Road Tips

The Flippin' Cow - Elkhart, IN

I was staying at a hotel off Interstate 80 in the Elkhart area one night as I was going to be seeing a local dealer in the morning.  I really didn't want to eat at the hotel, and there was a restaurant that was walking distance from the hotel that didn't really appeal to me.  I started to do some on-line searches for places in the immediate area and I found a place with an interesting name just up the road from the hotel - the Flippin' Cow.  It sounded fun and I thought I go give it a shot.  

Cam Snyder is a local restaurateur who bought the Lakeshore Grill in 2002.  From there, he opened the Chubby Trout, a steak and seafood joint, in February of 2006.  In March of 2011, Snyder took over what was the second location of a restaurant by the name of Michael's Italian Restaurant and renamed it Fat Tomato.  Snyder ran Fat Tomato for a year and a half before he sold it to his chef Bill O'Brien.  (Fat Tomato closed in November of 2014 after business suffered due to road construction in front of the building.)  

Meanwhile, Snyder and his son, Ryan, came up with a new concept for the Lakeshore Grill - a hand-crafted burger place.  They closed the Lakeshore Grill after Thanksgiving weekend in 2012, then reopened the Flippin' Cow in December of that year.  

(Last summer, Snyder closed the original Chubby Trout restaurant and moved it to what was an old barn on the north side of Elkhart that originally housed D'Antini Italian Restaurant, then it was a breakfast place by the name of Golden Egg Pancake House.  It turned out the Chubby Trout was the restaurant within walking distance from my hotel that I wasn't interested in trying that evening.)  

The Flippin' Cow is located on the west end of Simonton Lake on State Road 19 about a half-mile south of the Indiana/Michigan state line.  (see map)  The parking lot was not that large and there were a lot of cars in the lot.  Thanks to someone who was leaving when I pulled in I was able to find a single spot.  (I'm guessing that in the summer time they have a large dock that accommodates boaters on the lake.)

In front of the door going into the building is a life-size statue of a Holstein cow.  I rubbed its nose, then I walked into a place that seemed sort of cozy, but had a summertime vibe to it.  A mural of a blue sky, a beach, palm trees and water was painted across the ceiling.  It had a sort of a cabin-type decor along the walls. I first found a high metal table, but it was wobbly.  The people who had just left were seated in a booth and once they cleaned off the tabletop, I moved over there.  

There's a four-seasons room between the main dining area and the lake just off the building.  It featured picnic table-type seating in a room that was surrounded by windows.  A small deck for outside seating was off to the side of this dining room.  I took a mental note to come back sometime when the weather was nicer to see what this place looked like.

The place was packed with people playing "Opinion".  From listening to the M.C., from what I gathered is that groups of people were polled and their answers were the basis of questions like "What's the all-time Best Movie Sequel?" or "What's the Most Recognized Hotel Chain?"  And then teams of players would submit their answers to match up against the top 3 answers of the opinion groups.  I believe the top answer would get the players 5 points, the second top opinion answer would get 3 points if you picked that one, and the third one would get a team 1 point.  (For the record, the top movie sequel was Godfather II, a no-brainer in my book.  But the most recognized hotel chain?  I guessed Holiday Inn, but the M.C. told the crowd that the opinion group said it was Hilton.  Now, I almost exclusively stay in Hilton properties, but I probably would have even picked Super 8 over Hilton.)  

While all this was going one, my server had come over to greet me and to drop off a menu.  Her name was Kristen, a friendly young lady who was effervescent and outgoing.  She was telling me of a couple house beers they had on tap - Cam Snyder is also somewhat of a brewer who has his beers brewed at the Mountain Town Brewing Co. in Mt. Pleasant, MI.  I ended up getting a Bell's Two Hearted Ale in a 25 ounce glass.  

The menu at the Flippin' Cow is, of course, burger-centric with a number of signature burgers including the Stella Moo - a double-patties burger topped with smoked brisket, jalapeño bacon, onion straws, pepper jack cheese and BBQ sauce on a toasted wheat brioche bun.  They also had the Maui Wowie - two steak patties cooked in teriyaki glaze, then topped with Swiss cheese and a grilled pineapple slice and served on a toasted sweet pretzel bun.  The one that I immediately said "NO!" to was the Hunka Hunka Love burger - two patties topped with peanut butter, jalapeño jelly, melted pepper jack cheese and smoked bacon, served on a toasted pretzel bun.  Actually, that burger sounded good without the peanut butter.

