It’s amazing what people can do. Earlier this month, we reported that The Fatted Calf, the beloved burger spot that has sat at 12 S. Bemiston Ave., in Clayton for more than 40 years, would close at the end of June if business did not pick up significantly. Well, as St. Louis Magazine’s George Mahe reported, St. Louisans heard the restaurant’s cry.
Now, Riverfront Times’ Ian Froeb reports that instead of getting ready to close the doors to the legendary restaurant as the end of the month nears, owners Kathleen and Jason Portman have signed a new three-year lease and are even hiring new staff members. “There’s no question that business has dramatically increased,” Kathleen Portman told The Scoop, noting that they have reached their goal of 100 additional diners a day. The pickup in business, she said, has been mostly during lunch hours both from local businesses and individual diners, with lines out the door every day. “I just want everyone to know we are so grateful and so appreciative of what everyone did.”
But as the couple prepares to turn the page on this very eventful month, the uncertainty of the future is not lost on them. “We’re hoping we can sustain this,” revealed Portman. “It’s a little scary, but hopefully it will be all good.”
This article appears in June 2011.