Road Tips

Nick's Restaurant - Des Moines, IA

Each year the Iowa Pork Producers Association awards the best pork tenderloin sandwich to a restaurant in the state.  I've eaten at a handful of the winners over the past few years including Goldie's in Prairie City, Gramma's Kitchen near Walcott, Larsen's Pub in Elk Horn, and Breitbach's in Balltown.  It had been awhile since I'd been to a Best Tenderloin in Iowa winner, there was one that I really wanted to try at some point.  And driving home from Kansas City recently, I decided to stop into Nick's Restaurant in Des Moines to give their 2016 award-winning pork tenderloin sandwich a try.  

Nick Iaria grew up on the south side of Des Moines where many Italian families have lived for years.  As a young man, he perfected a technique for homemade Italian beef and breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches.  Friends used to ask for Iaria's sandwiches and encouraged him to do something with his culinary talents.  

A few years later in his mid-30's, Iaria and his friend Joe Madonia decided to do a food truck where they could sell Italian beef and pork tenderloins.  They parked in a lot along Army Post Road and quickly gained a reputation for their sandwiches.  They also drew the interest from the City of Des Moines who cited the pair for violations of regulations regarding food truck operations in the city.  One of the regulations was that Iaria and Madonia had to move their food truck every 24 hours.  The only problem was that they didn't have many other places that allowed them to park their truck.  And when they did move their truck, they didn't have sophisticated social media in place yet to allow their customers to know where they would park on a specific day.   

After fighting with the city over regulations off and on, Madonia and Iaria decided that they couldn't beat city hall and they shut down their food truck operation in 2009.  But Iaria continued to harbor the notion that he could make a go of a restaurant and in 2012 he took over what was a former Maid-Rite on SW 9th in Des Moines.  

Pictured right - Nick Iaria (Photo courtesy Iowa Food and Family Project.)

Iaria kept the menu simple at his restaurant - mainly tenderloins, Italian beef and sausage.  The space wasn't large, but it's booths and counter were full with customers most of the time.  It was tough to get into the parking lot at times and Iaria saw that he had a good problem on his hands.  Too many people wanted to get in to have his food and he didn't have the room.  

In 2014, Iaria was able to find a larger space - the former Tavern restaurant along Army Post Road.  He moved there and suddenly had triple the seating in the place and a large parking lot.  Nick's Restaurant grew in popularity and was soon selling over 1000 pork tenderloin sandwiches a week.  About 3 out of every 4 customers coming through the door were ordering the tenderloins.  When Nick's won the best pork tenderloin sandwich in 2016, business spiked at the time and has remained steady for the past 18 months.  In December of last year, Iaria opened a second location - Nick's Town House Tenderloins - in the West Glen Town Center in West Des Moines.  

I pulled into the parking lot at Nick's around 1:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon.  It's located just west of the intersections of SW 9th and Army Post Road. (see map)  They have a bar area as you come in, with dining in there, as well as a larger dining area off to the side.  When I walked in the door, a lady told me that I could sit anywhere.  I ended up sitting back in the corner of the restaurant.  She brought me over a menu and introduced herself as Amber.  I ordered a beer while I checked out the menu.

I knew I was going to get a tenderloin, but I wanted to see what else they had to offer at Nick's.  Of course, they had the Italian beef sandwiches that are arguably equally as famous as Nick's tenderloins.  They have burgers on the menus, as well as a club sandwich, a reuben, a chicken sandwich (breaded or grilled), and they had another staple of Des Moines Italian cuisine, the grinder.  

But tenderloins are the key item on the menu at Nick's and they had different variations of the sandwich to choose from.  They had two sizes - the King and the Queen.  You could get them plain, or add marinara and mozzarella cheese to make it an Italian tenderloin, and you could get it topped with Swiss cheese and bacon, or for the more adventurous they had a chili and cheese tenderloin.   You could also get the tenderloin grilled if you didn't want the breading on it. 

I ended up getting the Queen-sized tenderloin - I would have never been able to finish a King.  Amber talked me into getting fries on the side, but they were the crinkle-cut kind and I may have had three or four of the fries.  And they were pretty bland.  I was much more concentrated on the pork tenderloin sandwich. 

The pork tenderloin is cut thick, then it's double-dipped in the breaded batter, similar to a technique by another Best Pork Tenderloin in Iowa winner, the Town House in Cedar Falls.  (Another place that I've been meaning to try since they moved from Wellman to Cedar Falls a few years back.)   The only quibble I had with the sandwich was that I got just a couple pickles and just one sliced onion ring.  I like my tenderloins with yellow mustard, lots of raw onions and dill pickles.  

The tenderloin was tender and juicy, and I really liked the breading on the outside.  It gave it a nice crunchy outer core, but didn't detract from the taste of the pork.  It was completely manageable in size - I didn't have to cut it in half to pick it up to eat it.  It was a very good pork tenderloin.

As much as I liked the taste of the tenderloin at Nick's Restaurant, it didn't like me.  I had a case of heartburn for awhile after I ate the sandwich.  But that shouldn't be an indication that the sandwich was bad - it was very good.  It compared very favorably to other Best Pork Tenderloin winners I've had around the state of Iowa.  Nick's Restaurant isn't all the fancy, but if you're flying into Des Moines and looking for a good pork tenderloin sandwich for your first meal in town, take a right out of the airport on Fleur, take a left at Army Post Road and head down the street to Nick's.  You'll be glad you did. 

The Farmhouse Restaurant - Fair Oaks, IN

A number of years ago, a friend of mine in Indianapolis was telling me about the Fair Oaks Farm that was located north of Lafayette, IN just off Interstate 65 on the way to Chicago.  "It's quite the operation," he was telling me.  "They have tours and things to see.  And they've got a pretty good restaurant there, too."  I've always kept that place in the back of my mind over the past few years, but another friend of mine told me that he had stopped and had lunch there on a trip from Chicago to Louisville not long ago.  Driving between Indianapolis and Chicago last fall, I ended up stopping at Fair Oaks Farms to have lunch at The Farmhouse Restaurant.  