In addition to burgers, the Flippin' Cow featured a number of sandwiches including a smoked brisket sandwich; a "grown-up" grilled cheese sandwich with three different types of cheese, bacon and a tomato slice; and an open-faced strip steak sandwich smothered in grilled onions and sautéed mushrooms.  Appetizers included pretzel sticks, deep-fried pickles, and mojos - sliced deep-fried potatoes with a dusting of some spices.  Evidently mojos were big in Elkhart back when Shakey's Pizza Parlors were proliferating the restaurant landscape across America.  

And for the people who can't handle burgers or deep-fried foods, the Flippin' Cow also has salads and wraps.  But the most sinful thing on the menu was the "Not yo Mama's" Mac & Cheese.  It featured a mixture of three cheeses baked with macaroni noodles and topped with cheddar cheese.  You could add Buffalo chicken and a blue cheese topping or get the Bacon-Cheeseburger mac & cheese that was topped with crumbled bacon and ground steak beef.  

Most of the crowd had filtered out by the time Kristen brought my burger out to me - which was fine with me.  I ordered up the "Build-Your-Own" burger with two ground steak patties and had it topped with pepper jack cheese, sautéed mushrooms and a couple slices of bacon on a potato bun.  The presentation wasn't fancy - the burger was served in a basket with wax paper underneath.  But I wasn't thinking anything was going to be too fancy at the Flippin' Cow.  

I'm glad I got the double burger as the patties start out as 5 ounce ground steak and are cooked on a flat-top grill.  The patties were thin, but still juicy.  The pepper jack cheese was slathered on the burger patties and it gave the burger a bit of a spicy taste.  The sliced mushrooms appeared to be fresh and along with the bacon gave the overall taste of the burger a very enjoyable flavor. 

For my side that evening, Kristen sold me on the loaded tater tots.  The tots were topped with a cheddar cheese sauce, chopped jalapeños and real bacon bits.  The loaded tots were just outstanding.  I usually don't eat potatoes all that much when I'm out at restaurants, but these were simply wonderful.  I complemented Kristen for her recommendation.  

It was a very good burger at the Flippin' Cow.  The double ground steak patty topped with the pepper jack cheese, sautéed mushrooms and bacon on a potato bun was definitely well above average for a burger.  But the loaded tater tots were simply outstanding.  It was a nice, laid-back atmosphere that probably only gets better during the summer months when boaters are hooked up to the docks for burgers and brews at the Flippin' Cow.  Winter or summer, the Flippin' Cow is a good place to stop for a good burger and a good choice of beers.  (Photo courtesy Flippin' Cow Facebook page.)

 

Antonio's Italian Ristorante - Elkhart, IN

I stayed in the Elkhart area on a recent trip out to Northwest Indiana and I was looking for Italian food that evening.  One of the ladies at the front desk at the hotel I was staying at was telling me of an old-world-style Italian restaurant in Elkhart.  "It's kind of a drive from here," she said.  "But if you've got the time, I think it's worth it."  She gave me the address to Antonio's Italian Ristorante on Goshen Ave. in Elkhart.  (see map)

Not knowing much more about the place other than the name and address, I found out after the fact that Antonio's Italian Ristorante has a somewhat interesting past.  It started with Antonio Cataldo, a native of Gerace in the Calabria region of far southern Italy.  Antonio came to the United States in 1962 and found work at Taylor Products, a factory in the Elkhart area.  In 1966 with his feet on the ground, he sent for his wife, his three sons and his two daughters to join him in Elkhart.  

In 1979, Antonio helped his middle son Bruno start his own restaurant - Bruno's Pizza.  The youngest Cataldo son, Paolo - also known as Paul - worked in the restaurant with his big brother for a time.  In the mid-90's, a fire destroyed much of the building that housed Bruno's Pizza.  A devastated Bruno Cataldo wanted to throw in the towel and sell the business, but his father wouldn't have anything to do with that.  The Cataldo's rebuilt the business with Paul taking over the restaurant and renaming it Antonio's, using many of the same family recipes that they brought over from Southern Italy in the early 60's.  Bruno wasn't down in the dumps for long and he went on to open a new Bruno's Pizza in Elkhart.

Pictured right - Paul Cataldo in his kitchen.  Picture courtesy Elkhart Truth.

It turns out that Paul and Bruno are also world class pizza makers.  Both brothers have competed in the World Pizza Championships as individuals, and Paul has been a member of the U.S. pizza team in the championships, as well.  Paul's focaccia crust deep-dish pizza was named the 38th best pizza in the world in the 2008 Championships in Italy, while a year before Bruno's thin-crust pizza with minimal cheese took 42nd place the year before.  Paul Cataldo continues to compete in pizza competitions as a member of the World Pizza Champions Team that competes at various events around the U.S. and in Italy.  Paul Cataldo recently garnered a third place finish with a thick-crust Sicilian-style gourmet pizza in this year's North American Pizza and Ice Cream Show that was part of the Mid-American Restaurant Expo held in Columbus, OH earlier this year.  

