After a weekend of soft openings, Taste, Wood Fired Fare officially opened today at 1201 Strassner Drive (formerly Intaglia) in Brentwood. The restaurant is owned by twin brothers Casey and Curt Friedrichs of St. Louis.
The inaugural menu has been pared-down a bit, with a selection of 3 steaks and 3 salads, plus 6 signature pizzas and the choice to build your own. The menu will expand as the restaurant becomes established.
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Taste is unusual in that it uses only one cooking apparatus—a wood-fired oven made by Renato—to cook all menu items. When asked how it cooks a steak, Casey Friedrichs noted that “the oven cooks from both top and bottom, so there’s no need to even flip it over.”
On a side note, Relish has learned that attorneys for Gerard Craft, the majority owner of the other Taste (at 4584 Laclede in the Central West End), have sent the brothers a request to cease and desist, claiming infringement on an established brand, but, according to the Friedrichs’, as Craft’s restaurant neither had a logo for Taste nor protected the name, the Brentwood Taste appears to be in the clear legally.
When asked to comment, Craft took the high road by repeating an adage: “Well, you know they say that imitation is the best form of flattery…”
