Tenderloin...It's an Iowa Thing?

I have been intreagued for some time by the discussion about Pork Tenderloin sandwiches rumored to be a local delicacyin Indianapolis and other Indiana destinations. Imagine my surprise today when I opened the Chicago Tribune only to find out that they are actually a proud creation of the Iowans. This article may be fightin' words to Indianapolitans, I don't know. All I know is that I hope to get to The Silo in Lake Bluff ASAP to find out what all the fuss is about...that is as soon as I can find out where Lake Bluff is. A Breaded Pork Cutlet the size of a hubcap on a bun sounds interesting enough to me to make the drive.

Silo Restaurant
625 Rockland Rd.
Lake Bluff, IL
847-234-6660

Hi,

They had other recommendations as well. Fortunately The Silo is maybe 15 minutes from me, so I plan to go there sometime very soon as well.

There is a truck stop on I-80 in Iowa which is supposed to make a great one.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

They had other recommendations as well. Fortunately The Silo is maybe 15 minutes from me, so I plan to go there sometime very soon as well.

There is a truck stop on I-80 in Iowa which is supposed to make a great one.

Regards,

Yes they did have quite a few other recs., but The Silo was the only one that got a 5 Oink rating from them. I didn't realize Lake Bluff was in that direction. It sounds much closer than I thought it was. For some reason, I pictured it near the Chain-O-Lakes.

HI,

From where I live, I would take 41 to 176 then go west for less than a mile. It is really quite close.

Regards,

fyi: in Indiana you can find a steak vs. as well. It's essentially a chicken-fried steak w/o the gravy.

Hi,

What now is the hunt for the pork tenderloin sandwich is really seeking the artisan. The restaurant which pounds their own tenderloin, breads it in their own 'secret' mix and fries it.

Whenever I see pork tenderloin sandwich, I ask them if they pound and bread it themselves? More and more the answer is it is purchased fresh from the freezer already breaded. The cook only has to drop it in the fryer.

If these tenderloins sandwiches are all made by hand, then the hunt would shift to which tastes best. I wish I found enough to do comparison tasting. So this Tribune article is a pretty good resource.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:The restaurant which pounds their own tenderloin, breads it in their own 'secret' mix and fries it.

Takkatsu.

stevez wrote:I have been intreagued for some time by the discussion about Pork Tenderloin sandwiches rumored to be a local delicacyin Indianapolis and other Indiana destinations. Imagine my surprise today when I opened the Chicago Tribune only to find out that they are actually a proud creation of the Iowans. This article may be fightin' words to Indianapolitans, I don't know. All I know is that I hope to get to The Silo in Lake Bluff ASAP to find out what all the fuss is about...that is as soon as I can find out where Lake Bluff is. A Breaded Pork Cutlet the size of a hubcap on a bun sounds interesting enough to me to make the drive.

Silo Restaurant
625 Rockland Rd.
Lake Bluff, IL
847-234-6660

Hi all. I found out about this site on Chowhound when I was looking for restaurants in Chicago serving pork tenderloin sandwiches. I don't know if they are fightin' words that Iowans think they created the pork tenderloin sandwich but when three reporters with Iowan roots says so it is probably a bit biased.

It has been pretty well documented that the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich was created in Huntington, IN in 1904 by a Nick Freinstein who later opened Nick's Kitchen in 1908, a restaurant still in operation and still serving pork tenderloin sandwiches. I have found no Iowa documentation that predates this. If there is I would like to see it.

I grew up in Indianapolis. Pork tenderloin sandwiches were not all that prominent in the 60s but it has sure changed since. There are several establishments serving a great sandwich now. It has gotten very competitive.

Anyway, I have a lot of information on my fun website...

http://www.porktenderloinsandwich.com

Check it out and enjoy. Hopefully later this month I will get the chance to try the "biggest" pork tenderloin sandwich in Iowa and the only one listed in the Des Moines Register's "100 foods to eat in Iowa before you die." The place is St. Olaf's Tavern in St. Olaf, IA in the northeast. Anyone had one there?

Davydd wrote:Hopefully later this month I will get the chance to try the "biggest" pork tenderloin sandwich in Iowa

If you really want to try a big pork tenderloin, buy a ticket to Vegas and head to Hash House A-Go-Go.

Hi,

Rene G and I have been plying the streets of northwest Indiana lately. ReneG noted pork tenderloin sandwiches are frequently offered there, while it is a rare offering in Chicago just over the boarder.

