This is the third time that I've reviewed a restaurant run by husband-and-wife team Emily and Corey Faucon. The first was downtown Springfield's Long Nine, the second was when they ran Broadgauge in Petersburg and the third and most recent is their new spot in Petersburg, Mom + Pop's. Just like the first two reviews, we were again pleased with their new venture and believe it justifies the drive out there.
We visited late in the lunch hour, close to 1 p.m., and Mom + Pop's was about a third full. Most of our fellow diners did not appear to be on working lunches.
Mom + Pop's holds itself out as a modern diner. The physical space certainly resembles a diner with its simple tables, wooden wainscoting and hand-painted flowers on the wall. Unlike their time at Long Nine, there is plenty of seating and patrons no longer order at the counter.
The place is only open for dinner on Wednesday (fried chicken buffet, 5-7:30 p.m.) and Friday (chef's dinner menu, 5-7:30 p.m.) and is closed Sunday and Monday. If you follow the Facebook page, you will see that many of the dinners have a unique pop-up menu that usually revolves around a theme. Recently that included an Oktoberfest where patrons were invited to bring their own beer. There's also a wide variety of daily lunch specials, which included the French dip when we dined.
Mom + Pop's core menu (currently the summer menu) is in keeping with what they've been doing over the past years. Bread is made on premises, most items are homemade, Southern elements are prevalent, portions are well-sized and everything is well-seasoned. As their menu claims: Mom says, "We do things the old-fashioned way because it just tastes better," and Pop says, "We do what we do because we love it and are darn good at it."
We were tempted to try one of the handful of fried chicken lunches ($13-$15) but were too tempted by some of the other offerings. Notable items included the blue-plate country pork (pork loin, buttermilk marinated and chicken fried with white gravy, green beans, mashies and homemade bread - $14) and the chicken crack corn (grilled chicken, creamy street corn, pico, rice, citrus greens and avocado crema - $15).
Instead, we went with the Petersburger, the Long Nine turkey sammich and the breaded pork tenderloin sammich. All items were $15 and came with ranch-house fries.
The breaded pork tenderloin was quite thick and perfectly crispy. I appreciated the generous amount of salt that was in the breading. It came with their homemade pickles, red onion and a green chile jam. I am generally not a fan of sweet items and, quite frankly, wish that Mom + Pop's had bread and pickles that were less sweet. But the jam was an exception. It was not spicy, but it brought together all of the elements and helped elevate the dish. Like our other orders, it came with a heaping pile of wedge-cut fries that were also nice and crisp.
The turkey sandwich came on focaccia bread and consisted of turkey breast, buttermilk ranch (homemade, of course), cheese and bacon. This is a sandwich that you'll see at any number of diners or pubs. The dish was ordered by my wife, who consented to allowing me to taste it. We both agreed that it was an amped-up turkey, cheese and bacon sandwich that elevated itself above its peers. Well done.
Our other guest went with the Petersburger. It was a double smash burger served with the works, cheddar cheese and 'burg sauce on a griddled bun. A smash burger is not your usual thick, grilled, medium-rare burger. Instead, it's smashed flat over a searingly hot flat-grill until it develops into a crispy, craggy, non-uniform, cooked-through patty that's juicy, caramelized and beefy. It was made with ground beef from a local farm. After extended discussion, it was decided that this was a good thing, as the quality beef helped generate a well-browned burger (what's called the Maillard reaction) that created very deep and savory flavors and aromas. The 'burg sauce reportedly didn't overpower the dish, but rather, helped develop even more flavor. I managed to snag a bite and would definitely get this on my next visit.
As to that next visit, the drive from downtown Springfield to Mom + Pop's is about 30 minutes each way. Add in the time to actually dine and you have close to a two-hour lunch, which likely explains why most of the diners did not appear to be the work crowd. That's really the only downside we could find, but it was more than offset by the good food and attentive service we received.
