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While we agree that St. Louis has its share of well-prepared steaks and respectable steakhouses, we must admit we are intrigued by the offerings at Andria's Countryside Restaurant (7415 Illinois 143) in Edwardsville.
West of the river, in our little burg, we're no strangers to the best of the bovine descriptors--like Certified Angus Beef (CAB), USDA Prime, All Natural, and Niman Ranch--but we haven't seen them in the same restaurant in reference to every single cut of beef.
This information is not well known.
Today, Craig Tarpoff of Andria's Countryside (the Andria's in O'Fallon has a different owner) reminded us that his restaurant is the only one in the area serving strictly USDA Prime, All Natural Certified Angus Beef from Niman Ranch. In conjunction with PFG Middendorf, he's done so since the fall of last year. Tarpoff also told us that careful attention must be paid to the word "Natural": while many ranchers take the "all natural" route for the last 120 days or so of a steer's life, Niman is all natural from birth, meaning no hormones, no antibiotics, nothing artificial, ever. In reality, Tarpoff says, much of the today's beef labeled "natural" should carry an asterisk.
Making a trip to Andria's doubly appealing is the price points: considering the base quality of the beef, an 8 ounce filet dinner (includes two sides) for $39 is hardly unreasonable.
So is the beef worth it...worth such a verbose description? Although Relish hasn't personally experienced the nuances of what appears to be a superlative piece of protein, we've just dispatched Dave Lowry, SLM's lead dining critic, to investigate....and made some reservations ourselves.
Additional information can be found on Andrias' recently updated website here.