Had I known about Paul's prowess with pizza, I probably would have gone to Antonio's for that.  But I really wanted pasta with a rich tomato sauce that evening and that's what I had my heart set on when I pulled into Antonio's around 7:30 p.m.   Entering the restaurant I was greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand.  The dining room behind her was full of people when I walked in - a good sign, I thought.  The room was made up to look like a Southern Italy terrace with rustic style walls and wood slats with faux vines hanging from the ceiling.  It was a nice little room - too bad it was full.   

I ended up being seated in what was the bar area of Antonio's.  I'm guessing that the Italian-style dining room had been added on at some point as the bar was more worn than the dining room.  Still, it was a cozy enough place to have dinner.  I was given a table in the corner, handed a menu and was soon greeted by my server for the evening, a pleasant lady by the name of Diana.  

The entree listing on the menu at Antonio's was extensive.  They had a number of pasta dishes including pasta in a house-made vodka sauce that Paul is sort of famous for, seafood ravioli in an alfredo sauce, and a pasta pescatore that featured shrimp, scallops, crab meat, clams and mussels, all served with angel hair pasta and topped with a marinara sauce.  The entrees also included either chicken parmesan or chicken marsala dish, egg plant parmesan, a pan-seared Mediterranean sea bass, and a baked salmon in a lemon and herbed oil.  

I started out getting a glass of the William Hill Coastal Cabernet that I thought was nicely priced at $6 a glass.  And it was a healthy pour, at that.  Before my entree came out, I got a house salad with a basket of fresh baked bread.  The salad was topped with a housemade oil and vinegar dressing and featured fresh iceberg lettuce with sliced cucumbers, chopped carrots and a couple of cherry tomatoes.  The bread was warm and very tasty.  

I was sort of torn between a couple three things for my main entree.  I was looking at the spicy Italian sausage dish tossed with garlic, shallots, sun dried tomatoes and Kalamata olives in a cream sauce and served with flat pappardelle pasta noodles.  The lasagna - even with the lack of a description on the menu other than "family recipe" - was also appealing.  But I ended up getting the sausage saccottini in an arrabiatta sauce.  I didn't really know what it was, but Diana highly recommended it when I asked about it.  

And I was glad that I got it.   Saccottini is a type of ravioli, only smaller, that was stuffed with a housemade Italian sausage.  The arrabbiata sauce - arrabbiata translates into "angry" in Italian - was made with crushed tomatoes, garlic and red chili peppers cooked in olive oil.  It was slightly spicy to my taste buds and it was a very zippy dish.  The small sausage-filled saccottini pillows tasted great in the sauce.  With a bit of shredded mozzarella on the top, this was exactly the type of Italian meal I was looking for that evening.  

Along with the sausage saccotini in the arrabbiata sauce, I got one of Antonio's meatballs.  It was ground veal, beef, and pork mixed together with Italian seasonings and bread crumbs and it was very good.  The pasta in the slightly spicy sauce with the meat ball mixed in was excellent.  I was able to finish the whole dish and I wasn't full, nor was I still hungry.  The meal was a perfect spot hitter for me.   

Now I'm going to have to figure out how to make it back to Antonio's to try one of Paul Cataldo's famous pizzas.  If the pizza is better than the saccotini stuffed with housemade Italian sausage and served in the somewhat spicy arrabbiata sauce that I had, then it truly has to be world class pizza.  The service was good, the atmosphere was comforting and laid back, and the food was exactly what I hoped it would be.  And I felt it was a very good value, as well.  All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Antonio's Italian Ristorante.  

Heinnies - Elkhart, IN

I've had a place on my "Restaurants to Eat" list for quite sometime after I'd read about their burgers being some of the best in the Midwest.  I came to find that their steaks are also pretty popular with the people who have gone there for over 60 years.  On a late day trip from Fort Wayne to South Bend, I drove through Elkhart and stopped off for dinner at Heinnies.  

Even though the place opened in 1951, the legacy behind Heinnies goes back even further - into the days of Prohibition.  That's when Tom DeShone opened a little speakeasy as part of his hotel in the downtown Elkhart.  DeShone would ferry illegal booze from Chicago and offer entertainment and gambling in his little place near the tracks in Elkhart.  