Regards,

I grew up in Indianapolis, born in 1966, and I have to say, my experiences with the pork tenderloin sandwich were ambivalent at best. That because it was all the preformed, chipped meat, frozen patties of crap that were served in my school lunch lines. I do recall once having a REAL tenderloin sandwich served in a restaurant somewhere in or near Marion, Indiana (my mother grew up in Grant County and many of my relatives were thereabouts, so there is something of a presumption on my part, based on my sketchy memories of a meal consumed 30 years ago, that it was in this region where I ate the one and only true tenderloin I ever ate in my life). So, I know your pain and perhaps, under other circumstances, would have undertaken your same quest, Davydd.

stevez wrote:

Davydd wrote:Hopefully later this month I will get the chance to try the "biggest" pork tenderloin sandwich in Iowa

If you really want to try a big pork tenderloin, buy a ticket to Vegas and head to Hash House A-Go-Go.

Steve,

Hash House A Go Go are a couple of Hoosiers trying to educate the west in Las Vegas and San Diego the finer points of Heartland dining. But they have to do it by drizzling ketchup on the plate, spearing it with a green sprig, and charging $23.95 to get those left coast Californians' attention.

I plan to get out there soon and I will even pay the price (from my slot machine winnings of course).

JimInLoganSquare wrote:I grew up in Indianapolis, born in 1966, and I have to say, my experiences with the pork tenderloin sandwich were ambivalent at best. That because it was all the preformed, chipped meat, frozen patties of crap that were served in my school lunch lines. I do recall once having a REAL tenderloin sandwich served in a restaurant somewhere in or near Marion, Indiana (my mother grew up in Grant County and many of my relatives were thereabouts, so there is something of a presumption on my part, based on my sketchy memories of a meal consumed 30 years ago, that it was in this region where I ate the one and only true tenderloin I ever ate in my life). So, I know your pain and perhaps, under other circumstances, would have undertaken your same quest, Davydd.

Ah Jim, that explains it. Your school was serving you what is called a pork fritter. McDonald's tried to test market that idea in Indiana a few years ago. Not many restaurants today in Indiana or Iowa will go that low, but I did have one from Tony's Pizza in Angola, IN when we were stuck in a snowstorm in a motel on the toll road and they were the only ones that would deliver. Should have ordered the Pizza.

If you check the pictures on my web site you will see many a tasty true tenderloin.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Rene G and I have been plying the streets of northwest Indiana lately. ReneG noted pork tenderloin sandwiches are frequently offered there, while it is a rare offering in Chicago just over the boarder.

Regards,

Hi Cathy. Very true about Chicago. You don't have to go very far away from the "I" state axis before tenderloins die out. The Silo, mentioned here often serves one. You can get one in Joliet at the Chicago Street Pub and one in in Elburn. After that I ran out of ideas and they were too far from where I was in Chicago.

Chicago has another take on the deep fried pork tenderloin sandwich. I had a double pork tenderloin last year at Petros on La Salle across from City Hall in the Loop and two weeks ago I had one at the New Archview Restaurant on Archer Avenue west of Damen. They serve them open face on crust trimmed white bread with mashed potatoes all slathered in gravy. They look like this...

The New Archview Restaurant breaded pork tenderloin sandwich

Davydd wrote:Chicago has another take on the deep fried pork tenderloin sandwich. I had a double pork tenderloin last year at Petros on La Salle across from City Hall in the Loop and two weeks ago I had one at the New Archview Restaurant on Archer Avenue west of Damen. They serve them open face on crust trimmed white bread with mashed potatoes all slathered in gravy. They look like this...

Looks good. How did they taste?

Best,
Michael

Davydd wrote:Chicago has another take on the deep fried pork tenderloin sandwich.

Very true. I grew up on these things, alternately called breaded pork cutlet or breaded veal cutlet on many a Greek coffee shop's menu here in Chicago. Usually, there is a scoop of overcooked green beans or corn served along side.

eatchicago wrote:

Davydd wrote:Chicago has another take on the deep fried pork tenderloin sandwich. I had a double pork tenderloin last year at Petros on La Salle across from City Hall in the Loop and two weeks ago I had one at the New Archview Restaurant on Archer Avenue west of Damen. They serve them open face on crust trimmed white bread with mashed potatoes all slathered in gravy. They look like this...

Looks good. How did they taste?

Best,
Michael

On a 1 to 10 scale the New Archview Restaurant tenderloin falls in at about a 7 for all I have sampled. It was actually pretty good. It was not overly huge and it was not a signature plate. It was simply billed as a hot pork tenderloin sandwich and I had to confirm before ordering it that it was a breaded pork tenderloin. What surprised me was that a basket of crackers and bread, and full bowl of splt pea soup came with the tenderloin yet nowhere on the menu was it stated (unless I simply missed it). The soup was excellent. The total cost plus tax and iced tea was about $8.

