A FOREIGN TASTE

Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★⭑

Fine Dining with Dishes, Spices, & Techniques from Throughout the World

Perfect For: Upscale Dining; Date Night; Drinks; Breakfast/Brunch

Standout Dishes: Chef’s Tasting Menu

A Foreign Taste seeks to do something very bold: take its guests to different parts of the world without leaving its dining room. To highlight cuisine from France, South Africa, Italy, Australia, and Spain under one roof is a lofty goal, and while A Foreign Taste doesn’t execute it perfectly, it has the skill and potential to match its ambition.

Nothing about the exterior of the restaurant (located off 144th and Fort St) screams fine dining, but that changes the moment you enter. The restaurant is warm and elegant, with wood-paneled floors and walls, white tablecloths, and a comfortable bar that’s so popular it’s unusual to see an empty seat. Wine is at the core of A Foreign Taste’s DNA, and its cellar includes bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Châteauneuf du Pape, and far more from all over the globe.

It’s not uncommon to see restaurants take such a global approach to libations, but food is a different story. The kitchen is run by chef Gabriel Bowser, who cut his culinary teeth under award-winning chef Clayton Chapman at The Grey Plume. His skills and experience allow him to employ spices and techniques to create plates from all around the world.

The ever-changing menu might feature Australian-inspired lamb chops, paired with roasted mushrooms, polenta, and fig jam. You could find roasted duck (South Africa), a butter basted fillet (France), or beet-dyed tajarin pasta (Italy) with brussels, carrots, shallots, balsamic reduction, crab meat and fried capers. The “global cuisine” umbrella presents a blank canvas for Gabriel to paint on.

While each dish can showcase a different part of the globe, the Chef’s Tasting Menu is the route to take if you want the full culinary tour. This six-course experience pings you back and forth between continents over the course of several hours. You don’t order any dishes; you simply place yourself in the hands of the chef and trust him to deliver a delicious meal.

The tasting menu changes periodically to accomodate seasonal ingredients and keep things fresh. Allow our recent experience to provide a template of what to expect as the meal moves from light opening dishes to heavier proteins and a sweet finish (dishes listed in order of arrival).

Beef Tartare: Yes, it’s safe to eat the raw beef that served as the base of the dish. It was finely cut, giving it a smooth mouthfeel, and the pickled vegetables added nice acidity. A sourdough chip lended texture.
Tomato Soup: This soup was anything but simple. The bowl began with a bacon leek panna cotta and a dollop of creme fraiche, which are drowned under a creamy tomato soup poured tableside. Mixing it all together created a rich sweet/salty combo, as if bacon and fresh tomatoes met in a heavenly blender. Crisp crumbles of bacon brought texture and reinforced the bacon flavor.
Mushroom Walnut Cappellacci: Supple pasta parcels had a nice al dente bite with a toasted nut flavor from the whole-milled flour. A butternut squash puree and sauteed delicata squash added a nice sweetness, which was cut by crumbles of tangy chevre cheese.
Seared Scallop: The buttery crustacean had a hard sear on one side, creating a caramelized exterior that added to the rich sweetness of the scallop. A delightful hazelnut puree reinforced the sweet notes, but tart pickled cherries and a jalapeno relish provided balance to keep the dish from being too sugar-forward.
Beef Bavette: While the hanger steak itself was a bit chewy and didn’t burst with flavor, everything else about this dish sang. The short rib, unctuous and fatty, was the best bite of the night, and the crispy layers of the potato pave were the fine-dining version of stacked hash browns.
Dark Chocolate and Passionfruit: A long, thin rail of dark chocolate topped with a passionfruit gelee, this dish was the lone miss of the night. The chocolate, while rich and delicious, was so solidified that it was difficult to cut through, and the gelee had too much gelatin and was a bit gummy. But the flavor combination of the bitter dark chocolate and the sweet, tangy passionfruit was a brilliant pairing, and the passionfruit mousse added a cool, creamy element to tie it all together.

Overall, the menu was balanced and covered a wide spectrum of flavors. After six courses (not counting the amuse bouche), we were quite full and impressed with the variety of techniques and dishes that were showcased.

If there was one thing I thought was missing from the tasting menu, it was a connection to A Foreign Taste’s commitment to global cuisine. While our waitress provided detailed descriptions of each dish’s components, I yearned to know which country inspired each dish, and what spices and flavors were transporting me to that region. That’s probably just the food nerd in me coming out, but those details would’ve added a special touch that furthered the restaurant’s mission.

But my minor quibbles with A Foreign Taste end there. From the moment we entered the restaurant until we paid our bill, we were treated warmly. The atmosphere gives the feel of upscale dining but without the snooty, stuffy vibe.

A Foreign Taste also offers brunch on the weekends, with a tempting menu packed with modernized dishes like Brioche French Toast, Lox Benedict, and the A.F.T. Omelette stuffed with that dream-worthy short rib.

Whether you’re stopping in for a glass of wine, a casual date night, a refined tasting menu, or an upscale take on brunch, A Foreign Taste has what you’re looking for.

This young restaurant is still refining the elements of its bold ambition, but based on my experiences, I’m willing to bet it gets there and brings something new to the Omaha dining scene.