables.
Long-running pop-up event Fork n’ Film leans more towards a dinner-and-movie combination, pairing dishes directly inspired by what is happening on screen. Upcoming films include Ratatouille and Lilo & Stitch.
The field comes with challenges. “The costs are very high,” says Joanna Garner, an immersive designer and former creative director of experiential art firm Meow Wolf. Garner has been experimenting herself with communal, immersive dinner events, and her latest, the flirtatious Please Open Your Mouth, took place on July 11.
There is also the reality that all public dining is in some fashion immersive, usually requiring varying combinations of engagement, communication and presentation. But are all the added elements distracting?
Throughout 7 Paintings, for instance, an animated Mona Lisa on the wall next to the main dinner table provides brief biographical details of each artist represented.
“Being able to nail the food and nail the story, those are two very difficult threads to weave,” Garner says.
“I do think, ultimately, people come to a dinner table to talk to the people at the table and to have intimate experiences. To have an experience where you’re constantly being taken away from the food, I’m not so sure if that’s what people are looking for.”

Food is framed as a star of 7 Paintings, but it is just one component. At one point, diners must uncover a cheese course in a tiny treasure chest; the code for the lock is hidden in the projections. Beshir highlights the Pollock-inspired salad course, accentuated with a jazz soundtrack.
“This course is really about getting people to free their minds from preconceived ideas,” she says.
“You have to eat with a fork and knife, or the salad comes and then the dressing. No, the dressing comes and then the salad, and it’s trying with big brushes to paint the way he did.
“A lot of people do not understand abstract expressionism, and they think it’s people just splashing colours around. But when you understand the link between the rhythm of the music and painting, you live it. We give you time to paint with your salad dressing.”

‘It’s fun dining, not fine dining’
In Los Angeles, Beshir has partnered with nightlife impresario Kim Kelly, who is plotting a Sleep No More-inspired walk-around theatrical show for Sunset House later this year. Sleep No More is a long-running immersive theatre production from British theatre company Punchdrunk that has been staged around the world, including in Shanghai.
7 Paintings, however, is fully seated and purposefully a little bit silly. Beshir and Kelly have been evolving it during its LA run, recently adding a stronger painting component by giving guests their own canvas to work on throughout the evening. Each night crowns a winner.
“Everyone comes over to look at their art,” Kelly says. “It just kind of changed the whole thing, to be honest. People are now being creative throughout the entire evening. Instead of just watching and occasionally painting, you’re now painting the whole time.”

For those wondering what soba noodles with edamame and mushrooms have to do with Pablo Picasso, or why Salvador Dali gets an unexpected dessert course of a white chocolate potato soufflé, Beshir clarifies the goal of the evening. While the animated Mona Lisa will provide backstories on each painter, this is not an educational night.
“It’s fun dining, not fine dining,” Beshir says.
By the end of my night, strangers are socialising, showing off their painted cookie creations, sharing Banksy titbits and asking for recommendations on various vinaigrette combinations. Ultimately, it is an evening of discovery, packed with surprises such as finding an entire course hidden under a canvas.
Beshir has big goals.
“I want this to be your movie and dinner thing. I want people to be waiting for our next show, and to be able to afford to come every couple of months,” she says.
And to come home not with leftovers, but perhaps a painting of their own.


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A byte to eat: immersive dining goes hi-tech from Los Angeles to Hong Kong

Projections fill up the dining table during meals. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

An animated Mona Lisa hangs beside a dining table during a 7 Paintings experience in Los Angeles, where guests learn about fine art. Immersive dinners incorporating advanced multimedia technology are trending from the US to Europe and Asia. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS

A Campbell’s-inspired tomato soup can covers a main course at 7 Paintings’ art-forward immersive dining event in Los Angeles. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS

7 Paintings creator Nadine Beshir says she tries to get diners “out of their comfort zones and eating paper”. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS

Diners uncover their main courses at a 7 Paintings dinner. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS

A guest uses a silicon brush to apply sauces onto a Jackson Pollock-inspired starter at a 7 Paintings event. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS

Projections cover the dining table during a 7 Paintings event. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS

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A commercial photographer (left) takes a picture of a tourist visiting the Shichahai scenic area in Beijing on July 10, 2026. Photo: AFP

Women pose for pictures as they visit the Forbidden City in Beijing on July 11, 2026. Photo: AFP

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From animated artworks to ‘floating chairs’, immersive dinners are turning to multimedia tech like never before. Are guests eating it up?


A byte to eat: immersive dining goes hi-tech from Los Angeles to Hong Kong

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From animated artworks to ‘floating chairs’, immersive dinners are turning to multimedia tech like never before. Are guests eating it up?

From animated artworks to ‘floating chairs’, immersive dinners are turning to multimedia tech like never before. Are guests eating it up?