PHOTOS BY KRISTY GRAVER

At One by Spork, the prix fixe meal is more like a performance. Is this the future of fine dining in Pittsburgh?

Since late-December, James Beard Award-nominated Chef Christian Frangiadis and his team have taken center stage at the reimagined Spork on Penn Avenue, but the real stars are the ingredients, many of which are grown on the Bloomfield property.

During each nightly seating, guests are seated at a circular, 16-seat tasting counter and taken on a 2.5-hour culinary journey via small, yet intricately prepared, courses and paired beverages, including wine, sake and house-made libations. Before the “show” starts, guests are invited to relax in the lounge area with inclusive sips and snacks such as smoked bass charcoal tartelette, BBQ turkey tacos and carbonated apple cider.

Main features, including gnudi bolognese, lamb tartare and miso-topped halibut, are explained in detail and meant to be savored. I’m a fast eater, but, in this instance, I enjoyed taking my time, learning about the unique offerings and challenging my palate to identify the ever-changing flavors. I was also hypnotized by an enormous chandelier that moves like a shape-shifting liquid metal Terminator.

I’ll be back, indeed!

I will, however, have to save up before my next visit. This culinary experience, although captivating, carries a $275 price tag per person and that’s not inclusive of tax or gratuity. The staff runs like a well-oiled machine and they’ll make sure you leave stuffed. My belly is a bottomless pit, but even I had to take my lemon poppy cake to go.

Reservations are required and, since this is a set menu with no a la carte options, folks with allergies or dietary restrictions must give the crew at least a week’s notice so they can design the proper accommodations. Likewise, if booze isn’t your thing, non-alcoholic cocktails are created with the same level of care and sophistication. You can visit Spork’s former general manager, the famed mixologist Sean Enright, at his Poetry Lounge in Millvale.

If you can afford to bring a date to One by Spork, I guarantee there will be multiple times throughout the evening when you will look at each other with befuddled wonderment — especially when Frangiadis breaks out the Bunsen burners like a laidback scientist in a Kangol cap.

You could call it molecular gastronomy, but the 61-year-old chef, who’s been a fixture on Pittsburgh’s food front since the 1990s, says he’s just having fun doing what he loves to do. Customers seem to dig it, too. It was the first time I’ve ever joined my fellow patrons in a round of applause after a meal.

In 2016, Frangiadis and business partner Andy Tepper opened Spork as a neighborhood tapas joint that, over the years, morphed into an upscale foodie destination. It was known for its urban garden, cocktail program and emphasis on amuse-bouche, small morsels that whet the appetite before a meal. One by Spork takes the amuse-bouche concept and pumps it up to Arnold Schwarzenegger size.

The Spork brand once included Spork Pit, a barbecue pop-up that turned into a separate, brick-and-mortar business across the street. When that eatery closed to make way for Third Space Bakery, another Spork Pit incarnation had a brief run in the former Double Wide Grill on the South Side. Frankly, I wish they would bring back the Cannibal Clown Cafe.

Spork closed last September to make room for One, which reminds me of “T2” thanks to that light fixture and all of the new high-tech toys that complement old-school cooking techniques. Frangiadis is downright giddy about his new koji incubator, a dehydrator and a freeze dryer used to make ramen noodles from rye that is grown and milled onsite.

Who needs AI when there’s a real-world dining experience that’s a feast for the senses. Take that, Skynet!