First there was Gerard Craft's Taste by Niche in Benton Park, which recently begat Adam Altnether's Taste (no longer "by Niche") in the CWE. Now along comes Taste, Wood Fired Fare at 1201 Strassner (next door to Houlihan's) in Brentwood.
The owner/operators are Casey and Curt Friedrichs, twin brothers with 5 years experience at the popular Houston's chain of restaurants, and their father, Bill Friedrichs, a former partner at PJ's Tavern in Kirkwood. The Friedrichs' had explored several big city markets before deciding on something in their hometown. The Strassner location just happened to dovetail with the Friedrich's long-term business plan "to take vacant sites and tailor a concept to that location," noted Casey Friedrichs. "We liked that there were no sit-down pizza restaurants in the immediate area." The Friedrichs' have formulated "8 to 12 concepts" and are "just looking for the right location for each one."
The focal point at this Taste is the pizza oven, a 9000 pound, 9-foot diameter gas-assisted wood-burner manufactured by Renato, "the largest in town and the finest pizza oven in the world," according to Friedrichs. The 800 degree oven, capable of cooking a pizza or toasting a sandwich in less than 2 minutes, "will be Taste's sole piece of cooking equipment." Friedrichs noted that "There's no fryer, no microwave, no stove, and no hood...just that oven."
Not surprisingly, the restaurant will be "geared to high-volume, approachability, and affordability," The pizzas will have "an authentic hand-made, traditional Italian-style dough" and be priced aggressively.
Since the dining room and bar are located on opposite ends of the building, Taste will be both family-friendly and geared for the post-21 crowd. The bar will feature "value-driven but unique offerings, like Four Roses Bourbon and Pendleton Canadian whiskey. Same thing holds true with our glass wines....we just want to share what we've found."
Besides having an oven that cooks at breakneck speed, the Friedrichs' have designed the entire restaurant around efficiency, in an effort to reinstill the lost art of service. When pressed for specifics, Relish got the ol' "wait and see." Which we'll do...until mid May, when the twins plan to fire up that humongous Renato.
