WONDER WALLS

Could this actually be it? The big one. The great disruptor. The deux ex machina that every mall operator and restaurant leasing agent has been praying to Bacchus for since the early 2000s, when the futurists declared that the age of big-box, dining-as-entertainment experiences were over?

Finite, they insisted. The so-called Rainforest Café Era —may Mother Earth, bless its animatronic soul—had gone the way of car hops and drive-in theaters. If you’re building a mall-based restaurant, focus on the chef-driven food, they said. Gussy up the décor, they said. But for the sweet love of Atari, don’t spend any more money trying to pair food with digital entertainment.

So what does Sony Picture Entertainment go and do? It conducts its own research, fires up the reverse thrusters and ascribes to the theory that the future of dining at the mall is going to be a mashup: immersive entertainment, craft cocktails and smart, shareable bites, all offered under one roof.

So the good folks at Sony began to quietly lease— and then completely gut—a former Sears Roebuck anchor mega-store in Oak Brook. Their goal? Launch the studio’s first fully immersive dining-entertainment experience, codenamed the Wonderverse.

Suffice to say, it’s arrived. Where you once shopped for power tools, now sits an escape room inspired by the Uncharted video game series. The old shoe department? Now, a Zombieland bumper car arena. Camping gear section? That’s now a virtual Valhalla for Jumanji fans, where you can slip on a headset and descend into a digital jungle in search of priceless jewels.

Entering the actual Wonderverse, a 45,000-square foot funhouse perched above the mall’s L.L. Bean store, feels a bit like being you’ve been invited to a magical midnight circus. This is the 21st-century version of a night spent under the big top. Part VR arcade, part indoor carnival, part large-scale food emporium, the Wonderverse boasts a casual sit-down restaurant called The Canteen, a cocktail lounge and a well-curated Ghostbusters-themed speakeasy, dubbed the Ghost Trap.

We were surprised that the designers of The Canteen went out of their way to ensure the space’s main dining room is devoid of Sony Pictures IP, except for a few cocktails and desserts named in honor of famous scenes and quotes from Sony’s movie catalogue.

Chef Scott Donaldson says that the lack of kitsch was intentional, as the restaurant pays homage to the classic movie-studio commissaries of 1940s and 1950s, where stars and starlets used to gather for a quick bite, while they barreled through martinis and badmouthed the top brass.

Donaldson, whose resume includes stints at a number of high-profile Chicago spots, including Charlie Trotter’s, originally flirted with the idea of crafting a high-end menu, the sort of polished silverware and white tablecloth affair that studio execs enjoyed while the hired help gossiped and grumbled about their directors downstairs.

Donaldson pulled back on those grand ambitious, knowing that The Canteen needed to appeal to all audiences. Thus Donaldson’s best offerings tend to draw inspiration from country fairs and global street-food stalls. Pretty much everything is meant to be shared, including Donaldson’s signature deep-fried pork ribs. Recognizing that sticky fingers are every gamer’s nightmare, he’s opted to smoke his ribs and then coat them with a sweet-savory dry rub—a Texas-style blend of cayenne, smoked paprika, brown sugar—and then fry them until its baked into a powdery and tasty second skin.

Those tasty ribs provide further evidence that you should focus on the handheld section of the menu. We recommend The Canteen’s lacy smashburger and a home-run of a pan-fried chicken parmesan sandwich. The latter is dressed in one of my favorite 1990s-era staples: a pink-hued vodka cream sauce sweetened with basil and paired with two cheeses: mozzarella and provolone.

Donaldson’s “fries,” you will be relieved to know, are worth the price of admission: part potato chip and part French fry. But if you’re interested in a more traditional entrées, opt for the Canteen’s grilled salmon. It’s served with a well-balanced lemon garlic sauce and paired with a mélange of seasonal veggies.

There’s an argument to be made for dropping into the Wonderverse, late at night, just to sample from the Canteen’s creative dessert menu. One of our sweet treats, a slice of gooey butter cake served with dulce de leche ice cream and banana cream, arrived under a giant hardened cloche of white chocolate. The only way to bust your way through that dome is to accept the wooden hammer that your server will offer you and start cracking away at it, cartoon-style, until the whole thing shatters and the sweet prize is revealed within.

The Wonderverse’s Bad Boys Coffee Break offering might not be quite as interactive but it’s a beguiling riff on a traditional Italian doughnuts and cappuccino pairing. The little ricotta-based doughnut holes—you can see the country fair influence here, too—are meant to be enjoyed straight up, as your cappuccino is an optical illusion. There’s no warm frothy liquid sloshing around in there. The cup contains two airy mousses—one mocha flavored, the other redolent with cinnamon—which are topped with a salted sweet cream foam.

After being properly sugared up, we spent the rest of the evening living out our childhood fantasy of being real ghostbusters. We suited up for two VR games. The first allowed us to slip on a VR helmet and sling a proton pack over ours shoulders and do battle with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. For our second VR adventure, we were strapped into a hovercraft version of the Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1 station wagon, jetting our way through haunted houses and spooky cities.

Only time will tell, of course, as to whether this experiment in what the industry insiders call “location-based entertainment” will succeed, but one thing is for certain, the Wonderverse will keep expanding and evolving. A pop-up themed 21 Jump Street bar seems to be in the works, and after chatting with members of the management team, don’t be surprised if some of the space’s cool touchscreen technology is used to create immersive wine and cocktail tastings, allowing you to sample vinos amidst a digital backdrop of Tuscany or sip whisky in a room digitally dressed up to feel like remote cabin in the Scottish Highlands.

As Donaldson says, “There are endless possibilities here, which is why we call it the Wonderverse.”

The Wonderverse is located at 2310 Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook. Call 312.971.9155 or visit wonderversechicago.com