Taste Cafe/Eat + Drink

With the recent opening of their Eat + Drink cocktail lounge and small-plates emporium, Deidra Henry and Marc Urwand, proprietors of Taste for nearly a decade, now have College Avenue diners covered morning, noon, and midnight. Smartly, they crib from their own playbook at the new spot, and the finger-friendly snacks offered at industrial-chic conversation nooks upstairs and in the cozier, fire-lit basement deliver the Taste flair familiar at brunch and dinner: earthy chicken-liver pate, deviled eggs with salmon roe, and the truffle frites that put this SoBro spot on the map. Long-time acolytes can still linger over breakfast strata and granola parfaits on the patio or take fork and knife to the signature “bacon chop” on weeknights. But now, an artfully shaken cocktail (try the egg white–topped Nosferatu, pictured) at E+D can cap the night.
BY THE POUND: Taste may have revised its original distinction as a “marketplace,” but fans continue to take home roasted-beet and chilled-asparagus salads in bulk.
EASY BEING GREEN: Vegetarians will enjoy a taste of the South in E+D’s pimiento-cheese sandwich featuring crisp fried green tomatoes.

PREVIOUS MENTIONS: Best Restaurants 2005, 2007–2008, 2010–2011, 2013
 
5168 N. College Ave., 317-925-2233, tastecafeandmarketplace.com and eatplusdrink.net
 

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This article appeared in the May 2014 issue.