bread and circuses

last night, j and i went out to eat in soho before braving times square to see a broadway show.  we went for thai at a hip little joint called peep.  apparently, transparency is their m.o.  the front of the restaurant is one giant window and mirrors cover the ceiling and the walls.  the kitchen is open and you can see in (or spy on the kitchen through the ceiling mirrors).  but the best (yet, for me, least functional) parts were the bathrooms.

the bathrooms were hidden behind two-way wall mirrors ... so you lock yourself inside the bathroom, and you can still see everything going on in the restaurant.  j told me about it when we were at our table.  i was a bit skeptical, slightly more than a bit disturbed, but mostly curious.  i noticed a young man enter the bathroom while we were eating, and it took every ounce of self-restraint i had to not stare straight at the mirror that hid the bathroom and make shocked or disgusted faces until he came out.

i managed to behave throughout the meal (which, by the way, was excellent).  i couldn't leave without investigating the bathroom, though.  when we finished eating, i pretended to need to use the bathroom (let's be honest, even if i had really needed to go, there is no way i would have been able to do my thing while half the restaurant was staring in my general direction - though i didn't see any miscreants deliberately making faces at me).  i don't know whose idea it was (though i guess it was the idea of the same person who decided to name the restaurant "peep"), but despite the morbid novelty attraction factor, two-way mirrors in bathrooms are horrible ideas. the psychology labs that tend to have two-way mirrors are also the labs that tend to have hidden cameras ... and sure, peep might not be a lab ... but is that a risk you are willing to take?