Can you taste it? Although no exact date has been given, chef and owner Adam Altnether hopes to open his new and improved Taste late next week. As the public waits for doors to unlock at the highly anticipated cocktail haven that now sits at 4584 Laclede Ave. in the Central West End, Altnether and his talented beverage director Ted Kilgore gave Sauce a preview of Taste’s new home.
Open a nondescript door and pass through heavy black curtains. It’s a different era, one marked by exposed brick, bold red wallpaper and dim lighting that emanates from a few rows of single light bulbs suspended from a wood ceiling and a few candles placed on tables. The speakeasy atmosphere is exactly what Altnether was after. “We want you to feel like you’re part of an exclusive club,” he said. It’s also the perfect scene for what’s in store from the kitchen and the bar.
Frequenters to Taste by Niche will find familiar offerings – snacks like assorted pickles, roasted nuts, charcuterie and cheese boards, even the bar’s famous Pigwiches: a dessert of bacon buttercream sandwiched between two pig-shaped chocolate cookies. “There are a lot of things that people know. There’s no reason to change that,” said Kilgore. But the new menu at Taste is more extensive than the one in Benton Park was. Categories include snacks, appetizers, entrées, sides and desserts, with highlights like Pig Fries made of breaded, deep-fried, braised pig head served with a side of lemon aïoli and a sweet mint-vinegar sauce; various country terrines; and a sticky toffee pudding so tasty that Altnether warned, “You’ll want to sit down when you try it.”
Kilgore is just as excited about the libations as Altnether is about the dishes that will be executed out of his miniscule 250-square-foot open kitchen. “Everything at the bar has been personally selected by me,” said Kilgore. “It’s the first time I’ve been able to select exactly what I want.” His drink menu includes more than 35 cocktails, at least half of which never made the menu at the old Taste.
In an effort to educate cocktailians of every level, Kilgore has categorized drinks by their flavor profile – tart, bright, citrus or full, dark, robust, for example. The menu even includes symbols to illustrate how the drink was created – whether it was stirred, shaken or swizzled, for instance. And if imbibers need a bit more assistance, the staff can easily be of service. “We will have the most certified spirits and mixology team in St. Louis and probably rivaling Chicago and some other places,” noted Kilgore. The full-time bar staff at Taste is already certified by a respected mixology program, and all servers are apprenticing to bartend and will soon be registered for a mixology education program.
Kilgore’s bar specializes in gin, rum and American whiskey, yet Taste will have a small, carefully selected offering of beer and wine as well. “I have eight years of experience running beverage programs,” explained Kilgore. “Most people don’t know that I have good wine knowledge; I just choose not to use it. We’re a cocktail place. That’s what we’re stoked about.”
When Taste opens, it will operate seven days a week, from 5 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Click here to see more pictures from the new Taste.
This article appears in February 2011.