Mike McCloskey was born in Pennsylvania, but after his father died, he and his five siblings moved to Puerto Rico where their mother was from.  One of his uncles was a veterinarian and young Mike would go out with him on his all-day rounds.  When his mother married a Mexican businessman, she took her family to Mexico to live.  It was in Mexico that Mike McCloskey decided to become a veterinarian, eventually taking veterinary classes at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.  After veterinary school, McCloskey went to the University of California-Davis for a two year post-doctorate program in dairy production medicine.  

It was in California that McCloskey met his future wife, Sue, a New Jersey native who was studying art in college.  The two were married and eventually moved to a farm in California where they bought 300 head of dairy cattle.  Working as a veterinarian consultant with other dairy farmers in the area, McCloskey came up with a new concept of immediately chilling the milk from cattle reducing the amount of bacteria levels.  It was a labor intensive process, but McCloskey was able to find workers similar to the ones he knew working as a student veterinarian in Mexico who bought into his process.

In 1989, the McCloskey's moved to New Mexico and started a new dairy where he came up with a system of using reverse osmosis and membrane filtering techniques to remove lactose from milk.  With the lactose they removed from the milk, they fed it to the cattle as a grain substitute.  McCloskey was so sure of his method that he approached the cooperative that was buying his milk and suggested that they adopt his methods of filtration.  However, the cooperative didn't want anything to do with it basically telling McCloskey his methods were not needed.  

Pictured right - Mike and Sue McCloskey.  Photo courtesy Coca-Cola. 

McCloskey then set about contacting other dairy farmers and retailers in the area with the cleaner milk concept as his calling card.  Soon he had a number of people signed up in a cooperative that he named Select Milk Producers.  The cooperative's efforts turned out to be a success with end users who bought the filtered milk products.  Today, Select Milk Producers sells about $2 billion dollars of products annually.  They also co-own a cheese company - Southwest Cheese in Clovis, NM - and have partnered with the Coca-Cola company to produce and distribute fairlife, a reformulated milk product with higher calcium and protein than regular milk.  (Sue McCloskey came up with the idea of fairlife sitting at her kitchen table one day.)     

In 1999, the McCloskey's acquired some farm land in northwest Indiana along Interstate 65 about halfway between Lafayette and Gary.  Along with some other families they knew, they moved to Indiana to run the Fair Oaks dairy facility with the plan of making it an agri-tourist destination where people could learn about a full-fledged eco-friendly dairy farm.  Today, Fair Oaks Farms has over 15,000 head of dairy cattle, but they also raise pigs and have gotten into raising chickens, as well.  The entire farm is sustainable and eco-efficient, powered by waste from cows and pigs reducing the need for electricity and natural gas.   Over 300,000 people annually visit Fair Oaks farms with well over half of the visitors taking the tour of the farm operation.     

Fair Oaks Farms literally has their own exit ramp off of Interstate 65 (see map).  It's pretty tough to miss seeing the place along the west side of the Interstate.

There are a series of large buildings that arch around a large parking lot.  In addition to the Farmhouse Restaurant, there's a working cheese shop, a gift shop, an education center, a chocolatier, and a dining hall for people on tours to take a break.  Working barns are just beyond the main buildings up front.

I had to use the restroom when I got into the Farmhouse and I found a sort of whimsical room that had posters of old comic books, recreations of old album covers and a circular collage of model cars.   It's one of those place where - if no one else is in there - is nice to linger and look at what they had for kitsch on the walls of the restroom.

The main dining area is a large room with a large fireplace as the center piece along the long wall.  A series of tables and booths were interspersed throughout the dining room.  High ceilings with wooden beams across the room were the most prominent aspect of the room.  

I was seated at a table in the center of the large dining room and I was soon greeted by my server who introduced herself as CiCi.  They had a full bar at the far end of the dining room, but I ended up just getting water to drink.

The menu at The Farmhouse is varied with a combination of comfort food and interesting entrees.  It featured a number of appetizers, soups and salads, sandwiches and burgers, and entrees such as an espresso encrusted pork chop, bourbon glazed salmon, bacon wrapped meatloaf, pecan encrusted walleye, and classic fried chicken.  They also had pizza on the menu at The Farmhouse.

I briefly considered the ground ribeye steak burger they had on the menu, as well as the reuben sandwich.  But I ended up going with a staple of Indiana cuisine, the pork tenderloin sandwich.  It was a thick cut boneless pork chop breaded and deep fried.  The pork came directly from the Fair Oaks pig operation.  It came with grilled onions (I should have asked for raw onions), and a housemade pickle slice.  A side of crispy fries and a side of housemade cole slaw came with the sandwich.  

The sandwich was a deep golden color indicating that they probably left it in the fryer a little too long.  It was crunchy on the outside and it had a bit of a taste from the cooking oil.  But the pork, itself, was tender and the overcooked breading didn't detract much from the taste of the pork.  

The fries were also very good with a nice crispy outer shell and a warm and flaky potato taste inside.  The cole slaw had a bit of sweetness to it, but overall it was pretty bland in taste compared to other sweet cole slaws I've had.  But I didn't concentrate much on the fries or the cole slaw as the thick pork tenderloin sandwich made me pretty full pretty quickly.   

It's easy to see why The Farmhouse is a big draw in conjunction with Fair Oaks Farms. It's a big open space with a menu that can pretty much satisfy anyone who walks in the door.  But, quite frankly, I've had much better pork tenderloins at other places around Indiana and Iowa.  The tenderloin was a bit overcooked and the breading had a bit of the taste of the frying oil.  It was still good - the pork was tender and flavorful - but it didn't really taste as good as some others I've had.  Still, I'm sure that The Farmhouse is a nice stop for anyone traveling between Indianapolis and Chicago who is looking for a quick stop off the Interstate for a bite to eat.  

