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Category: American (New)
Neighborhood: Downtown"Their steaks could cause a FOOD ORGASM! Oh My God - By far the best steak I have ever tasted! Totally Seattle - Only in Seattle will people…" read more »
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Wiiiicked good happy hour!
Sometimes you forget that you can have great happy hour in a beautiful space. It doesn't always have to be dive bars and neighborhood pubs (but mad props to all of those, of course).
Happy hour DAILY from 3-6pm. $6 snacks. And these are no super fried sports bar snacks. These are locally grown, carefully prepared, delicious snacks. For example, Salumi plate with three meats. See?
Plus the window wall serves as a big moving art piece. All kinds of characters strolling by, including the occasional Duck. You KNOW someone on that Duck is looking in the window wishing HE were inside having a glass of wine in a beautiful place, and YOU were outside with a kazoo in your mouth and a screaming drunk old lady in the seat behind you.
Downtowners- make it an after work stop. You'll be happy you did.
Ok, I have to admit I'm a bit biased. I just returned from a trip to New York City and I dined at The Modern, the fanciest of the three restaurants New York City's MoMA has to offer. It was a mind blowing culinary experience: veal flank steak with sautéed foie gras and young garlic foam; slow poached farm egg "in a jar" with lobster and sea urchin froth; steak tartare with quail egg; pan roasted sweatbreads. I mean it was insane. And the drinks were equally as tasty. I had a Cabo Blanco Sour and A Devil In White. Don't remember what was in them but damn were they tasty.
So anyhoo, in an attempt to relive that amazing dining experience, my partner and I decided to lunch at TASTE after viewing the Calder (recommended) and Michelangelo (not so much) exhibits.
The ambiance is nice and upscale similar to The Modern and even the menu in its minimalism is a rip off of The Modern's as well. So far so good. The service, not quite.
The hostess was chatting with a couple of friends for a good 15 minutes before addressing us. It got to a point where I sat down on the couch and stared at her. Once she finished her conversation and deigned to assist us, we were seated promptly next to a totally trashed guy, I mean he's really loaded, and he's with his wife? girlfriend? date? I don't know but he drops his fork, reaches over to our table and snatches my partner's fork then after the fact asks if he could have it. We sat in stunned silence and then my partner says: "I guess that's a yes." I add: "That was kind of rude." Dude proceeds to wipe the fork that fell on the floor, the one he was eating with, with his soiled napkin and says: "You can have it back." We both replied: "You're good." About 15 minutes later his date or whatever excuses herself to go the restroom and never returns. The lady at the table next to them tells drunk dude she saw her leave. Anyway, I digress.
So our waitress was really, really nice and friendly and helpful when she showed up to our table which was next to never. My partner and I order cocktails. I don't remember my partner's first cocktail, I think it's the Modern Press. In any case it was very, very strong (no complaints there) but not very good with bits of green leafy stuff floating in it and a very overpowering vermouth flavor. I get a Neo Cubist. It takes 20 minutes for my drink to arrive. The waitress informs me that they're unable to find the rum used in the drink. So she brings a complimentary taste of their figgy vermouth. It's alright, I've tasted better, and it seems to be the flavor culprit in my partner's drink. When I finally get mine, it is also overpowered by this vermouth flavor. Needless to say both beverages were pretty disgusting.
Food wise my partner gets the Knife & Fork Croque Madame. It's served open faced on a huge chunk of brioche with a dish of some sort of béchamel and a spring green salad. My partner says it tastes like a plain grilled ham & cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top. We both agree the Croque Madame at Press Café look and taste light years better.
I get the Steak, Frites & Blue Salad. There's three tiny nuggets of steak cooked to a perfect medium rare but it's not as much meat as I was expecting. Along with that is a huge pile of shoestring fries tossed with blue cheese crumbles and topped with caramelized red onions. And on the side is a plain green salad that seriously looks like it's one of those pre-packaged salads you find at Safeway. We were both underwhelmed. It's plain boring food that could be made at home but served up fancy.
We stick around for another cocktail. The Hammering Man for my partner, better than his first but still not spectacular. And The Expressionist for me. It takes another 20 minutes to get my second cocktail. This time the waitress informs me that they can't find the campari. Really? What kind of fully stocked (I'm assuming) bar doesn't have campari on hand? Again, we're underwhelmed.
