Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
“This one will scream a little bit,” says Michael Sullivan, describing the sea blue-hued accents of the new 801 Fish, slated open in mid-November a stone crab’s throw across Carondelet Plaza from the more sedate 801 Chophouse. Sullivan, the exec chef at Chop who’s moving over to Fish, expects the city’s priciest seafood restaurant to create just as big a splash. When the Chophouse opened to rave reviews less than a mile from two other high-end steakhouses, the naysayers fell silent. And considering St. Louis has so few restaurants (of any caliber) that focus on seafood, this time around there may not be any naysayers. Chef Sullivan tells us why.
When did you get your start in the business? Back in 1982, my grandparents bought a lodge in Pittsburgh, New Hampshire, on the Canadian border. My family’s been running it ever since. I grew up at that lodge. I moved there when I was two. So you could say I started early.
Does the lodge serve things like duck and wild game? Now, but not initially. My mom used to cook breakfast and dinner seven days a week, but only one entrée per night. Monday night was turkey night, Tuesday night was pot roast. Now at dinner it’s pheasant, venison, and ostrich. The place really took off in the last 10 years.
When did you decide definitively to be come a chef? It was my senior year in school —two years in culinary then two in restaurant management—when I decided to come back home, to the lodge, and make it more like it is today.
Did anything surprise you along the way? When I was working at Todd English’s restaurants I learned that even at celebrity restaurants customers identify with the people who are actually doing the cooking, people like me, because the famous chef is hardly ever there. Ultimately, great food was the driver, not the name above the door.
Were there any other culinary stops along the way? I worked in a restaurant in North Carolina for a year. My only concern then was to move far enough south to not have to deal with snow.
Why did you get the call to come to St. Louis? Apparently, part of the plan for me originally coming to Chop was the underlying thought of opening an 801 Fish, and with all my prior experience in seafood, I would be the logical choice to step in. [smiles] I didn’t know about any of this…but they seemed to. As it ends up, Fish is about 30 steps away.
Talk about 801 Fish…how’s it the same as Chop? How is it different? There’s a straight line kitchen which means better communication. The chef’s bar seats four, as opposed to 12 in Leawood [Fish’s only other location]. And we’ll be open for both brunch and lunch. Leawood is dinner only.
What will be a big seller at 801 Fish? Cioppino is popular and representative. You taste the freshness of the shrimp, scallops, clams, and mussels, and there’s a big piece of fresh bread alongside. At Leawood, it’s sea bass is the thing: at $42, it’s the most expensive dish on the menu and it’s the most ordered. Linguini and clams sells well. Lobster risotto, with a half or full tail on top and meat mixed in, will probably be big. That said, favorites are not consistent from market to market.
Will you cook whole fish and debone it at the table? Absolutely. And only at the table unless requested otherwise. Wheeled out on a gueridon and cleaned on a wooden block, the presentation is spectacular. Otherwise, all you see is the two fillets on your plate. You’ve missed the show.
Do you have a daily habit, something you’re obsessed with? On my way into work I have to listen to 98.5 The Sports Hub, in Boston. I need to hear about the sports teams that I had to leave behind. And I only drink iced coffee. I don’t know why.
What’s your favorite herb or spice? Basil. It goes in a lot of things I make, and all the curries.
What one will you never use? [sneers] Lavender. Not in food, tea, or soap.
What’s the craziest customer request you ever received? And did you oblige? At Chop, I was asked if I could cook a dish from another restaurant here in town. I said, yes, I guess I could cook a lobster stuffed filet, but I felt like we were being tested and that I might mess it up. I said, “well, here’s our version,” and they ended up liking it but the whole time I was thinking, “why didn’t you just go there?”
Will the service at Fish be different than Fish? The professionalism and knowledge will be the same, but Fish will be a little less formal. The staff will wear gray vests instead of green coats. Using gueridons will not be mandatory, like it is at Chop. Both restaurants have smaller server sections—one fewer table instead of one more—and everyone’s doing just fine. No one’s eating bean’s off the radiator.
How expensive will Fish be? Entrees will run $30-$40 for generally an 8 ounce portion of fish and. Plates at Fish are composed, unlike Chop where most items are a la carte, yet check averages in Leawood average $80 per person. We thought they’d be closer to $50. No telling what they’ll be here.
There are very few seafood restaurants in St. Louis. Did that give you pause when considering Fish? The founder [Jimmy Lynch] says the best restaurant he ever owned or conceived was 8th St. Seafood Bar & Grill in Des Moines. Jimmy is a seafood lover who travels the world and he believes that most places just aren’t executing fish properly. He wants fish to be the star—a big, 8 ounce presence, not something hidden or matter of fact.
Has shipping fresh fish to the Midwest continued to become more streamlined? It’s communication that has improved. You can now see which boat is catching what, plus get a picture of the fisherman and his boat. It’s like Uber. If I want Mahi out of North Carolina, I can see I might want to contact Captain Ron, who also appears to have a pretty cool boat.
Will you do the “team drop” and “team clear,” like they do at Fish, where a group of staffers attends to a table at once? We call that “swarm” service, and yes, guests will experience that at Fish. All our food runners are servers, too. We want everyone the guest contacts to be able to answer any question or get them another drink.
Talk about the beverage program. We hired a local beverage professional and sommelier, Jorie Taylor, who will run the wine and cocktail program. You’ll see craft brews from local places like Modern Brewery available as well. We think the Fish customer may be more open to trying different things than the steakhouse customer.
How much meat do you think you’ll sell at Fish? In Leawood, the ratio is high, like 90/10. There are be steaks on the menu, of course, but if we don’t have the cut someone wants, we can most likely get it from Chop, 30 seconds away.
How mush fish do you sell at 801 Chop? There, it’s more than you’d think. A lot of Chop’s regulars come specifically for fish and get it every time. There are nights when the whole table orders fish. Some nights I feel like I’m living in Bizarroworld.
Discuss the symbiosis of two restaurants being placed right next to one another? With barely overlapping concepts, we hope to attract customer sat least once, and hopefully twice.
The 801 restaurant group has three concepts. Has there been discussion of putting a Pig & Finch in St. Louis? There are two Pig & Finch’s and both are successful, partly because it is cheaper and less formal still, so yes, putting a Pig in St. Louis has been discussed.
Would the group consider putting a Pig & Finch on the same street? The metro area does not have what we bring to the table. And quite frankly, we’re challenged to open places that are different—at dinner, brunch, and lunch—and kick ass at it. It’s refreshing for Jimmy, and invigorating for us.
The Fish address in Clayton has been home to several failed concepts. Did that concern anyone? We’re a process-based company. Our systems have worked in several Midwest markets. Follow them and chances are you’ll succeed. Do a good job and people respond. At one location, there were people saying we’d be closed in six months. That was 22 years ago.