Friendly Tavern - Zionsville, IN

Indiana is a state where the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich is a staple in most restaurants.  After I had gone through Huntington, IN to try the pork tenderloin sandwich at the famed Nick's Kitchen (click here to read the Road Tips' entry on Nick's), I got an e-mail from Sara L. who told me that she thought the pork tenderloins at the Friendly Tavern in Zionsville, IN were the best in the state.  Zionsville is sort of on the way for from the Quad Cities to the north side of Indianapolis, so I stopped off there one recent evening to have dinner at the Friendly Tavern.  

The Friendly Tavern is located along N. Main Street in downtown Zionsville (see map) in a building that was built in 1875.  The building was originally built as a dirt floor carriage and wagon factory.  The foundry for the factory was on the first floor, hence the dirt floor, and the assembly was on the second floor where the finished carriages and wagons were rolled down a ramp to a railroad loading dock.  

Of course, with the advent of the automobile, the carriage works eventually went out of business and in 1936 a local plumber by the name of Charles Russell bought the building and turned it into Russell and Son Plumbing Co.  His two sons, Hearn and Earl, worked with Charles Russell in the business.  After Charles' death, Hearn decided to close down the plumbing business and open a tavern/liquor carry-out.  In 1958, the Friendly Tavern opened for business.  

Hearn Russell owned the business until 1973 when he retired and sold it to the first of what turned out to be a stretch of four owners between then and 2002.  That's when current owner Scott Barnes and his company South Main Holdings bought the Friendly Tavern.  Over the years before Barnes bought the Friendly Tavern, the place had a reputation for having a large St. Patrick's Day celebration.  After Barnes bought the restaurant, he was reminded by nearly every patron who came in that this was THE place for St. Patrick's Day in Zionsville.  He embraced the tradition and each year the celebration has grown.  Each St. Patrick's Day, the Friendly Tavern staff cooks over 1200 pounds of corned beef for the celebration. 

I had never really been through downtown Zionsville before and I found that there were a number of interesting places that I put on my list to try as I was driving around looking for a parking spot at the Friendly Tavern.  I was able to park just down N. Main Street from the stucco and brick corner building and went in.

The main dining area had a small bar along with a number of tables throughout the room.  It was packed just after 6 p.m. when I walked in.  I was met by a gentleman who welcomed me to the restaurant and shepherded me to my table.  

I was taken to a step up dining area off to the side, seated at a small table and given a menu.  The room was cozy, but cramped.  I was literally a foot and a half from a table of four people and it was like I was part of their on-going conversation.  But, I suppose that's their M.O. at Friendly Tavern where they say you're only a stranger once. Me?  It was just a little too close for my taste and I didn't care to hear the conversations of the people near me.  

I was greeted by Susanna, a very pleasant young lady who asked me what I would like to drink.  They had Bell's Two Hearted on tap and I got one of those to cut the dust while I looked through the menu.  

Even though my heart was set on getting a tenderloin, the rest of the menu is loaded with choices.  In addition to a number of sandwiches and burgers on the menu, the Friendly Tavern features steaks, fish, chicken and pork chops with prime rib served Thursday thru Saturday nights.  You'll find the typical appetizers, as well as soups and salads on the menu there.  

But on this trip, I went with the breaded pork tenderloin.  And it wasn't one of those novelty breaded tenderloins where they're pounded out within an inch of their flavor into the size of a hub cap.  This was a nice-sized tenderloin that actually had some thickness to the cut of meat.  It was lightly breaded and deep-fried to a golden brown color.  It was served with dill pickle slices and sliced red onions.  Yellow mustard was available on the table.  

The tenderloin protruded slightly over the sides of the lightly toasted split top bun they provided.  However - to me - the tenderloin was very salty in taste like they used too much salt in the mixture of the breading.  But the tenderloin was moist and easy to chew.  The breading had a nice crunchy texture, but it was just too salty for my liking.  That was somewhat disappointing because other than that, it was a very good breaded pork tenderloin.  

Kettle chips usually come with their sandwiches and burgers, but for a dollar upcharge you can get fries.  I did that and they were thick cut and very good.  But I just couldn't get over the saltiness of the tenderloin and how I would have liked it even more had it not been that way.

Other than how salty the pork tenderloin was - and the fact that you are literally sitting on top of one another in some places in the dining area - I'd say that my overall experience at the Friendly Tavern was very favorable.  Some people may like the saltiness of the tenderloin more than I did, but I couldn't deny how moist and tender the pork was in the sandwich.  The service I had was attentive, friendly and prompt.  I couldn't ask more for my experience at the Friendly Tavern other than less salt in the breaded pork tenderloin. 

Joensy's Restaurant - Center Point, IA

I went to college at the University of Iowa in the early 80's and not far from Iowa City was the small town of Solon.  In downtown Solon there was a bar/restaurant that served huge pork tenderloin sandwiches.  Being young and somewhat dumb at the time (compared to being older and still somewhat dumb these days), I'd accompany friends of mine to Solon to try to finish one of the huge sandwiches in one sitting.  Of course, copious amounts of beer was consumed during the process.  That place is now closed, but there is a similar place with the same name that is open in Center Point, IA - a bedroom community just north of Cedar Rapids.  On a trip past Center Point recently, I decided to stop in and get a pork tenderloin sandwich at Joensy's Restaurant.  

Jim Joens opened the original Joensy's in Solon in 1983 and word spread about the huge pork tenderloin sandwiches that he sold.  Food and travel magazines showcased the Joensy's sandwich and it was featured on national television shows.  In 2003, Food and Wine magazine named Joensy's pork tenderloin as one of the top 100 best meal values in the nation.  