Gluttons for punishment that we are, we stay for dessert. My partner got the Earl Grey crème brulee. He said it was nothing special, no different from any other crème brulee outside of it's disturbingly gray color. I was actually impressed with the Grandma's Caramel Rolls. Three cinnamon flavored beignets nestled in caramel sauce with a demitasse of some sweet and creamy drink. Eating the beignet followed by a sip of the drink created a lovely taste experience but too little too late.
I get what TASTE is going for but they're really missing the mark menu and service-wise. I would love to see them up the ante and start pumping out real culinary taste experiences to go with their moniker. Perhaps the chef should pay a visit to The Modern to see how its done. For now TASTE is toast in my book. I won't be returning anytime soon.
Visited SAM Taste today for happy hour. It is located on the lower level of the SAM with a wide view of 1st Avenue and... directly facing The Lusty Lady. Well, not exactly a great view but good for people watching I guess and with good dining ambiance. What was great about the happy hour was that the menu was not limited to the bar only. Seen many places limit it to just the lounge. Nevertheless, I decided to sit by the bar.
I started off with getting the signature cocktail, The Hammering Man which is essentially a gin and tonic ($5 HH/$8.50). It was pretty good, though a tad bit much ice. Complementing the drink was a tuna melt ($6 HH/$10).
At first, I thought the tuna belt was going to be a sandwich. It turns out to be more of a piece of brioche covered with tuna tartare and gruyere cream. The barkeep made a comment about how people were surprised when they order the dish. I agree, tuna melt is not really the best description of this dish. It is really more like a hors d'oeuvre which makes this confusing. That being said, it was amazingly delicious though pricey for what it was.
I think with further delving into their menu that this would seem to be more of a four star place to me. For now, I will give three based on what I have seen thus far.
I love secrets and I am very good at keeping them. Here is one of my best kept secrets, go to Taste for happy hour and you'll be wowed. $3 dollar 18oz beers(:o), $5 specialty cocktails(hammering man) and $6 dollar gourmet pizzas in fact all bar food is just $6 dollars. Recommend sitting down at the bar and shooting the shit with Duncan(bartender of bartenders). He'll wow you with his knowledge of booze and local haunts. Be-aware that this one of my favorite places to enjoy a happy hour cocktail-drink-meal and hopefully it will be yours too!
Cheers
Cool looking restaurant with very clean simple decor= liked.
Menu choices and taste=disliked.
I think they are going for an overall minimalistic feel since the menu was pretty limited. I kept on wondering what to get, as it looked like everyone around me was just eating a grilled cheese and tomato soup combo. Ended up with the sausage pizza and a side order of fries. Pizza came out OK, nothing fantistic. Very light on the sauce/cheese on an almost cracker bread type crust. My $5 side order of fries was about 1/2 a potato worth of fries housed in a paper cone and placed on some sort of holder.
This is one of those places that's good to try once but I will not be going again.
The ambiance of SAM Taste is alright and the wait staff is good (prompt service, kept our water filled, etc). But the food was "meh". Admittedly I only tried a few things. The lobster & mushroom risotto was kind of bland. We're a sucker for alternative fries, but the chickpea fries were mushy and, with the sweet dipping sauce, weirdly tasted like we were eating french toast sticks. They brought by a taste of salmon mousse with onions & fried capers that was a nice surprise. But when the best part of your meal is the bread (and boy was that good bread).. it was a little disappointing.
The affair started with a BLT Martini. .... you had me at "bacon infused vodka"
I didn't really know what I was expecting, but it really was kind of amazing, even though it was a very girly looking drink due to the muddled tomato juice in there.
In anycase, the food here is beautifully presented. Someone in my group ordered the croque madame, which was plated like a jenga structure, yet functional. Salmon flatbread was quite delicious, and the oysters were of course, super fresh.
Other art museums in different cities i've been to have a lame cafeteria, or hot-dog stands outside. Seattle's Art museum has a downright excellent restaurant. Nice.
I was pleasantly surprised with the happy hour here.
My party rolled in right at 5pm on a Thursday evening and we were promptly seated without a reservation, although it appears that they do accept reservations too.
One of their signature cocktails were on special at $5, but I skipped that and tried a few of their (mostly) northwest beers that they had on tap for $3.
