Ok, we took the bait.
After reading three week's--and three pages--worth of posts in an Eat at Joe's forum titled "The BEST fillet mignon--EVER," Relish had to see what all the hubbub was about, so last night we tasted that filet. Was it...the BEST, EVER?
Before offering up the answer, a little background: The restaurant responsible for the alleged BEST was not a Citizen Kane's or a Ruth's Chris or a Morton's, but a much more unlikely place, a neighborhood bar and grill, in Chesterfield, named Satchmo's.
Formerly PJ's Bar and Grill, Satchmo's has been at 13375 Olive for 10 years. When Chris and Lisa Melton bought it three years ago, their intent was to ratchet up the existing pub fare. One look at the menu--with items like a Pesto Chicken Stack and pork and apple Hash A Go Go---indicates that, if properly executed, they have succeeded.
Stachmo's looks like many other local B&G's: a lot of regulars, a lot of specials, and a clean, but lived-in, look--there's no pretense, no smoking, and certainly no high expectations. (Compare to The Tavern, a new age B&G whose more polished look justifies higher expectations.)
In the case of the filet, though, Satchmo's certainly delivered: a ten-ounce filet arrived MR as ordered, perched atop a smashed potato and a spray of broccolini; atop the steak, button mushrooms sauteed in a liberal amount of Gorgonzola butter, the latter seeping happily into the potato below. The accompanying salad, a chopped mix of field greens and baby arugula with a scatter of veggies tossed in avocado-ranch cut with a feta-vinaigrette, was an above-average surprise as well.
The most interesting part of this exercise? Since that first flattering post, Melton has upped his tenderloin order each successive weekend to the point where current steak sales are now 3X base level and continue to increase every week. For the Easter weekend, Satchmo's will also offer soft shell crabs, after selling out of them last weekend.
The filet dinner is available only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and comes in two sizes: a six-ouncer for $17 and the aforementioned 10-ouncer for $20.
So is it the BEST filet EVER? No. It does not compare to a filet at a Prime steak house at double the price, but is it the best value-priced steak deal in town? The 10-ouncer at $20 is, absolutely.
Most impressively, though, this steak shows us the power a single item--and a single blogpost--can have on a restaurant's business... and maybe its ultimate success.