Joens enlisted family members to open Joensy's outlets in places like Cedar Rapids, La Porte City, Sigourney,  and Belle Plaine.  In 1992, Jim Joens contacted his nephew, Doug Joens, to see if he would be interested in putting a Joensy's in Center Point.  Doug Joens had recently graduated from the University of Iowa and was selling insurance in the Cedar Rapids area.  Doug had worked at the Joensy's in Solon while he was going to college and the restaurant business sort of got into his blood.  Joens opened his 55-seat restaurant in Center Point in September of 1992.  

The original Joensy's in Solon went through some troubled times including getting closed for health department violations and being fined for selling liquor to minors.  They eventually closed in 2012.  The building that housed Joensy's was razed and rebuilt into a small brew pub - Big Grove Brewery - that opened in August of 2013.  Jim Joens' son, Brian, opened a Joensy's location in Iowa City and continues to run that location.  

The Joensy's in Center Point is about a mile off I-380 toward the downtown part of the town.  (see map)  It was around 1:30 when I pulled into Joensy's and found a nearly deserted parking lot.

Joensy's decor could be described as folksy Americana - there's a number of ceramic and stuffed pigs on display throughout the place.  Booths line the walls while two and four-seat tables are in the middle.  Whereas the original Joensy's in Solon could be categorized as a dive bar, Joensy's in Center Point is bright, clean and comfortable.  

After taking a seat in a booth, Doug Joens, himself, came over with a menu and I ordered a beer while I looked to see what else they had other than the pork tenderloin sandwiches.  Joensy's also offers dinners such as chicken fried steak, a meatloaf platter, a rib eye steak dinner, and something that I don't see on many menus - Salisbury steak.  They also have burgers, chicken sandwiches, a Philly cheesesteak sandwich, and turkey bacon melt.  Appetizers, soups and salads are also available on the menu at Joensy's.

Joensy's offers two different sizes of pork tenderloin sandwiches - a small that is 5 ounces before it's pounded out and breaded, and a large that is 10 ounces before getting pounded and breaded.  I don't remember if the original Joensy's had two different sizes - I only remember getting the big one on my visits there over 30 years ago.  But I decided to get the small one this time when my server, Linda, came over to take my order.

And it was still almost too big.  The tenderloin hung over the sides of the bun, almost enough pork to make two sandwiches.  Some people will share a large tenderloin and order an additional bun (50 cents extra) to make two sandwiches.  At one point, Doug Joens was talking about making an extra large tenderloin, but given the size of the small I can't imagine how big that could be.  

I had to first cut the extra pork skirt around the bun off before trying the sandwich.  The flavor of the Joensy's tenderloin was very good.  The breading was light and the pork was moist and tender.  I added yellow mustard, pickles and onions to the sandwich and it turned out to be a very good sandwich.  I wasn't able to finish all of the pork tenderloin - there was still just too much meat on the sandwich.  But it was very good.  

The pork tenderloin sandwich I had at Joensy's in Center Point reminded me of my college days when trying to finish one of their huge sandwiches at the original one over in Solon was accompanied with large amounts of beer.   This small tenderloin was still too big, but it was delicious, the service was friendly and efficient, and the small restaurant was comfortable with a lot of little Iowa touches.   Joensy's in Center Point would be a good stop for their signature pork tenderloin sandwich when you're driving between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. 

Ariston Cafe - Litchfield, IL

I was traveling home from St. Louis recently and I had to stop in Litchfield, IL to get some gas.  Something jogged my memory when I looked down the road and saw a sign for the Ariston Cafe.  I got onto my cellphone and looked up my "Restaurants to Visit" list on Google Maps.  Sure enough, I had the Ariston Cafe flagged with a note - pork tenderloin sandwich.  It was coming up on the noon hour and I still had a three hour drive home, so I decided to head over to the Ariston Cafe and give the place a try.

I had no idea to the historical significance of the Ariston Cafe when I went there that particular day.  It turns out that the restaurant dates back to 1924 when Greek immigrant and candy store owner Pete Adam opened a restaurant in Carlinville, IL on the advice of a local doctor who felt there was a need for another restaurant in the small town.  Pete didn't have two things - money or restaurant experience.  However, the doctor loaned Pete $1000 to open a restaurant and the first thing Pete did after securing a building was to drive to St. Louis nearly 60 miles away to hire a cook.

Pete's restaurant was located along what was then Illinois State Highway 4 and U.S. Route 66, the only paved fully paved road in the state at that time.  He named his restaurant Ariston, which means "the best" in Greek.  When Route 66 was relocated about 15 miles east of Carlinville in the late 20's, Pete Adam knew that he had to stay close to the road that took people from Chicago to Los Angeles. 

Along with partner Tom Cokinos, they rented a small building along the new Route 66 just outside of Litchfield, IL for the second Ariston Cafe.  But this was during the depths of the Great Depression and Pete's banker told him that he should think about giving up one of the two restaurants.  He decided to keep the one in Litchfield since it was now right on Route 66. 

After being there for about five years, the two commissioned contractor Henry Vasel to build a new restaurant directly across the road to the west.  The new Ariston Cafe opened in the summer of 1935.  Adam and Cokinos put in a couple of gas pumps in front of the place.  The Ariston Cafe quickly became a favorite place to stop for motorists traveling the "Mother Road" between St. Louis and Chicago. 

Pete Adam eventually bought out Tom Cokinos and ran the restaurant until the mid-60's.  During the Christmas holiday of 1965, Pete's son, Nick, came home to see his parents.  Nick was living in Pittsburgh where he had a full time job, plus he was getting ready to marry his fiancee, Demi, in January and settling in the Steel City.   But Nick saw that his father - now 75 - was having a tough time at the restaurant.  Plans changed and after Nick and Demi got married, they stayed in Litchfield to run the restaurant.  Nick had planned to run the restaurant for only a couple three years and then moving on.  But it turned out that he ran the restaurant for the next 40+ years.

