Taste Cafe and Marketplace

Erin's Rating: ★★★★★

Okay, first, I have NO PICTURES!!  Second, I am aware that this makes me the worst food blogger probably ever.  Normally if I didn't get any pictures, I just wouldn't review it, but I really want to review this place!!

The Place


It was my first time at Taste in SoBro, for lunch today.  Now, this place might not be for everyone, but let me tell you, it was for me, and it would be for you too if you know what's good for you.  It had the whole package really.  A spectacular outdoor seating area with lots of stylish people lunching.  Inside, it was modern and cute and HOLY MENU!  They had a huge board of daily specials and tons and tons of other menu items ranging from salads to sandwiches and so many delicious looking desserts I almost abandoned lunch all together.  While you wait in line to order, they entice you with all these very fresh foods, roasted beets and blueberry tarts, foods in all the colors of the rainbow.  Just pretty.

The Food (minus my attempt at pretty pictures)


As I mentioned before, the menu is pretty huge!  I only wish I could've gotten a better look at it.  It was pretty busy, the line to order was quite long, but you couldn't really see the menu until you got close to ordering.  And there was too much on the menu (I always have trouble with menus posted too high and far away for me too see them anyway) to have to be so rushed!  Despite this, I did my best.  I scanned the specials, because they were closest to me (you can't find them online, I don't think).  Wowsers, I went with the sundried tomato, broccoli and cheese quiche, but it was a hard choice.  I saw someone being served a beautiful piece of salmon on my way in and there and spied some really mouth watering salad and soup of the day choices as well.  But, since Hubs hates quiche and he wasn't there, I ordered the heck out of it.  My friend who suggested this place recommended we split the frites.  Yum.  Can you say, basil aioli dip??  Yeah, I can, and I can eat it too!  So good.  These frites were cooked perfectly and seasoned with just the right amount of salt and fresh herbs.  The quiche was also super tasty (haha, tasty quiche, at Taste...weird).  It was really creamy and the crust was flaky and buttery.  A nice portion too and served with fresh fruit or a salad, I opted for fruit.  Grapes and pineapple and granny smiths, oh my!

The Verdict


If you read the rest of this post, I think the verdict is probably obvious.  If you just jumped to this point...please get over to Taste immediately.  You won't be sorry and you will have a lunch or brunch from deliciously fresh foods and maybe you can convince yourself it's okay to have one of the amazing desserts.  I might just have to go for dessert next!  This little area of SoBro is so cute and I love the feeling.  It felt a little more grown up than BR and really tickled my foodie side.

Kobe Beef Burgers and Strawberry-Kiwi Salad

Last night I made some Kobe beef burgers, which I do fairly often because they are one thing I make that Hubs really likes.  I have a few go to recipes that I make when I don't feel like being too creative or going to too much trouble for a during the week dinner, and burgers are one of them.  I started ordering fresh, organic produce from Green B.E.A.N. delivery a few months ago, and it's been great.  They have a really nice variety of fresh fruits and veggies AND they also deliver other things, like organic meats, eggs, milk and a slew of other organic and local goodies.  Well, they happen to have this Joseph DeCuis Kobe beef that is from right here in Roanoke, Indiana.  So, I thought I would give it  a try.  If you haven't had Kobe beef burgers, I think you too oughtta give them a whirl.  They are so good, they almost melt in your mouth.  I like to make my burgers with bread crumbs, an egg, worschestire sauce, salt, pepper, italian seasoning and garlic powder.  Hubs and I almost prefer them to getting burgers out (except that burgers out means I don't have to do dishes!!).  A delicious burger on a fresh sesame seed bun topped with cheddar or havarti or meunster (I loooovee cheese!) is one of our favorite meals these days.

Hubs enjoyed his burger with cheddar and nice mason jar full o' some craft beer I'm sure :)

I typically try to pair the burgers with something kind of healthy, it depends on what we have from our bi-weekly delivery from Green B.E.A.N.  Often it's sweet potato fries with cinnamon or green beans, but since strawberries are in season right now and spinach seems to be in great supply these days too, I decided to whip up a refreshing strawberry-kiwi salad.  Maybe the weather will start to cooperate and salads can slowly be worked back into the menu!  I find it hard to eat cold food when it's so cold outside and I do miss a nice, crisp salad, so it was a yummy treat.  Simple and clean, green romaine, spinach, strawberries, kiwi, walnuts and wild maine blueberry vinaigrette.   I finally get to use some of my new salad serving dishes we got for our wedding too!!  Double awesome :)

The other cool part about this dinner was that we watched the Gators win in the sweet sixteen last night!!  Go Gators.  On to play Butler now, should be interesting being Gators in Bulldog country.  Don't hate us for being scaly...and awesome :)  Should be a fun game.