Most of their food had great values at around $6. I tried the salumi plate and clams, which both was very respectable for happy hour food. I also tried some of the flat bread, which was equally good.
I will be going back again to try more things, and one of their cocktails is definitely first on the list!
I met a professional acquaintance here for an after work drink & apps. The happy hour deals were pretty good, but I wasn't paying, so we overspent anyway!
I usually see this place packed at this time of day, but it was surprisingly empty this time, apparently due to the fact that they are in-between exhibits. This meant we got attentive service from a relaxed wait person. Ooh, did I just drop a tip?!
The food was good and they had lots to choose from on the drinks menu. However, I did not have any "blow-me-away" experiences.
While this is about the best museum restaurant I have ever been too, I can't say its an exceptional place in general. I'm sure that Taste deserves another exploratory visit, but since there are so many places in Seattle, not sure if I'll go out of my way to get back here. Maybe next time I'm at the museum I'll drop in.
The food was average (2 stars), but the plating of the food, decor of the restaurant, and the general ambiance was quite nice (thus the additional star). The tuna was overcooked, the salad was over dressed, and our server was rather inattentive. While she told all her other tables about the daily specials, she seemingly forgot to tell us. I don't know why.
Nevertheless, this is definitely a great spot to bring a girl to show her how classy, cultured, and sophisticated you are, because after drinks and a mediocre lunch, you can take a walk around SAM (which is a great art museum). Just make sure to brush up on all your art history and contemporary art so you will have something interesting to say.
I have now been here for lunch, dinner, and drinks post-dinner, so the only thing I'm missing is Happy Hour. Soon, my pretty...soon.
That said, myself and foodie date have more or less become "regulars" here - the bartender recognizes us now. We have regular seats at the bar. It's pretty awesome.
All of that aside, the drinks come in two categories - the regulars and the rotators. The rotators change based on whatever is the big exhibit at SAM at that moment. Themed stuff. Kinda kitchy, but who cares, they're good.
Most recently, foodie date and I split what was stated on the menu to be "warm cookies" - what came out to us was a beautiful plate of various small cookies (the peanut butter won), warmed up so they were chewy and melty and all that is good in the world, surrounding a shot of milk. Had they just handed us two warm cookies, we probably would've been content, but the addition of the milk and the sheer variety of cookies totally made this dessert. Brilliant.
Also, for a little snack while you drink, the "just olives" are fantastic - briney, spicy, and flavorful.
I guess enough people have complained about the atmosphere because they did a renovation and it's… Read more »
Prior to SAM Taste, the best museum food I'd encountered was at the Art Institute in Chicago, and it was mostly remarkable because it wasn't awful.
Unlike most museum dining options, SAM Taste is a real, serious restaurant, and holds its own against Lark and similar higher-end small plates-focused restaurants. Lots of fresh, local ingredients. Fairly clever, flavorful combinations.
I had chickpea-fennel fritters, which were really nicely done, a small bowl of grilled gnocchi with fresh fava beans and fiddlehead fern fronds (really nice, surprisingly), and a parsnip soup. Parsnips always rock, because you expect them to be just another root vegetable but they have massive flavor with little more than salt and butter, so I can't give them much credit for their cleverness there, but the soup was very well-made.
It looked like ordering a large plate of cheese-laden polenta with dandelion greens wasn't the way to go, but that dish tasted nice enough in small doses.
If you come dressed for touring art galleries, forget you're in a museum, and imagine yourself at Union or Lark, you won't be disappointed.
My family was here during happy hour yesterday before going to the museum upstairs. I think this place deserves 4, and my husband thinks 1. I love the atmosphere and he does not.
Regardless, their happy hour menu is one of the best values for the quality. SAM members get extra discounts on top of that.
I've been wanting to try this place since the SAM re-opened but finally made it there last night. i was pleasantly surprised given some of the mixed reviews here. the food was perfect, the service was great (our server got us in & out of there within 30 min so we wouldn't be late for Inglourious Basterds). Really liked the risotto, the crab lingune, the heirloom tomato salad with basil oil & the chocolate doughnettes! the mustard green packets were good but nothing to write home about. its a bit on the expensive side but given the great food & service, i didn't have a problem paying up
Fabulous Happy Hour!
We came here on Wednesday afternoon after being let down by both BOKA and The Brooklyn (no room at the Inn) and were happy to find that there were several places to sit and were kindly escorted in and seated at a booth.
