Starving Student: The best of both worlds: Filet mignon at a fast-food restaurant

Release date: December 19, 2007  /  Print This

Before I take my leave of absence from this column for the holidays I figured I might as well go all out and splurge on filet mignon.

The only problem is that it might have been a little difficult to convince accounting they should reimburse me for spending $25 or so on the tender cut of steak at a place like 5th Street Steakhouse.

Fortunately, a new restaurant just opened last week on Mangrove that serves filet mignon in a sandwich that is exactly in my price range. It might be the fanciest Starving Student meal of all time.

Tacone is a chain restaurant that caters to the Starbucks and Chipotle crowd who like their food fast and of higher quality than most drive-through fare. The food is marketed with an emphasis on being flavorful with a promise of freshness and variety.

The variety part is pretty true. Tacone serves wraps, sandwiches, quesadillas, soups, salads and smoothies with ingredients such as artichoke pesto spread, smoked gouda, jasmine rice and yes, filet mignon.

There are actually a few dishes that have filet mignon as the main ingredient, but the most affordable was the United Steak of America ($6.99 or $7.50 with tax), a sandwich stuffed with Caesar salad, melted jack cheese and rosemary-chili mayo on ciabatta bread. I was pretty pleased that just like a fancy restaurant I was even asked how I'd like the steak cooked.

Nearly every sandwich or entre comes with one or two sides, which range from a side salad to grilled veggies with feta cheese, to sweet potato fries. I went with a Thai cucumber salad, mostly because I've been living off of pizza and ramen noodles for the past week and figured my body needed the nutrition.

And then comes the best part about Tacone — the flavor bar. If you've read this column in past weeks you might remember my affinity for any restaurant that has some sort of island filled with free things, like Quizno's pickle bar for example.

Tacone's flavor bar is filled with several different sauces including a few tasty ranch and herb combinations and a delicious pesto. The food didn't necessarily need the sauce, because the rosemary-chili mayo was plenty on the sandwich, but faced with the choice to sauce or not sauce, I had to sauce.

Thumbs up to Tacone, which is open in 21 different states (but not Tennessee), for making me feel fancy during the most difficult times for a starving student — the holidays. Now it is time for me to return to Nashville and once again stockpile my belly with barbecue.

Sarah Kingsbury is a student at Chico State University and a part-time reporter. Each week she cruises the Chico area with one hour's minimum wage in her pocket, trying restaurants for their atmosphere, service and most importantly, their food. She can be reached at skingsbury@chicoer.com.