New D.C. restaurant recreates psychedelic mushroom experience
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Ceremonial cacao, part of the Sagrada experience. Photo: Courtesy Rey Lopez for Knead Hospitality + Design
One trip, hold the 'shrooms — a new D.C. restaurant takes diners on a psilocybin-like journey, minus the mind-altering substance.
Why it matters: Sagrada Mia is the beginning of a new foray into the alternative wellness space for Knead Hospitality + Design, one of D.C.'s largest restaurant groups with a string of high-design concepts (Succotash, several Mi Vidas).
State of play: The tasting room takes over the top floor of Mi Vida on 14th Street with a distinct entrance, vibe, and tasting menu that's designed to mirror stages of a psychedelic journey.
- Diners pick between two eight-course tasting menus ($111 per person), vegan or "flexitarian," with optional alcohol or N/A beverage pairings ($77-$88).
- Taking some cues from Mi Vida below, both menus are rooted in Mexico's Indigenous mushroom culture, where religious and spiritual ceremonies have utilized hongos sagrados for centuries.
The experience is sensory and interactive — guests move about the space and tactically engage with the food — and while there are no actual 'shrooms, you'll find some ingredients touted by psilocybin facilitators like ceremonial cacao and organic elixirs.
The big picture: Mushroom mania isn't new — many declared 2022 "the year of the mushroom" — and psychedelics have gone mainstream, with the likes of Michael Pollan of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" touting their benefits.
- While it's still illegal for a shop or restaurant to sell them in D.C., they've been decriminalized here for years — and not hard to find in some cannabis retail shops — resulting in a semi-underground psilocybin culture that's still mushrooming.
The intrigue: Knead co-founder Michael Reginbogin derived the concept through personal experience. Until recently, he tells Axios he was "straight and narrow," always planning the future, never in the moment.
- After a friend convinced him to try a therapeutic psilocybin retreat, "it changed my world. I took away an immense amount of calm."
- Reginbogin says he designed the Sagrada experience to speak to the holistic side of mushrooms — not the stereotypical drug "trip" — where facilitators set up a curated experience, much like a restaurateur.
Between the lines: A portion of Sagrada's sales will go toward the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University, which leads studies in therapeutic psychedelics.
- Reginbogin hopes to bring in speakers and leaders in the psilocybin community for events in the future.
What's next: Reginbogin tells Axios he's planning Sagrada Mia Sanctuary, a holistic therapy concept run by Knead that's in the early stages.
- One possibility is an urban spa-like venue with immersive environments for a variety of treatments, from massage to sound baths. Another would be a wellness retreat in the Virginia countryside.
Like the restaurant, neither would necessarily involve psilocybin due to current laws.
- "We're not a facilitator of medicine — we're a facilitator of space and experience," says Reginbogin. "It's about opening up the narrative."
Editor's note: The photo credits in this story have been updated to reflect that they were taken by Rey Lopez for Knead Hospitality + Design.