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FL MORRIS
star-advertiser / 2012
Chefs Mark Noguchi and Lee Anne Wong work in the kitchen during an early Taste event.
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Kakaako restaurant incubator Taste has reached the end of its run after a little more than a year on Auahi Street.
The departure of storefronts along Auahi is part of the plan to transform the neighborhood into a hip urban destination for the art and fashion crowds, as well as create gathering places for residents of condominiums planned for the area. Construction on a new parking garage is scheduled to start in March, according to landowner Kamehameha Schools.
Launched by the Pili Group’s husband-and-wife team of Amanda Corby and chef Mark Noguchi in partnership with Brandon and Poni Askew of Street Grindz, Taste opened its kitchen to dozens of mobile food vendors who set up shop on a weekly basis for lunch and/or dinner service. A new group would replace them a few months later.
Taste’s concept was perfect for food-truck operators and working chefs who needed an affordable option to test concepts in a brick-and-mortar environment. The Pig & the Lady, Zaratez Mexicatessen, MW Restaurant and Cocina all had residencies in Kakaako.
Kamehameha Schools has the option of bringing back Taste once construction is complete. Corby said a return to Kakaako is a definite possibility.
"It’s not the end of Taste," she said. "It’s not going to come back in its exact same format, and probably not the same space, but you will see something similar because part of our mission is supporting the chef community."
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Visit tastetable.com.
