Food critic tries Halloween pop-up 'Nightmare on Beech Street' in Long Beach
Staffers at "Nightmare on Beech Street," a pop-up dinner series at The Beach House in Long Beach, give diners a Halloween-themed experience during a three-course meal. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
It takes my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the purple-tinged gloom. I begin to see skulls and blood-covered tiles, and … is that a guy with a chain saw? And another, shirtless, covered in gore and eating fresh sausage to the beat of New Order’s "Blue Monday?"
"Can I get you a drink?" asks a server in a tattered gown, looking as if she’s been undead (or a vampire) since at least the 18th century. Blood trickles from the corners of her mouth, and I instinctively cover my neck as I scan the choices: The Blood Chalice, The Overlook 77, The Occultist. "Um, I still need a minute," I say as politely as possible.
Parking in Long Beach’s West End is scary enough on a Friday night, but a few steps inside The Beach House for its "Nightmare on Beech Street" pop-up dinner series is akin to entering an alternate horror universe — kitschy at times but merry and immersive, from pounding music to cackling clowns.
"Nightmare on Beech Street" is a monthlong pop-up dinner series at The Beach House restaurant in Long Beach. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
The October-long dinner event is the first Long Island venture for Blood Manor, a New York City company that runs an ultra-creepy haunted house every fall. This year, it has partnered with The Beach House’s owner Max Feinberg to transform the restaurant into the gory stage for three-course meals punctuated by zombielike teenagers, visits from a blood-covered chef and a skeletal hand covering your "Booo-ffalo"-style cauliflower florets.
When my Blood Chalice (gin lemon, grenadine and soda) arrives, it’s garnished with a severed finger that turns out to be … edible. As is the floating eyeball in a tiki drink called The Witches Brew, which my companion eats with such relish that I worry.
Those cannibalistic details, though, make the experience charming. Guacamole spills from the mouth of a jack-o'-lantern; faux human bones jut from a plate of squid-ink spaghetti with surprisingly tasty meatballs.
Witches Hair Pasta is squid-ink pasta with meatballs at "Nightmare on Beech Street" at The Beach House in Long Beach. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
"Afraid Mignon," only one of two dishes to incur an upcharge from the $60 prix-fixe cost, is cooked perfectly to order atop an especially cheesy risotto. No one is leaving hungry, at least — if we get to leave at all.
By the time dessert — something called the Brain Hemorrhage — arrives, I’m saturated with enough Halloween spirit to grab the mallet and smash the molded chocolate brains to bits.
Brain Hemorrhage is a milk chocolate dessert that diners smash to reveal treats at "Nightmare on Beech Street" at The Beach House in Long Beach. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
The guy who was eating sausage of questionable origins dances alongside a faux headless cadaver, a diner may or may not have disappeared, and thankfully, I am not yet among the undead. Or at least I don’t think so.
Outside, a long line of patrons awaits its fate.
"Nightmare on Beech Street" at The Beach House, 912 W. Beech St., Long Beach. 516-705-8674. nightmareonbeechstreet.com. $60 a person for a three-course meal, through Oct. 31.