Our waiter was attentive and very friendly and allowed us some time to browse the menu. We were happy to find that all food during HH is $6 and massive pints of all draft beer are $3.
We had the pulled pork sliders, the salumi plate, the flatbread, and the mini burger (don't worry, there was 3 of us). My two happy hour companions had beers, while I accidentally ordered a $12 glass of wine. Yes, I thought it was $6 for some reason...
The drinks arrived promptly and the food came out about 15 minutes later. While the salumi plate was small, the flatbread pizza was delicious- how couldn't it have been? It was covered in balsamic carmelized onions and bacon. The pulled pork slider was also nice, as were the fries.
Yes, the portions here might be small, but the were all delicious and the presentation of each item was lovely. Paired up with their excellent service and classy atmosphere and you've got yourself a winner.
Next time, I'll just skip BOKA and The Brooklyn altogether and hit up Taste. Chances are they'll have a seat for me and I know that I'll eat right and be treated right.
Working around the corner from SAM Taste it's easy to hit up for both lunch and happy hour. It's a nice change of pace for a weekday lunch and much better than the dinning room my building has.
To me it has a modern, sleek, cafeteria feel to it but all in a good way. The croque madam comes with a nice fresh green salad is good but not as great as Cafe Campagne. It's all rather tasty and the presentation is clean and pretty to go along with its tasty-ness. The griddled cheese and roasted tomato soup is also a nice choice on a cold rainy day and not bad for only $8.00 but at Happy Hour it's only $6.00 and still the same size. And when I'm too lazy to walk up to Palomino's I'll come here and have their salumi chopped salad it's works in a pinch.
Their happy hour is from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm and they have draft beer for $3, their Signature Hammering Cocktail for $5, and selected wines for $7, the beer is the best deal but I normally get one of their cocktails because their inventive and tasty and they use fresh squeezed juices for them. Next time I go I'm trying their Lusty Lady (absolute grapefruit vodka, ruby red grapefruit juice, lychee liquor) while sitting at the window staring at the Lusty Lady.
They get 3 stars since they are attached to the SAM.
This restaurant is named "Taste" and not "Choice" for a reason. If you don't eat meat, you can drive any color of Model-T you want, as long as it's black.
We went to see the *Hopper* show. After eating at Taste, one member of our party spent most of their time in the *Crapper*. Maybe it was a coincidence.
I want to give SAM Taste more than two stars, hand to God I do, but the restaurant is another example of a Seattle eating establishment that presumes itself.
The restaurant has a bar menu and a dinner menu. Both menus are designed with clean typography, natch for an art museum, but difficult to distinguish which menu you are holding. Four friends plus eight menus equals "Wait, where did you see that?"
I ordered a specialty cocktail - off the bar menu - but the bartender who invented the drink wasn't working that evening. They had to contact her for the recipe. To the bar's credit, the drink was damn good. When a second round was ordered, the bartender served smaller amounts in our glasses and with less attention to detail.
A friend ordered three hamburgers with the rosemary fries. Locate a small child and ask said child to make a fist with either hand. You now have an approximation of the beef patties, and that will be $12.
The menu has vegetarian options but little in the way of vegan. For an art museum, in Seattle of all places, not having vegan options is a disconnect with the city culture. What items that do exist on the menu are considered sides and lack grace: wood-fired mushrooms are a small platter of chanterelle mushrooms with nary a taste of wood or fire. Curried cauliflower was served in a ramekin with a little too much sauce. The squash and chickpea frites were served with not enough mango sauce.
Everyone at the table finished their plates; this may be due to the small portions more than the actual taste. Should SAM Taste make changes to their service, menu(s) and overall selection of food, I might give it a second chance.
Fantastic food (get the grilled cheese and tomato bisque) and The Best Bartender in Seattle! You *must* visit Duncan at the bar at Taste and try one of his concoctions. He's the most knowledgeable bartender in town when it comes to cocktails, whiskey, wine... you name it! I generally just show up and say, "surprise me, Duncan" and he always does. He once made me a drink that tasted like a BLT in a glass. I wouldn't have one every time out, but it was certainly amazing. Their happy hour is great too.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I will always save room for yummy looking desserts.
Hence, my eating companion and I shared an entree (the steak, frites & blue salad, which was excellent!) and each ordered a dessert.
