Wow, I take a late lunch yesterday and restaurant hell (wait, make that heaven) breaks loose.
The food scribes had been biding their time awaiting official word from Gerard Craft that his Taste by Niche will be changing locations. Yesterday, it became officially official: Taste will be moving into the old Moxy space at 4584 Laclede and mixologist Ted Kilgore can finally pack up his tinctures, his eyedroppers, and his taste straws, and head to the CWE. The larger Taste is slated to open sometime in December.
In the just-released October 2010 issue of SLM, Craft scored a first-time trifecta: all three of his restaurants were listed in the bi-annual "Best Restaurants in St. Louis" cover article (ahem, on newsstands now). That was no surprise; what was a surprise was Craft's trifecta of an announcement yesterday: that Taste would move to the CWE, that Niche would move into the vacated Taste space, and that original Niche would soon be home to something entirely new, Porano, an homage to the village in Italy where, as reported by Ian Froeb of the RFT, Craft had "arguably the best meal of my life. In somebody's house." Alright already, you've got us licking our chops, Gerard.
On hearing the news, I reviewed an SLM Kitchen Q&A interview published in April 2010, where Craft discussed all of his restaurants. He conceded that Taste was "a bit small," he was looking to “find a place that’s a little larger,” and that he "loved the CWE." At that time, though, there was no indication his opening an Italian-themed restaurant, but he did mention "refining the Niche concept." Restaurants MUST refine and redefine. How many local restaurants haven't done so...to their detriment? Scores of them. Being realistic, the 5 year old, 85-seat Niche remains popular, but is not the "tough table" it was in years past. The new 18-seat Niche will reinvigorate the exclusivity factor of Craft's multi-course tasting menus and will continue to be the venue where he is "really free to create." Well done and nicely played, Mr. Craft.
What was not mentioned anywhere in his release or in yesterday's hubbub was another offshoot that we discussed in that Q &A: Home by Niche, Craft's logical move to bring the Niche (or the Taste) experience directly into people's homes. So I asked him about that. "Home by Niche is very much in play, it's definitely something we're doing, and it's proceeding at a nice pace," he said, "But once the Moxy space became available, moving Taste became the priority, which got me excited...the entire Niche staff is really excited to take these next steps."
Believe this, Gerard: the St. Louis dining community shares in that excitement. Bring it on.
