Taste

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Laura Ann Miller

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4584 Laclede Ave. St. Louis, MO 63108

314-361-1200

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Critics'
Pick
Best Drink Menu
Award Winner 2011

Cuisine(s): Contemporary, New American

Hours: Daily 5pm-1am

Price: $$$

Payment Types: All Major Credit Cards, cash, ATM/Debit
Attire: Casual/Business-Casual

Features: Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Private Party, Vegetarian Friendly, Wheelchair Accessible

Serving: Dinner, Evening, Late Night, Snack Food

Alcohol: Full bar
Reservations: Highly Recommended

Parking: Meters, Valet

Description

The relocated and re-imagined Taste might have lost the intimacy between chef and diner that made the original Taste by Niche so appealing, but it has plenty of new charms to share. Only in his mid-twenties, chef Adam Altnether is now a partner in Taste founder Gerard Craft's restaurant empire, and here he takes the reins by himself for the first time. The menu changes with some regularity, but pork is always a safe bet (the pork fries are a fun snack), while the hand-cut noodles with black pepper and Pecorino cheese are simple and sublime. Drinks like Hell's Bells and Ab-Duck-tion offer a glimpse into the singular spirit alchemy at Taste: the former is a spiced gin wonder—Hayman's Old Tom Gin, Pimm's, a touch of sugar, absinthe and a sizable garnish of smoked red bell pepper, which sounds odd in theory but is absolutely divine in practice. Ab-Duck-tion is a heady melange of mascarpone, pepper, lemon, lavender bitters and duck fat infused Grand Marnier. Their erudite cocktail menu is a reflection of mixologist extraordinaire Ted Kilgore's prodigious skill at all things shaken, swizzled or stirred. For the true Taste experience, ask Kilgore what he's drinking these days, and then order that.

2011 | Best Drink Menu

When Taste (formerly known as Taste by Niche) relocated from Benton Park to the Central West End earlier this year, it gained a larger dining room, a broader selection of food and an expanded menu of Ted Kilgore's cocktail creations. This last change was especially welcome. Kilgore is the unquestioned dean of St. Louis mixologists, and his creativity is on full display at the "new" Taste. The cocktail selection is divided by flavor profile. In the mood for something "Crisp, Light, Aromatic"... More »
2010 | Best Drink Menu

The drink menu at Taste by Niche is a living, breathing thing. Literally. Its name is Ted. That's Ted Kilgore, to be precise, the mixologist whose whims and inspirations alter Taste's cocktail selection frequently and whose rapid cocktail-shaking is the constant backbeat of an evening at Taste. Kilgore has gained national recognition for his work: Bon Appétit magazine named Taste one of the country's ten best new cocktail bars; it singled out Kilgore's "Grey Fizz," which mixes gin,... More »
2010 | Best Tapas/Small Plates

The great American chef Thomas Keller prefers to build a meal out of a succession of small courses because he believes that after a few bites the act of eating a dish -- no matter how good -- loses its excitement and becomes rote. You can see for yourself at Taste by Niche, where the prodigious talents of Gerard Craft are distilled into dishes that you can vanquish in a couple of bites but that linger in your memory: octopus more tender than you thought possible, a simple... More »
2009 | Best Drink Menu

"Is peach OK" asks Ted Kilgore, mixologist extraordinaire at Taste by Niche. The woman who has ordered the "Nectar of the Gods" -- tequila, agave, lime and seasonal fruit (the peach) -- nods. Kilgore takes half a peach from a bowl on the bar directly in front of the patron and oh-so-carefully slices it into thin wedges. He puts the wedges into a cocktail shaker, which he shakes so violently that you can feel your seat vibrate. Kilgore's classy old-school cocktails gained him quite... More »

Ten Best Food Events This Weekend: April 27-29

By Mabel Suen | Fri, April 27, 2012

Friday (Apr. 27): Third Annual Green Ball @ Moonrise Hotel This annual event to reinforce sustainability initiatives features an open bar with local beer and wine, locally sourced cuisine, a green f... More »
National Survey Hails Six St. Louis Restaurants

By Ian Froeb | Wed, April 11, 2012

We learned last month that Niche (1831 Sidney Street; 314-773-7755) was among the "Top 100 U.S. Restaurants" for 2012 at #66, as determined by the website Opinionated About Dining. The ranking was bas... More »
Iron Fork 2012: The Winners and the Hangover

By Ian Froeb | Fri, March 23, 2012

Gut Check has a headache, we can't hear very well out of our left ear and our go-to white dress shirt is stained with all of the major food groups and a fair amount of booze. Yup. Iron Fork 2012 was... More »
Iron Fork 2012: The Slideshow

By Ian Froeb | Fri, March 23, 2012

If you didn't attend Iron Fork 2012, we can't possibly recreate the experience for you. (Though arming yourself with the list of the participating restaurants and a hearty appetite might be a good pla... More »
Eat Me in St. Louis: Ten Splurge Restaurants for March Madness Visitors

By Gut Check | Wed, March 21, 2012

Hello, fans of North Carolina, North Carolina State, Kansas and Ohio, and welcome to St. Louis for the -- deep breath -- 2012 NCAA Division One Men's Basketball Championship Midwest Regionals! You've... More »
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rftbestof | St Lous, MO | 149 Reviews

| Wed, May 6, 2009

"Pastry chef" seems an inadequate title for Mathew Rice, who masterminds the desserts at the Benton Park restaurant Niche and its new, adjacent bakeshop, Veruca. "Mastermind" works � though that too seems to miss something essential about Rice's baking. His desserts plug into someplace deep in the unconscious, where the simple pleasures of our childhood reside: tollhouse cookies, Hostess snack cakes, s'mores. Rice interprets each in a way that brings both a smile of recognition and the thrill of the new. Those s'mores, for instance, are toasted-marshmallow semifreddo with salted caramel and a graham cracker. Not that all of Rice's ideas are rooted in the past. Sometimes it's a combination of cleverness and convenience, like his slices of red velvet cake served to look like a small sandwich wrapped in wax paper. And sometimes it's working with something no one else does, like the South Asian dish kulfi, a dense frozen dessert so good it might supplant ice cream as your favorite summer treat.
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emko18 | st. louis, MO | 271 Reviews

| Tue, July 6, 2010

Niche is a great place to take out of town guests. Outstanding food!