Taste – Drinks and Pig Dishes How Could You Go Wrong?

Date Dined: July 19, 2014

Overall Rating: 3 Stars

Taste has a pig on its front window. That sounds delicious right? Taste also has a drink that’s on fire! Muy caliente! Finally, taste has a great dining area a must have for a fun night out. So why doesn’t it wow? Let’s find out!

Décor Rating: 4 Stars

Everything I’m looking for in a bar. One side of the bar area has exposed bricking, the other side has a dark blue modern façade. There’s dark wood tables and matching chairs. The spacing of the parties is far enough apart that you never feel crowded and there’s even an open view into the kitchen (which everyone knows I’m a sucker for). Definitely a simple, yet classy interior that you can take a date to, hang out with friends in, or just go sit and think deep thoughts over a drink.

Service Rating: 3.5 Stars

Above average, but nothing special. The restaurant was completely empty inside, and I’d like to see how they do on a busy night. Still, we had water right when we sat down, our orders were taken pretty quickly, and they got everything right. A few small observations. They don’t have ice cubes in the water. I don’t know if that was just us, but it was kind of sad. The drinks took an odd amount of time to get out considering there were probably a total of 6 tables inside and outside. I’d say about ten minutes at least. Finally, the food timing was also a little long. Two of the appetizers came out after only about 5 minutes, but the last took nearly twenty. Super weird.

Price Rating: 2 Stars

Ouch, ouch ouch. Food prices are a little high: five bucks for two slices of cornbread, ten bucks for the scrapple smaller than a hot pocket, and six bucks for pig popcorn (which was just pork skins). But that’s not the killer. The absolute worst are the drink prices. All alcoholic drinks on the menu are at least double digits. Come on guys… I can get a delicious Moscow mule from Annie Gunns for only $7.50. If the drinks were a little better it might be worth it, but considering their quality, I think the prices are a little high.

Food Rating: 3 Stars

Despite the pig, this is a drink place. They have “small plates” but if you’re thinking they’re like tapas you’d be wrong. Instead, they’re literally small servings of regular food.

Starting with the drinks, out of the four our table ordered, I thought only two might have been worth the price. I ordered the surfboard fizz, a drink with: London vodka, watermelon, orgeat, honey, lemon, basil, and soda. Sounds good right? Something was just off about it. The watermelon wasn’t very present and it left a weird grainy film on the surface of the drink. At least they didn’t skimp on the vodka. Jess had some drink I honestly can't remember the name of, but she said it was "alright".

Our friends Eric and Kate were with us, which is always an absolute delight (a delight I say!). Eric had the leatherhead apron which is supposed to be a mis of bourbon, sibilla, sherry, and dolin blanc. End result was that it tasted like bourbon with a little honey in it. I enjoyed it, but for eleven dollars and the tiny glass, I kept thinking, “I could make dozens of these drinks for about thirty dollars.” Kate ordered the walker and it came out ON FIRE. Nice presentation, and an interesting lime and bourbon taste to it. I’d say it’s a drink that’s worth it.

Dinner was three different appetizers. We started out with the strongest, which was the bacon fat fried cornbread pictured abo- oh crap nevermind. It was pretty damn good. Definitely a southern style cornbread, this stuff was flatter, crisper, and more crumbly than its northern counterpart. The bacon fat didn’t add much to the taste, but the molasses it was slathered in was very good. I’d say that this would actually be worth getting again.

The pig popcorn, instead of being popcorn popped in pig fat, is instead store bought tiny pork rinds with too much paprika on them. We probably should have asked, but it was still kind of disappointing. The rinds came out on a small skillet, but I think that was just for presentation. For a nice restaurant, it’s a little strange that the pork rinds weren’t homemade.

The scrapple was a new experience for me. Apparently it’s known by the Pennsylvania Dutch as “pan rabbit”. You take a bunch of pork scraps and trimmings, combine them with cornmeal flour, form it into a loaf, slice it, then pan fry it. Having never tried scrapple before I can’t really rate it, but I will say the end product was interesting. Kind of like a more solid sausage mush covered in an egg. I’d actually prefer if there was a little solid char on it so you could get a crispy counterbalance to the mush.

In Conclusion

If I was still in college and looking to impress some chick then I might take them to Taste. Its got a nice look to it, fancy drinks that sound delicious, and avant garde twists on regular food dishes. When you’re nearly thirty and looking to get drink and you’re starving then this is not the place for you. Would I go back to get a drink? If it was convenient sure. Would I go out of my way to get a drink here? Nope, sorry. Not until the prices drop or the drinks get a little better. Please reference this youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJMhAhkR0kU.