Cook your dinner, trip on some mushrooms

IT’S not every night you can mix pills, hallucinations and boiling water without breaking any laws.

I’d been hearing raves about the “Ecstasy” exhibition at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA since it opened in October. Could my boyfriend and I catch the buzz -- and take advantage of the free admission the museum offers from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays?

Not an original idea, we found. Hundreds of other clever patrons have deduced that they can get their MOCA on for free. Since tonight is the final Thursday of “Ecstasy’s” run, expect to see dozens of brightly dressed hipsters, collegiate hippies and tattooed bohemians queuing up around of the museum.

The exhibition promises an altered state -- no drugs required -- and it delivers. A stark white room holds giant twirling red mushrooms suspended upside-down from the ceiling. A disco hall-inspired room offers plenty of phallic imagery. A pitch-black room harbors water raining down under a strobe light. A room known as “the matrix” is illuminated by thousands of tiny green lights hung from the ceiling on a grid that appears to move as you shift perspective. All thrill our senses.

Many visitors appear to have achieved bliss, from the couple breathlessly making out in the “rain room” to others who may be inspired by the exhibits ... or something else.

After the museum closes, we cross 1st Street to the Japanese Village Plaza Mall. Our destination: Shabu Shabu House, where the waiter brings the food, but you cook it yourself.

The restaurant features counter-style seating with a pot of boiling water at each seat. Shabu-shabu translates loosely from Japanese into “swish swish,” and here there are two choices on the menu: regular or large. We are brought a plate of vegetables (cabbage, carrots, enoki mushrooms, leafy greens and tofu) and noodles, a small bowl of rice and another plate full of thinly sliced raw beef.

Dexterity with chopsticks is essential. Drop the meat and veggies in the boiling water and let them cook. Then fish the food out of the pot, dip it in a choice of sauces and eat. Part of the fun is trying to catch the slippery dinner as it swirls in the water.

One caveat: There is a long wait for a seat, but it’s worth it, especially since, during the wait, you can observe the other diners’ “shabu” techniques.

In the end, the strongest upper we consume that night is the caffeine in our Coca-Cola, but the experience is transcendent, nonetheless.

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The tab

Museum admission free

Where: Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., L.A. “Ecstasy” ends Monday. Free 5 to 8 p.m. Thursdays. (213) 626-6222.

Dinner $34.90

What: Dinner for two at Shabu Shabu House (two “regular” meals and two soft drinks, including tip), 127 Japanese Village Plaza Mall, L.A. (213) 680-3890.

Parking $5.00

Total $39.90