In the mid-70's, the Adam's added a banquet room to the north side of the restaurant and expanded the kitche.  But pretty much everything in the original building is still the same including the counter and the booths.  The original brick outer shell on the building is still in place today as is the original Budweiser neon sign on the front of the building.  In 2006, the Ariston Cafe was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Pictured at left - Nick and Demi Adam.  (Photo courtesy Litchfield Journal-News.)

In 2014, Nick Adam - then 75 years old - decided to put the cafe up for sale.  His son, Paul, had been involved in the business for 10 years, but he had no ambitions to run the restaurant after his parents retired.  Locals and Route 66 historians alike were up in arms with the announcement that the Adam family was putting the place up for sale.  But as of late 2015, the Adam's still owned the restaurant.  It was still for sale, but Nick Adam has had to quell rumors that it was closing.  Last month, Nick and Demi Adam celebrated their 50th year of running the Ariston Cafe.

The Ariston Cafe is located just past the corner of Columbian Blvd. and W. Union Ave on what is designated as Old Route 66 in Litchfield.  (see map)  It's right across the street from the Litchfield Route 66 Museum and Welcome Center.   I parked in the parking lot on the north side of the building and went around to the front door.  In front of the door were two men in black suits, just hanging out.  Across the street were a gaggle of people holding signs protesting budget cuts to social services in Illinois.  I didn't quite know what that was all about as I went inside.  

I was seated at a table in the main dining room.  It was like stepping back into the 1930's.  Old pictures from around the Litchfield area hung on the walls.  I was given a menu and my server, Brittany, came over to greet me.  Brittany was a petite young lady, emphasis on the petite. 

Next to me was a gentleman in a black suit enjoying his lunch.  He was dressed similarly to the two guys standing out in front of the place.  Owner Nick Adam sidled up to the man and I heard him ask if he was part of the Governor's security detail.  The guy sort of laughed and said that he was not.  Then it hit me - Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner was having lunch in the restaurant.  That's why there were two guys standing out front and why there were protesters across the street from the restaurant. 

Actually, he was back in the large banquet room that was added in the 1970's.  Somewhere in the picture above right is the Governor having lunch.  So, I guess you could say that I had lunch with the Governor. 

I was definitely thinking about getting a pork tenderloin sandwich, but they had a number of other things to choose from on the menu.  In addition to appetizers and salads, they had a little bit of everything - steaks, seafood, Italian dishes, Southern-style entrees, and Mexican specialties.  They features a number of sandwiches including burgers, and they also had a pretty impressive list of beers to choose from. 

After considering the prime rib of beef sandwich and the hot beef sandwich for a moment, I decided to go with what I came in for - the pork tenderloin sandwich.  It wasn't the flattened hubcap-sized pork tenderloin sandwich that you find at some places, which was a plus in my book.  It was a regular-sized pork chop battered, deep-fried, and served on a regular bun.  I got some pickles and sliced onions to go along with the sandwich.  (Yellow mustard was on the table.)

However, the pork tenderloin was woefully overcooked.  The outer shell was beyond crispy and had that sort of burnt oil taste to it.  The pork was tough to chew and it was difficult to get down the gullet.  The sandwich came with some basic crinkle-cut fries and they were basically just a throwaway for me.  All in all, I was pretty disappointed in this pork tenderloin.  They kept it in the deep fryer too long and that killed the taste. 

After I finished up, Brittany tried to entice me with some housemade pies as well as the Ariston Cafe's famous baklava.  I was already getting heartburn from the overcooked sandwich so I passed on the dessert. 

Even though I was disappointed in my pork tenderloin sandwich, I think the experience at the Ariston Cafe was pleasant enough.  The service was efficient, there's a lot of history in the place (it may be the oldest restaurant along the original Route 66), and the atmosphere was cozy and welcoming.  I would probably try something else at the Ariston Cafe at some point.  They haven't been in business for over 90 years by selling bad food.  

Smitty's Tenderloin Shop - Des Moines, IA

While driving from Kansas City recently, I decided to stop in Des Moines and get a "sting grinder" from The Tavern on Army Post Road on the south side of town. (Click here to see the entry on The Tavern.)  Imagine my surprise when I pulled up and found that the place was no longer The Tavern, but a place called Nick's that touted pork tenderloin sandwiches.  Sort of downhearted that The Tavern was no longer in business at that location (they still have their two locations open in West Des Moines), the notion of having a pork tenderloin sort of jumped out at me.  Just up the road from that place is one of the more famous - if not THE most famous - pork tenderloin sandwich in Des Moines - Smitty's Tenderloin Shop.  I thought if I was going to get a tenderloin, I'd go back to Smitty's because it had been a long, long time since I was last there.

In 1950, the Blue Jay Diner at the corner of Army Post Road and Fleur Drive - directly in the flight path of the Des Moines International Airport - opened for business.  The Blue Jay sat across the street from a gas station that was owned by Bill "Smitty" Smith.  The Blue Jay was sort of famous for their large handmade pork tenderloin sandwiches - the King Tenderloin - that they started to make a couple years after they opened.  The Blue Jay was in business until 1966 before it shut down during the winter.  It was a cold day in December in his service station's garage when Smitty decided to buy the Blue Jay and change occupations.

After a short renovation and cleaning period - and changing the name of the diner - Smitty's Tenderloin Shop opened in early 1967.   The place continued to make the pork tenderloin sandwiches that the Blue Jay made famous and Smitty, himself, came up with a special cracker breading recipe to coat the pounded pork tenderloins.  They still use that cracker breading recipe today, getting the coating mixture from Chicago.  Smitty ran the restaurant until he retired in November of 1983.  