The Archview is one of those restaurants that clearly has regulars. I watched. One table had people fill up over a 10-20 minute period meaning that it was probably a standing group get together. Another guy came in, stood and talked to people at a couple of tables before joining a third group. Our waitress was very professional and she looked as if she might have worked there for years. Not many of us have a place to go to lunch like that where it is indedependently family owned and serves what can best be described as good comfort food at a great price. We used to have a place like that in downtown Minneapolis called Peter's Grill.

Davydd, I hail from the middle of Indiana and I know about "true" tenderloins. It's one of our favorite foods, but we are very picky on the underlying meat. It has to be true tenderloin, not the chopped, pressed, formed stuff called pork fritters.

I agree that pork fritters would be what is served at school, NOT true tenderloins. Pork fritters are not in the same league as real pork tenderloins.

There is a "club" around town here that searches out and tries tenderloins in the area and reports back in the newspaper.

We like the tenderloins and ice cream treats at Ivanhoe's in Upland, IN, also some of the local bars around here serve the "real thing".

You can't beat a good tenderloin in my book!

Joby,

Do you think you could keep us up to date on what the club approves? Local food hunting like that is hard to come by, though you know it exists.

If you do, then start a thread on Beyond Chicago Board for Pork Tenderloins of Indiana or just simply Pork Tenderloins.

Thanks!

Regards,

Cathy2, will do.

I know you can get pork tenderloins in Ottawa and Marseilles, not very far from Chicago at all. Lindy Gerties in Ottawa served them, I think it closed though. Also Polancik's butcher shop, and Handy foods sell them. In Marseilles I have had one at a dingy diner attached to a bowling alley called Betty's. My father who originates from Maryland has been a fan his whole life, I think these may be more of a rural phenomenon than specifically Iowan, or Indianan, though they claim the venerable sandwiches origin. As far as I've seen the only acceptable condiments are mustard and/or onion.

It is mostly rural but in Indiana and Iowa they are pervasive everywhere including the metropolitan areas. Once you get out of Indiana, Illinois and Iowa they start to die out fast. So fast they are not all that pervasive right in Chicago and almost non-existent in Michigan. They are very hard to find in Minnesota but I am finding them.

Anyway, at Cathy2's suggestion I started a thread in the Beyond Chicagoland board to collect suggestions and share opinions since it is food related. Check in here...

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=10244

I have responded to Davydd on two other forums that a good breaded pork tenderloin sandwich can be had at The Blackberry Inn, a bar in Elburn Illinois. The restaurant area has only about 8 tables but fills up at lunch time with locals and truckers off Rte. 47. Pretty much everything they serve is good including a good reuben.

Blackberry Inn
Rte. 47 at Main Street
Elburn, Il
630-365-2200

Fisherman's Inn is across the street.

20 years ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

There used to be a place on River Road, north of Grand and next (south) to the tracks that, on its awning, proclaimed itself to be "The Home of the Porky". Intrigued, I stopped by and was wowed by the pork tenderloin sandwich.

Thin and big as a dinner plate on a ridiculously small bun forcing you to either fold the edges over to the center to make a multi layered sandwich or nibble the edges until it is manageable. My condiments of choice, BBQ sauce and raw onions.

I brought many, many friends and coworkers there but it was not enough as they closed years later. There has been a succession of other places there with a series of taco/burrito places most recently.

Ever since I have been on a quest for this elusive sandwich and found several good ones but never the dinner plate sized.

Since then I have had the chance to visit DesMoines, Iowa several times a year and often during the State Fair and have on occasion been able to find it and even queried the relatives living there to be directed to out of the way, hole in the walls that make a good sandwich.

Pre-LTH days. I have no data. I will gather on my next visit.

Locally (not big or thin), I have had a good sandwich at Culvers. Good flavor and not too dry. I will be looking forward to the posts here.

There used to be a vendor at Itascafest that used to sell "Texas Tenderloins" That were 12 inches in diameter, very thin and were pretty tasty. I'd sure like to know where he has been hiding.

Culver's version isn't very flavorful. Silo's is huge and a lot to eat, but not real exciting either.

Schooner's in Bloomington serves one so big that you can fit four buns on it with lots of overlap. You can get it normal with pickles/onions or deluxe with sausage, marinara, and melted cheese. One of these, a full order of their homeade onion rings (to die for good) and two or three of your closest friends make for a fun evening.