Located in the Seattle Art museum, TASTE is a sleek, bright white eatery that dares to be different, with spurts of success. Large floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto a busy downtown street, which makes for great people-watching. The menu is essentially fancy versions of traditional comfort food—the Stokesberry fried chicken and waffles, served with zippily dressed collard greens, is an excellent brunch dish. Some would argue that the main drawback at happy hour or dinner is the prices—slightly higher than you’d expect, with Karen Carpenter portions. (The skimpy patty on the happy hour burger is just a tease, and we wish there were a little more smoked salmon on the tasty flatbread.) A perk, though, for green-minded folks: TASTE’s menu is almost completely locally sourced.

The highlights at TASTE are the whimsical desserts, heavily geared to bringing back any warm-fuzzy childhood feelings. The warm cookie plate is an assortment of mini classics, all hot and gooey from the oven, with a shot of milk. “Grandma’s Caramel Rolls” are sticky and cinnamony-sweet with a lovely pool of caramel sauce for dipping. And need we mention there’s a peanut-butter-and-jelly ice-cream sandwich to be had? We wish these were available back in the day for after-school noshing. Jem and the Holograms would’ve dubbed them truly outrageous.