After Smitty retired, his son, Greg, and Greg's wife, Cheri, took over the business.  Because of the close proximity to the airport and the corner of Army Post and Fleur, the FAA wanted to have open space under the flight path of runway 31 and the city was starting to buy properties on the corner.  The Smith's moved to their new - and present day - location six blocks to the east on Army Post Road six months after taking over from Smitty.  

The Smith's continue to run Smitty's Tenderloin Shop and they've included their son, Ben, in the business as the General Manager.  When Greg and Cheri retire, Ben will take over the shop making it three generations of family owning the business.   

Driving back to the west, I came up to Smitty's Tenderloin Shop with it's distinctive sign on the east side of the building. (see map)  It's a caricature of Smitty holding an over-sized tenderloin sandwich with the phrase, "Smitty sez Take Home a Tenderloin To-Nite."  I was able to find a parking spot in front of the building as it was after the lunch rush when I pulled in.

Smitty's has changed little - if any - since the last time I was in the place over 20 years ago.  It has a couple three booths, a handful of tables and about a dozen seats around an "L" shaped counter.  The grill and fryer area is located behind the counter toward the back of the place.  

My server came over to drop off a menu and she immediately asked me if I knew what I wanted.  Since most people come in asking for a tenderloin - you can order a King loin either full or half - she was taking a chance that's what I was going to get, as well.  And even though I wanted to get a tenderloin, I still wanted to check out the menu.  

In addition to their tenderloins, Smitty's features a number of burgers on the menu, as well as grilled or fried chicken sandwiches.  Fries, onion rings, cheese sticks and breaded mushrooms are available, as well.  And one thing that I remember from years ago, you can order an extra bun to cut a tenderloin in half for two people to share.  

When she came back to take my order, I got the King tenderloin with onions and pickles.  Yellow mustard was available on the table.  I am a pork tenderloin purist - no ketchup or barbecue sauce on a breaded/battered tenderloin sandwich.  About 10 minutes later she showed up with my King tenderloin, cut in half.  Like most flattened pork tenderloin sandwiches, it stuck out in all directions from under the bun.  The bun they use at Smitty's is pretty basic.  Ample amounts of onion and pickles were on the bottom of the tenderloin sandwich.  I added yellow mustard before I took my first bite.

 
I'm not big on breaded tenderloins - I like the battered ones much better - and I don't know if I've ever been overly fond of the cracker breading at Smitty's.  But that's not to say that it's a rather unique taste to their tenderloin.  It's sort of cruncy on the outside, but the pork is moist and tender inside.  You're getting much more bun and breading with a King tenderloin, but it still tastes fine.  

About a half hour after downing a good portion of the King tenderloin, a reminder of why I haven't been back in so long came back to haunt me - indigestion.  Oh man!  I was burping and my stomach was rolling and I had heartburn pretty bad.  I usually don't get heartburn, but I suddenly remembered that the tenderloins at Smitty's come back to talk to me after I ate them.  

Smitty's Tenderloin Shop is one of those institutions in Des Moines that is famous beyond the region.  For some people, it's the first place they stop after they get off a plane in Des Moines.  For others, it's the last stop to grab a tenderloin to-go before they board their plane out of town.  Smitty's has been doing their tenderloins for over 45 years - over 60 years if you count the King tenderloin years at the Blue Jay diner - and it's one of those places that you absolutely love or don't care for.  I'm somewhere in the middle.  (Picture courtesy the Des Loines blog that features pork tenderloins from across the state of Iowa.  Check out his great blog site here.)

Larsen's Pub (and Catering) - Elk Horn, IA

Since 2003, the Iowa Pork Producers Association has been searching for the best pork tenderloin sandwiches in the state.  I've eaten at the winners of the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 competition, but have the other past winners on my list to try if I ever got in their area.  Just north of Interstate 80 in Western Iowa between Omaha and Des Moines is a small town by the name of Elk Horn.  It's the home of Larsen's Pub, the 2007 winner of the best pork tenderloin in Iowa.  On a drive back from Omaha a few weeks ago, I decided to stop in to Larsen's and give the tenderloin a try. 

Now, I've been to Elk Horn a couple times in the past, but it's been a long, long time since I was last there.  Elk Horn is a village deep in Danish heritage.  Years ago when I was a regional representative for Bang and Olufsen audio and video equipment that's made in Denmark, I was contacted by the curator of the Danish Museum in Elk Horn to see if we would put some Bang and Olufsen products on display.  She basically wanted Bang and Olufsen to install an audio system as a gift to the museum.  When I explained that the American arm of Bang and Olufsen was not directly owned by B&O, and that we couldn't just *give* them an audio system, well, she got a little nasty with me.  And when I came back with a price that was basically B&O America's landing cost of a system, she came unglued.  (It was over $3000 bucks.)  She basically threw me out of her office.  That was in 1988 and it was my last visit to Elk Horn since then.  

Neal Larsen and his wife, Brenda, grew up in Elk Horn before moving to Guthrie Center in 1997 for work.  Neal's parents, Lynn and Doreen Larsen, had a catering business back in Elk Horn that Neal and Brenda would come back and help out during weekends.  When Lynn and Doreen retired, they sold the business to Neal and Brenda.  

Neal and Brenda Larsen ran their catering business out of an old retirement home building on Main Street in Elk Horn.  When the building was sold in 2005, the Larsen's knew they had to move.  Wanting to stay in Elk Horn, they found that the building that housed a sports bar that had gone out of business was up for sale.  The Larsen's jumped at the chance to buy the building and they opened their doors in March of 2006.  

It was Neal's brother who talked him into making a deep fried pork tenderloin sandwich and putting it on the menu.  Someone nominated the Larsen Pub pork tenderloin for the best in Iowa in 2007 and they won.  On the day they were awarded the best tenderloin, the 2006 winner, Terry Town from the Town House Supper Club in Wellsburg was on hand with Iowa Pork Producer representatives.  Town asked Neal Larsen how many fryers he had and Larsen responded, "Just one.  This table top fryer we have back in the kitchen."  