I got one of the daily ice creams: an espresso ice cream with a real butterscotch sauce and meringue pieces. It was incredible.
My companion ordered the pumpkin french toast with maple ice which was also pretty great!
If you go, I definitely recommend saving room for dessert!
Let's be up front about this: small portions. Okay, can we move on now?
Everything I've ever eaten here has been great. It's a fun environment too- they keep moving furniture, and some of the waitstaff tells me they try to rearrange every 6 months. I like that little touch.
On to the food- I've only been here for lunch, so I haven't faced the dinner menu (yet). Some of my favorites are the croque madame (I hope I'm close on that spelling), the fries (with anything), the steak salad, which seems new, and the super-tiny burgers.
This place also served one of the most transcendant foods I've ever eaten: Blue cheese ice cream with caramel sauce and candied pecans. Yes, they made blue cheese ice cream. It's no longer on the menu, so if enough of us can ask, we can make it happen.
I call this a "must try" restaurant. Let me know how it goes...
Where does this place get off selling glorified cafeteria food for absurd prices in a bland environment with mediocre service?
The place obviously caters to the rich, artsy type, which falls terribly flat for me. The atmosphere is sterile and too bright, which makes for a very unappealing dining ambiance, for my taste.
No, thanks. Plenty of good eats in the area to settle for this.
I visited Taste on a Friday night, during SAM's idea of a first Friday, which may account for some of the service issues we had. Since I'm giving this establishment such a low mark I'll break things out a bit, many of my comments will mirror those of other reviewers.
Strengths: The staff was very friendly and willing to accommodate us with a vegan dish. The restaurant itself was very stylish, clean and modern and most importantly well-done modern.
Weaknesses: Our drinks took twenty minutes which is unacceptable. My partner ordered a special drink that no one knew how to make, seriously. The food was slow to get out and not very impressive, sure the portions were small but considering how obese this country is I recommend getting over that issue. The prices were New York outrageous and they had two different menus circling the restaurant which made ordering really confusing.
Opportunities: Get your crap together, combine your bar menu and dinner menu, every bartender should be able to make all of the drinks listed on your menu, wait times are unacceptable, and the food seriously is not that chic or impressive clean it up and take the price down 15%. In this economy you can't afford two star experiences.
Gotta agree with the wife on this one - just OK. Very swanky looking, minimalist, nice table settings, bar, etc. But I wasn't wowed by the small bites we got, nor the drinks. I didn't think anything was bad, but this place is spendy (even at happy hour) and so I have high expectations.
I'll definitely give it another try for happy hour, but I was underwhelmed considering some of the good reviews this place has gotten in the press. I expect more from my museum attached downtown restaurant/bars!
Had a wonderful meal on Saturday night just before the show. I had the 3 courses for $30, which consisted of the caramelized fennel gnocchi, scallops with ratatouille, then the apple tart to finish. My friend had the salad to begin with, then the squash and chickpea frites and finished with the earl grey brownie and ice cream.
The most memorable was the earl grey brownie and ice cream that our server Shannon had recommended. It was to die for. It would definitely have been better without the caramel however. I will definitely be back next time I'm in Seattle.
Great service, great food.
I'm really enjoying the restaurant fare of Seattle lately. Maybe it's a new outlook on dining or establishments tailoring to their customers or maybe the Seattle restaurant experience is coming out on its own merit. Whatever it is, I like it and Taste exemplifies this Seattle revolution.
My gut impression was not a good one, I felt like I was entering a ginormous, modern bathroom. The white stone floors, clean lines, stainless steel fixtures, huge mirror behind the bar -- in all accounts I should have loved this but it didn't work for me, at first. I didn't sit in the dining area for a meal but rather I had the pleasure of sitting at the bar with friendly staff and excellent company. Taste's selection is excellent with a bar menu, food menu, wine menu and cocktail menu -- all items are very reasonably priced. The bartender suggested a pinor noir that was absolutely perfect for the evening.
After a glass of wine, the bathroom decor melted away into a simple canvas swathed with patrons enjoying their dinners and drinks in one of Seattle's most metropolitan settings.
#1 We braved the torrential rain and Olympic sped-walked from our downtown abode to Taste for dinner on a Tuesday night thus,
#2 by the time we got there, about 8 minutes of torrential rain later we were
#3 soaked and annoyed at being soaked.
