I discovered College Park's Taste soon after I moved to Orlando via Orlando Chow, a book that highlights the best of Central Florida dining. At the time the place was exactly the type of thing you'd expect in the art district of a big city, but without the big crowds.
Since that time the menu hasn't changed but the management and ambience have. You can still order delicious tapas dishes like shrimp bruschetta and hot tots and gorgonzola cake with house made flatbreads, but the result isn't the same. At 5:45pm the new owner was the only staff in sight, and she was managing the bar, the tables, and the kitchen by herself. (Around 6:15 two others showed up, one of whom wandered around quietly placing menus on empty tables and folding dozens of napkins with silverware at the bar.)
Gone was the former ambience that is still displayed in pictures on Taste's website. The air was warm, the ambient lighting behind the wall art turned off, and the annoying din of FM radio that alternated between equal parts car and appliance commercials and bad 90s alternative music played in the background.
My heart broke as I noshed on the familiar recipes and thought of all the times I'd recommended the place to male friends as a place to bring a date if you really wanted to make an impression. This building, with its storied history of being a former ballet studio, the Chapters bookstore and coffee house, and now Taste, has seen better days than these. Here's hoping the place can make a comeback before it loses all of its adoring fans.