Town told Larsen, "Oh, my gosh.  You're gonna need five times the fryers now that you won the award.  People are just gonna flock from all over to try your tenderloin."  (Town House Supper Club sold 30,000 pork tenderloin sandwiches within the first couple years after they won the award in 2006.)  Within a couple weeks, the Larsen's had three more fryers on hand to handle to multitudes of people who descended upon their little restaurant in Elk Horn.  

Larsen's Pub is located on Main Street in Elk Horn. (see map)  Main Street is Iowa state highway 173 that runs north from Interstate 80 and Larsen's is located just north of the intersection of Highway 173 and County Road F58 on the west side of the street.  I pulled up in front of Larsen's Pub around 1:25 and walked to the door.  Their hours said that they closed at 1:45, but reopened around 4:30.  

I walked in and was greeted by Neal Larsen.  The restaurant was empty and he was alone behind the bar.  I asked if it was too late to get a sandwich and he said that he was going to close up in about 15 minutes, but he'd make me something.  I said, "I hear your pork tenderloin is pretty good.  I'll take one of them."

He said, "That won't take all that long."  He asked if I wanted anything to drink in the meantime and I had him grab me a Bud Light that he had in the glass cooler behind the bar.   I sat at the bar and waited for my sandwich.  

In addition to their pork tenderloins, Larsen's pub also has burgers, chicken sandwiches, a couple deep fried fish plates and a "Danish" pork tenderloin where they had havarti cheese to the sandwich.  

On the back of the menu, there was a list of things with the heading, "Remember, We Are A Little Place!  If you're expecting a full service restaurant, you need to lower your expectations!"  Then they went through a litany of rules that patrons had to follow at Larsen's Pub.  It started off innocent enough - "May we suggest a Danish beer or frozen drink?"  Then it went on to tell people that they Coke products and 1919 root beer on tap.  Then it began to get heavy.  "We charge for refills", "We charge $1.00 for split plates", "We don't use real plates", and "We don't have lemon for your water" were just a few of the lines of the missive on the back of the menu.  At the bottom, it basically said, "There's just two of us here most of the time.  These are the answers to the questions we get most.  We hope you got a chuckle out of reading this and enjoy your meal!"  I could see where some people would take as a heavy handed attempt at humor, but it was actually kind of funny to me.  

Neal Larsen came out of the kitchen and asked me where I was from and I told him Davenport.  He said, "Wow, that's a long way from here."  When I explained that I was on my way home from Omaha and had wanted to stop in for a long time to try his tenderloin versus some of the other winners, he said, "Oh, well.  That's great.  I'll be interested to hear how ours stacks up against the others."  

He brought out the tenderloin.  It was big and thick, had a nice layer of breaded batter on the outside, and it was somewhat misshapen.  He apologized for it's shape - "It curled up on me in the fryer.  Happens like that from time to time."  I said that it didn't matter for me.  A slice of red onion and a smattering of dill pickles were sitting on the crown of an oval shaped split-top bun.  I asked Neal where he got his buns since I'd never seen one like that before.  I wondered if it was from a local baker that specialized in Danish breads and pastries.  But he blew the mystique that I had in my mind by replying, "Naw, we just get 'em from Sam's Club.  We saw these buns one time and thought they'd be kind of good to go with our tenderloins."

After dressing the tenderloin with the onion, pickles and some yellow mustard, I cut off the misshapen part of the tenderloin that was sticking out from the bun.  The tenderloin was still too hot to consume, so I waited a few moments before I bit in, talking with Neal Larsen while I waited.  He told me that he and his wife still do a lot of catering jobs.  Larsen told me that he has a couple local kids help out for the catering business and one or two people help out at nights in the restaurant.  He said his biggest problem with the catering business is "saying no".  He explained that there were times when they bit off a little more than they can chew and they'd sometime have a couple catering jobs going on at the same time.  "We've learned to say no to some of the jobs," he said.  "We had to.  We were getting sort of burned out."

He went back into the kitchen to turn off the fryer and I determined the tenderloin was now cool enough to try a bite.  I cut off a bit of the misshapen chunk that I had cut off from the main part of the tenderloin moments before and took a bite.  The tenderloin was tender, flavorful and juicy.  The breaded batter on the outside was very tasty as well.  (I surmised initially that it was just a batter that they used on their tenderloins at Larsen's Pub, but Neal Larsen told me, "No, it's a breading.  It's basically a breading and a batter mix, but it's still a breading that we use.)  

The breaded batter was also very rich and I thought I'd have trouble finishing the whole sandwich.  After finishing off the misshapen part that I'd cut off, I concentrated on the sandwich.  The bun was tender and chewy and it was a good complement to the pork tenderloin.  The combination of the taste of the pork tenderloin along with the yellow mustard, dill pickles and red onion slice was outstanding.  It was one of the best pork tenderloin sandwiches I've ever had.  THEE best?  Hmmm....  Possibly yes, maybe not.  If it isn't the best I've ever had, it's damned close to the best.  And that's what I told Neal Larsen when he asked how his pork tenderloin stacked up against the other winners that I've had.   

Larsen's Pub doesn't take credit cards, but the pork tenderloin and a beer came to less than $10 bucks.  It was a great value because it was a lot of food.  (I didn't have dinner that evening as I was still full from my lunch.)  As I was leaving, Neal Larsen said, "Be sure to tell people about us out here."  I told him to not worry, I would tell others.

And I just did...

Fisherman's Wharf - Okoboji, IA

We had passed a place called Fisherman's Wharf on the north end of the Highway 71 bridge that goes over the waterway between East and West Lake Okoboji a number of times during our vacation in that area earlier this summer.  It looked intriguing with its deck dining and nautical theme.  We decided to have lunch there one day during our vacation.