And fourth, the place was empty.
I own unpopularity of this spot to two main reasons: see #s 1-3 and the location, lighting, and ambiance are seriously lacking in appeal as it is dominated not by the cool neon lights of the SAM main hall exhibits (these are actually sheeted behind a large black curtain) but, instead the entire front window is filled with the Lusty Lady sign (currently reading for those keeping track at home) "Ring in the Nude Year with us."
Why so much attention on trivialities like rain, neon, and lust? Because the food was mediocre and the menu quite small and uninspired. The service was attentive but on hyper-speed. We literally had to hold plates and tableware down so they were not grabbed away. The interior although clean and well appointed made me kinda sad because it was so contrived to be keen, but feel short in a hard-to-define way.
I imagine Taste being a fine place to take my non-mother in-law after spending a couple hours strolling around the museum chatting about the latest exhibit and planning my un-wedding.
Not quite right on any level, Taste is like that one kid in school who always did, wore, and said the right thing(s). But honestly, one really like that kid cause they lacked "character," that je ne sais quoi possessed by only the great like ...Napoleon Dynamite, Count Chocula, or The Great Gonzo.
If you are visiting the SAM stick to the "AM" and skip the TASTE.
Stopped in here this afternoon for a quick happy hour drink & snack. Stopped into the SAM store first, so that was a nice little distraction. Saw some great jewelry in there by Seattle designers I haven't seen before (but that is another review)...
Happy hour is 3-6 p.m., and at 4:20'ish on a Wed evening, there were very few people there. We sat at the bar & shared 3 small bites that were paired w/ beer samples (he had the beer, I just had 1/2 of eat little bite). Pulled pork, calzone & mac/cheese...all were not your "standard" versions of each, had nice distinct flavors & were all uniquely presented. $13 for the 3 small tastes w/ 3 beer tastes. Husband says they were well-paired. I had their 1 sparkling wine option & it was tasty.
Other bar menu items were $5 during happy hour. I definitely want to go back & try more.
I want to try it again before I give it more stars. Flavors were good, service (from the bartender) was OK, the menu looked great...
The food and ambiance are good. A little intimidating.
But be warned: it's the sort of place that makes rural folk say things like "Is that it?" and "Twenty dollars for two bites of a clump of cheese and nuts?"
I was able to try dinner here before they opened officially and it was amazing. Great wine, steak, and dessert. In fact the person who invited me was a skilled pastry chef and he felt the desserts lived up to the hype. At that point the only criticism I had was how cold the ambiance was: all white, hard surfaces, cafeteria-esque.
Having been back a few more times and also having tried their catering at some SAM events, I've always been pleased with the food. They've also softened up the interior a little with rugs and some other touches so it isn't quite as stark. Still very modern, but not coldly so.
I feel like TASTE would be entirely at home in New York, but the high-minded concept can be a little too much in laid-back Seattle. If you are intimidated by gourmet cuisine or high prices, this place probably isn't for you. Portions are smaller, but still in line with the type of restaurant it is. Their happy hour is decent and it can be a nice way to check the place out while saving a few bucks!
The restaurant isn't directly run by the museum but by Bon Appétit Management Company, and I do appreciate their "commitment to socially responsible practices." Seems like the most "Seattle" touch of all.
A very delectable menu of American Fusion cuisine. And excellent service from the time I entered the establishment.
I started with simply full circle greens and ginger ale. Then, pulled chicken popover. And ended with orbit cake.
Salad will be salad. And this is one, I never made at home. I enjoyed the verjus (green juice mixed with olive oil) over mesclun with a smidget of sliced pears, pinch of blue cheese and touch of hazelnuts.
It's a tasting menu. Meant for wine. Small portions are imperative. I knew from the name, Taste Restaurant. Okay... and from being a SAM Volunteer. But still.... at least I ate there.
Anyways...... you want to know more?
Chanterelle cooked to perfection and made into a mixture with shredded (pulled) chicken. Then, placed in a popover. And garnished with sauteed leeks. Served with a vinaigrette frisee (fancy lettuce). Utterly delectable.
I had the small portion and made it a 3-course evening. But I could have done a nicer 5-course.
The couple next to me sampled the oysters and rabbit amongst other wonderful looking items and boasted so sweetly about it that I must go back. I'm think Happy Hour though.
