Sometimes a restaurant doesn’t fit a location, but does that mean the location is busted? Not necessarily. Even if the food was good at Il Carpaccio, locals clearly weren’t willing to spend $80 per person to eat at a strip mall, especially when there were more glamorous Italian options down the hill in Santa Monica. As a result, in February, Morten Kaag and John Halter stepped in and doubled up on Taste, their WeHo comfort food concept. Based on the steady stream of families we saw on a recent Sunday, and considering the hearty portions and relatively reasonable prices, it looks like Kaag and Halter may have found the right fit at 538 Palisades Drive.

Taste starts every meal with a basket of La Brea Bakery bread and a dish of hummus, stained green with cilantro, olive oil and garlic.

Executive Chef Brian Sheard, a Palisades native, delivers dishes like the Prosciutto & Fig Pizzetta ($10.75) slathered with black Mission fig jam, Gorgonzola and scallions.

Macaroni and cheese ($8.50) combines shell pasta, cremini mushrooms and a pungent drizzle of white truffle oil.

Every day, Taste offers different ravioli. On March 22, that meant pasta stuffed with a puree of pumpkin and sweet potato, served over a tangy bed of red chard and showered with pine nuts.

Grilled Prime flat iron steak ($26) comes with two panko-crusted potato croquettes, smoky asparagus spears and a small ramekin of Madeira wine sauce containing cremini mushrooms and caramelized shallots.

Taste’s signature dessert features a warm square of chocolate brioche bread pudding topped with vanilla gelato and mint.

On Mondays, Taste offers Wine Discovery Tuesdays, with a 50% discount on each bottle of wine. Every full moon, the day before and the day after, Taste hosts Aphrodisiac Nights, providing a special menu designed to “stimulate the senses.”

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This entry is filed under LA Culinary Compass.