{"id":86597,"date":"2025-08-04T13:59:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T20:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=86597"},"modified":"2025-08-04T14:35:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T21:35:05","slug":"taste-wine-beer-kitchen-reopen-olives-grocer-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/taste-wine-beer-kitchen-reopen-olives-grocer-pandemic","title":{"rendered":"The pandemic shut them down; 5 years later, this popular wine bar and restaurant is back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A well-liked neighborhood restaurant has been given new life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taste Wine-Beer-Kitchen, a small space attached to a gourmet grocery store, was a stalwart in the Bluff Heights area from 2015 until 2020, when it shut down during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of last month, it\u2019s been revived, with a curated wine selection and a new seasonal menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re pretty excited to be back open. I think with the menu concept and the changes that we’ve put in place, it’s going to be fun for the community,\u201d said Erin O\u2019Hagan, owner of Taste and the neighboring Olives Gourmet Grocer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Taste\u2019s space was originally used for small events and as a storage room for Olives until one day O\u2019Hagan and chef Brad Neumann decided they wanted to make better use of it and open a spot for locals to get a nice meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was just time to turn this space into something more,\u201d O\u2019Hagan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For five years, the New American restaurant was open six days a week and was fairly popular. But at the start of the pandemic, they shut down. Other restaurants survived by pivoting to to-go orders, but Taste’s menu didn\u2019t adapt well to take-out. O\u2019Hagan decided it was best to close, and Taste once again became an extra space for Olives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few years, O\u2019Hagan and Neumann dipped their toe back in by starting to host monthly wine dinners in the Taste space. They featured five to six-course meals usually crafted around a small selection of wines or showcasing a single ingredient, such as a corn dinner that even featured a corn ice cream for dessert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every month at these wine dinners, people would ask if Taste would ever reopen. O\u2019Hagan and Neumann never seriously considered it until they met Chad Alger, who was looking to open a wine bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeyond just being knowledgeable about the wine world and what’s going on, I truly do love wine, and I want to bring that joy to everybody else,\u201d Alger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shrimp La Plancha with chili compound butter and grilled rustic bread at Taste Wine-Beer-Kitchen in Long Beach, Monday, July 28, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mexican-Style Grilled Corn with jalape\u00f1o, onion, crema, cilantro and lime. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once Alger was aboard as the sommelier, the team reopened on July 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t think in life, you get too many second chances,\u201d Neumann said. \u201cThis is our chance to be the best possible restaurant that we can. We\u2019re not really changing the core of what it is. We’re just making everything better on every single level, and that includes the food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before COVID, Neumann tried to \u201cpush boundaries a little bit more\u201d with the food he was making. The menu after reopening has been simplified to put the food and wine on a level playing field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey fit together like a glove in so many ways, not just like this dish has to have this wine, but multiple pairings,\u201d Neumann said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alger looks for wines from all over the world that would complement the food Neumann makes but also stand on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Burrata and Heirloom Tomato with EVOO, saba, basil, maldon salt, fresh cracked pepper, and grilled bread. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Summer Bucatini Pasta with house-made noodles, tomato confit sauce, capers, olives and basil. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fun part, too, is finding those wines from all over the world that really fit the community, what they’re asking for, and kind of introducing them to some new things that they may not be aware of,\u201d Alger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire menu is based on seasonality. Current menu offerings include summer bucatini pasta for $18, shrimp la plancha for $24, and burrata and heirloom tomatoes with grilled bread for $16. The goal is to create \u201csummer on a plate,\u201d Neumann said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, customers have been excited to see Taste reopen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alger gave the example of a couple that used to come in regularly and recently returned for one last dinner before moving to Tennessee. Though they had to leave at 4 a.m. the next day, the couple didn\u2019t leave the restaurant until about 10 p.m. because they were having such a good time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Milk & Cookies with brown butter, pecan, sea salt cookies, vanilla pot de cr\u00e8me. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo me, that’s a high compliment,\u201d Alger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving forward, O\u2019Hagan, Neumann and Alger are excited to continue to be a part of the Long Beach food scene and for Taste to continue to evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taste Wine-Beer-Kitchen, 3506 E Broadway, is open Thursday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI don’t think in life, you get too many second chances. This is our chance to be the best possible restaurant that we can,” said Brad Neumann, chef at Taste Wine-Beer-Kitchen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":86543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"\u201cI don't think in life, you get too many second chances. This is our chance to be the best possible restaurant that we can,\" said Brad Neumann, chef at Taste Wine-Beer-Kitchen.","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32346],"class_list":["post-86597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86597"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86605,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86597\/revisions\/86605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86597"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=86597"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=86597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}