Oh yeah... there was dessert... Chocolate Orbit Cake. And I'm not even a chocolate lover. But it had ricotta and hazelnuts. So, I was thinking canoli.
When it arrived, I knew it was Turkish influenced. It is a hard savory to explain. I'll describe it.
Baked vermicelli noodles wrapping chocolate cake and broiled. Chocolate sauce and ricotta served as condiments with a sprinkle of hazelnuts.
Reminded me of Bird's Nest with Dark Chocolate.
Too bitter for my taste. But an excellent choice for anyone "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" or "Molten Lava Cake" lovers.
Most probably... a wonderful dessert paired with an after dinner drink.
Cheers!
If you're looking for a restaurant that serves really, really good food, but doesn't cost you a week's pay, head over to TASTE in the Seattle Art Museum.
I've been a few times, and everything I've had there has been delicious! The best of the best is the gemelli & cheese with dungeness crab, which is really just super-fancy mac and cheese. They replace the macaroni noodles with gemelli pasta, melt a blend of expensive cheeses into a sauce, drop in some big pieces of dungeness crab, and top it off with crispy-fried carrot strings. There's even some truffle pieces in there, and some other stuff - but whatever the recipe is, it basically tastes like you're shoveling heaven into your mouf.
I've also tried the barley risotto w/chanterelles, cranberries and walnuts, the simply full circle greens w/olive oil, pears, blue cheese & roasted hazelnuts, and the st. jude albacore (which was cooked to perfection - golden/crispy on the outside, pink and rare and juicy on the inside) w/cauliflower gratin (omg I cannot tell you how good this is). Last time I tried some dessert - the theo chocolate orbit cake. It was tiny, but well worth the $7. :) In addition to all this deliciousness, they have a huge wine menu and are more than willing to help you pick out something.
The neatest thing about this place to me though, is that they offer you a couple of different options. You can order a 'taste' of wine for $4-6, or a bigger glass for around $8-$12 if you know what you like. The food works the same way. You can get small plates from $6-16, or larger servings for $18-28. For me, a small plate + a few tastes of wine is perfect, or if I'm starving, I usually go for 2 of the small plates - just to get my fill of the yummy. They also had a special 'flights' menu last time I visited, which had 3 wines and 3 small tastes for $27.
Do you like
Frog legs and lamb?
I do not like them,
Sam-I-am.
I do not like
Frog legs and lamb.
Would you like them
in a coliseum?
Would you like them
at the museum?
I would not like them
in a coliseum.
I would not like them
at the museum.
Enough of Dr. Seuss's trochaic and iambic tetrameters.*
Basically I didn't leave Taste with a very good taste in my mouth. The food seemed overly pretentious and somewhat overpriced for saying that the atmosphere was that of a very hip cafeteria and not that of an upscale restaurant - which would be fine if they were serving hip cafeteria food ala fancy mac n' cheese, but the menu is a bit more ambitious than that.
We started with an heirloom tomato salad that had a very interesting artistic presentation and moved onto the crab salad which consisted of a big lump of crab meat that would have gone fantastic with some crackers but since that wasn't an option we simply ate cold mayo and crab with a fork. For the main course we had the roasted guinea to which our vegetarian friend kept yelling "it's people!" so he stuck to his risotto which was definitely the best dish of the evening.
Overall there is just something off kilter about Taste...not unlike this review...which is a direct reflection of the reviewer.
* I totally looked that up on Wikepedia - oh yeah!
Love this museum, but not the restaurant.
Sterile ambiance. All the hard surfaces make for loud, echo-ey, clatter noises. The constant din is not fun to bear.
Full house lunch crowd overwhelmed the service folks. Our meal was way too slow. First course was completely forgotten by the kitchen & wait staff.
Food quality is merely OK. Not up to the standards of the better downtown Seattle restaurants. Prices are too high for what they serve.
Nice small & interesting wine list though, so add a Yelp Star.