His son Henry - a.k.a. Heinnie (pronounced HI-nee) - worked for his dad helping run the hotel and what later became a licensed bar after Prohibition.  Around 1950, the U.S. Postal Service wanted the land that the bar stood on to build a new post office.  Looking around for land to purchase to build a new place, Heinnie found a small tract of land on Lusher Ave. which, at the time, was pretty much on the outskirts of Elkhart.  It's still the spot where Heinnies sits today.  (see map)  People thought he was nuts to build a bar that far out of town, but he went ahead and did so.  Heinnie ran the front of the small place while his wife, Maxine, ran the kitchen making sandwiches (hot beef or cold ham) and soup (bean or chili).  

20 years after opening on Lusher Ave., Heinnie's son Harry joined the family business.  After Heinnie died in 1979, Harry expanded the bar area.  In 1985, he added a restaurant in the back of the place - the Back Barn.  Harry DeShone's son, Troy, was already working at the place, and after building the restaurant in the back he convinced his other son, Bill, to quit his electronics job in Albuquerque and move back to help run the family business.  Harry sold the business to his boys in 1987 and they continue to run Heinnies today.  Bill and Troy's children are now also working in the bar/restaurant making it five generations of the DeShone family working in the family business.  

It was around 7:30 when I pulled into the parking lot on the side of Heinnie's.  I went through a side door under an awning that had "Heinnies Back Barn" printed on the canopy.  I was met at the hostess stand by a young woman who directed me to a high-walled booth in the dining area.  All of the eating areas were surrounded by high barn-board walls so there wasn't a good photo opportunity of the dining room.

The tables were covered with a vinyl faux-cowhide print.  The dining room was well-lit and featured some antique items on a landing above the dining area.  My server for the evening - Sharon - came by to take my drink order.  I ordered a Sam Adams beer while I looked through the menu.    

Their signature burger at Heinnies is the Claybaugh, two seasoned beef patties topped with American, Swiss, mozzarella and cheddar cheese, then they throw on bacon, mushrooms, grilled onions, lettuce and a tomato slice.  That actually sounded pretty good, but I thought it would have been too much for me.  While I did want to try a burger, I'd had one earlier in the day and didn't feel like having another that evening.  (Photo courtesy South Bend Tribune.)

Other featured items on Heinnies menu included a 1/3 lb. pork loin sandwich that you can get either grilled or breaded and deep-fried, seafood such as baked or battered and fried orange roughy, and prime rib that is served Monday, Friday and Saturday.   They have a 20 ounce "Clydesdale" cut in addition to a 16 ounce and a 10 ounce cut of prime rib.  

I decided upon getting a steak, but the only size of filet they had on the menu was a 6 ounce cut.  I was more hungry than that, so I ended up getting the New York strip, the 10 ounce size.  Sharon, who seemed rather indifferent as a server, casually asked me if I wanted any sautéed mushrooms with the steak.  Sure!  I love sautéed mushrooms!  I got a side of rice rather than a potato side.  I figured between the steak and the mushrooms, that would be enough food.

I started out with a basic dinner salad with blue cheese dressing that was served in a small plastic container.  I thought, "How Midwestern!"  The salad featured fresh greens with thick cut onion slices, cherry tomatoes and shaved cabbage.  The blue cheese dressing was thick and didn't go very far.  I could have used a second tub of dressing.  

I was still working on my salad when Sharon brought out my steak and wordlessly set it down in front of me.  The small sautéed button mushrooms were loaded on the New York strip, almost covering the piece of beef.  A piece of grilled garlic bread was served with the steak.  

The steak was, well, all right.  It wasn't anything that was extraordinary, nor was it sub-par.  It was a little overcooked from the medium-rare that I'd asked for, but it wasn't that bad.  It had a nice juiciness to the cut and had a nice steak flavor.  

The mushrooms, however, I wish I would have gotten them on the side.  The earthiness of the mushrooms was prevalent and detracted from the taste of the beef.  They were also very salty and for someone who doesn't eat a lot of salt, they were almost too salty.

But I will say that what struck me the most about the meal was how good the grilled bread was.  It had a succinct taste and full of flavor.  I sopped up some of the juice from the steak with the bread and it made it taste even better.   

Before I left, I took a look around at the bar area of Heinnies.  It looks like someone is a big race car fan at the restaurant as there were loads of race car pictures and memorabilia on the walls in the bar area.  I took a couple pictures of the bar area, but they were too blurry to put on here.  It looked like it would be a nice place to belly up to the bar.  

My experience at Heinnies was fine.  The New York strip was all right, albeit a tad overcooked for my tastes.  My server seemed a little disinterested and very neutral in her demeanor.  The atmosphere was fine, even down to the vinyl faux-cowhide table covers.  I am going back at some point to get a burger from Heinnies.  I have feeling that it will be even better than the steak.