Post-Dispatch file photo
Taste
Change has come again to Gerard Craft’s Taste, but its appeal remains undiminished. Since my last visit for the STL 100, Matt Wynn, who worked for Craft at Niche and Sardella and who most recently was at Good Fortune, has stepped into the executive chef role, while Nick Digiovanni of the late Público is now bar manager. Under Wynn, the kitchen continues to turn out small plates more thoughtful and flavorful than many restaurants’ main courses, like carrots cooked in bacon fat with pickled shallots, smoky blue cheese, bread crumbs and a sunflower-oat granola or gnocchi and hen of the wood mushrooms under a cap of fontina cheese with an unexpected chile kick. Digiovanni and the bar team have maintained Taste’s tradition of honoring classic cocktails and offering inventive, cheekily named new creations.
Hours: Dinner daily
Last year's ranking: Rest of the Best
Opened: 2009