If you are on a tight schedule to see the museum quickly, skip SAM Taste.
amuse bouche
caramelized fennel gnocchi
glazed delicata squash, fried fronds
Mountain Dome Brut, WA
(Chardonnay-Pinot Noir-Pinot Meunier )
dosey doe of beets & scallop
seared rapini, fennel confit & beet pockets
2007 Mercer Riesling, Yakima Valley
classic duck confit
creamy polenta, cherry jus & chocolate gastrique
2007 Covington Cellars Josie Rose, Red Mountain
(Sangiovese)
duo
milk chocolate panna cotta & cabernet gelee,
beet & cocoa nib financier, dark chocolate sorbet
2007 Anam Cara "ice-wine" Gewürztraminer
I took my sweetheart to Taste for Valentine's Day and I found myself very impressed. At first I wasn't very excited by the menu, I find that generally, fennel is overpowering to my palette, and yet here we had the very first dishes featuring fennel. My misgivings were misplaced though - all of the dishes were spiced quite perfectly, each taste blending nicely. The delicata squash was delightfully sweet. The second course was interesting, I've never had "beet pockets" before, hot pockets, yes, beet pockets were new to me. Think of a beet mixed in with a pastry and folded, as apt a description as I could give. The scallop was done perfectly.
Duck and I have never gotten along, its always been too salty or gamy or stringy - - until now. The classic duck confit was salty, but it didn't matter because it was also so savory. I really loved this entree.
For me the weakest part of the meal was the dessert. I liked the sorbet, but the beet financier seemed out of place.
Overall I was very impressed with the meal, it looked like something out of "top chef".
What did I need? A drink.
What did Taste supply?
A drink. Plus a friendly bartender, who went through the book o' drinks with me to help me find what I needed. Plus just chatted in a friendly fashion without making me feel weird cuz I was there alone. Which felt weird to me. But as far as you were concerned, it was all good. So thanks, I needed it, especially tonight.
And that drink, it was the SAM special sidecar methinks, a Rum and lemon sweet/sour concoction that was perfect.
I headed out feeling a lot better.
Great place! One of the first we tried when we moved to Seattle a year ago and after a few very discouraging outings to places that were highly rated we were delighted to find a place that lived up to our "snobby" Chicago-Foodie expectations.
Honestly, it's been awhile since we last ate there but we still remember the great shaved cucumber salad, a wildly wonderful lamb dish, a good by-the-glass wine list and what seemed to be an extraordinarily careful attention paid to pairing ingredients and flavors. Sorry I don't remember more about it (I'll have to go back again soon,) but aside from the sterile, bare and shiny interior it really was a great food and tasting experience. One of the best meals we've had in Seattle to date.
You've heard the advice about meeting new people: "Go out to places you enjoy, and you will meet like-minded people to date/befriend!" Hmm, I thought...I could use me some artsy, museum-going people in my life, so for happy hour, Taste it was.
Let's just cut to the chase, shall we? And skip all the awkwardness of starting a conversation at the bar and just introduce me to your mother--and your grandfather (if I didn't meet them at Taste last night).
Sitting among a married, graying man and pairs of the 70+ variety, I cursed the failed advice and promptly drank my way through a large pour of a French Pinot (they offer a few decent wines by the glass, but not many). So come here for the cheap beer and a $5 plate, not to meet Mr. or Ms. You're-Hot-So-Let's-Explore-the-Museum-Together.
The happy hour prices are awesome, I got the spicy mussels with rosemary frites, tasty and even tastier at $5.00.
I also had the Manchego stuffed red onion which was warm, cheesy and yummy but worth the $5.00 HH price, not full price.
What I didn't like was the weird service, it took the waiter about 7 minutes to explain the menu and how happy hour works there, I'm really not that stupid that you need to explain it that thoroughly. And I also don't need to know every ingredient in the cheese crackers that you make right there in your kitchen but you unfortunately are out if tonight.
Also, probably not a good idea to say to two women "You've eaten a lot tonight, you're probably not getting dessert right?". I wasn't going to but now that you've said that I sure as hell am! No one tells baby not to have dessert!
Wow. My new fav for lunch downtown. Easy to park (if not cheap!) right in the 'Soon to be Chase?' Wamu tower and come right into the SAM lobby (nice on these snowy April days). Great menu - frites salad, albacore, deviled eggs as a side?! Nice service (even with a big busload of tourists they were gracious and helpful to everyone) and a fantastic 'tasting' wine menu. Space was roomy and bright, bar looked great. And to die for? The desserts. We shared the 'pop-tarts' and 'smores' as ode to our childhoods - only these were better! I'm contemplating the 'desserts and wine' only lunch next time!
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