Known as simply "The Wharf" to the locals and regulars, the restaurant has been a staple for residents and vacationers in the Lake Okoboji area for years.  It was originally on the west side of the road until the Iowa Department of Transportation had it condemned in the mid-90's for the construction of the new bridge.  The owner at that time, Jeff Kurth, moved the restaurant across the highway into what was an old Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.  He added on to the restaurant putting in a bar, a three-season dining area and an outdoor deck that overlooked the marina next door.  

Before Kurth bought the place in 1994, it was known as Harold's Fisherman Wharf.  I was talking to a lady in Arnolds Park about Fisherman's Wharf and she told me that there was a man - Harold - and his wife - Margie - that originally owned the business.  When I asked what their last name was, she said, "Hmmm...  You know, I don't remember.  I just remember when I was a little kid and my parents would just say we were going to Harold and Margie's for dinner."

And long before it was known as Fisherman's Wharf, the site on which the building stands was home to the Okoboji General Store.  In the early 1900's, the Okoboji General Store was the one-stop shop for residents and vacationers looking for supplies, fishing licenses and also served as the local Post Office.   

In 2010, a series of winter storms caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to docks and storage buildings at Mau Marine, located next to Fisherman's Wharf.  When Jerry Kurth decided to retire that same year, the owners of Mau Marine, Julie Andres and her sister, Susan Mau, decided to buy Fisherman's Wharf so they could control all the land on that corner of East Lake Okoboji.  

Now, I went to school with a Julie Mau at the University of Iowa.  And I seem to remember that she was from Ida Grove, IA.  It turns out that this Julie Mau Andres' father and mother, Dick and Donna, were from Ida Grove and the family used to vacation at Lake Okoboji in the summertime.  So, I'm guessing that the Julie Mau I went to school with at Iowa and the Julie Mau Andres who co-owns both Mau Marine and Fisherman's Wharf is one and the same person.  

Boating was a passion for the Mau family and Dick and Donna decided to buy the old Wilson Boat Works in 1988.  Wilson Boat Works was also an iconic business in the Lake Okoboji region tracing their history back to the late 1800's when it was originally known as Wilson Boat Works which included a marina, boat yard, manufacturer and a livery stable.  Wilson Boat Works made row boats at first, but then their boat manufacturing evolved into steam-power cruisers and wooden skip boats.  After World War II, the popularity of pleasure boats exploded and Wilson Boat Works became a dealer for both Chris Craft and, then later, Sea Ray.  

An aerial photo of Mau Marine and Fisherman's Wharf.  Photo courtesy of Boating Industry.com 

Dick and Donna Mau continued that tradition of selling both Chris Craft and Sea Ray up until the time in 2003 that they decided to retire and sell the business to their two daughters.  Julie Andres and Susan Mau are an extremely rare commodity in the boating business - they are one of the very few boat dealerships and marinas owned by women.  In fact, the Mau sisters have been instrumental in incorporating boating classes for women and including women in the process of buying a boat.  

After the Mau sisters acquired Fisherman's Wharf when Jerry Kurth retired, they kept on two longtime workers - Shawn Jeffrey and Tootie Stellmach - to run the business.  It was Tootie Stellmach who greeted us when we got into the restaurant around 1:30 on a weekday afternoon.  It was a very windy day and Tootie told us that the deck (below left) was closed, but the three-season porch (below right) was open - but it was still a little breezy in there.  We ended up sitting at a table in the bar area next to a window that looked out to the marina.  She dropped off a couple menus and told us that Melissa would be taking care of us.   

The bar area (below left) wasn't all that large, but it was certainly a nice area to sit.  The large windows let in a lot of natural light.  The bar, itself, had about 10 seats around it and had a long shelf that ran directly above.  The nautical theme to Fisherman's Wharf was consistent throughout the restaurant and bar area.  

The main dining room (above right) was also well-lit and had a cozy feeling, as well.  It had a number of tables - high and regular sized - and some of the tables featured bench seats.  When we got into the restaurant, the dining room was nearly full.  When we left - when we took this picture - is was nearly deserted.  

The menu at Fisherman's Wharf is a mix of steaks, seafood, chops, chicken, sandwiches, burgers, salads and appetizers.  We weren't going to be eating a lot since we'd had a large breakfast about five hours earlier, but we wanted something to tide us over as we were scheduled to have a late dinner that evening.  Cindy was intrigued with the po' boy sandwiches they had to offer at Fisherman's Wharf - most especially the walleye po' boy.  She ended up ordered that from Melissa when she came around to take our order.

I thought about getting a burger, but the breaded tenderloin sounded interesting.  When I asked Melissa about it, she said, "It's one of our most popular sandwiches."  I ended up getting that and instead of fries for a side, I got a cup of their French onion soup.

Our food made it out to us in about 15 minutes.  The French onion soup had a load of shredded Swiss cheese on the top - it wasn't baked in like you normally see with French onion soup.  And I have to say that it was very good.  It had a good onion flavor to the soup, the broth was also tasty and the cheese had melted in with the broth after a minute or two.   

My breaded pork tenderloin had some thickness to it and it hung over the sides of the bun just by a little bit.  The first bite yielded a wonderful pork taste that the breading didn't overpower.  The pork was tender and juicy - it was a very good breaded pork tenderloin.  The kaiser bun was also light and fluffy and stayed together with each bite.  I was extremely happy with what I had ordered.  

I suppose Cindy's sandwich could be categorized as a po' boy.  Actually, it was a fish sandwich on a toasted hoagie bun.  The walleye filet was breaded and deep fried.  I've usually seen po' boy sandwiches where the fish or meat is shredded or chopped.  Cindy took a couple bites of the sandwich and said the fish was good.  But after that, she opened up the top of the bun and began to just eat the walleye filet without the bun.  She offered me a bite of her walleye, but I don't care for deep fried fish all that much.  I'll eat it from time to time if someone is having a fish fry, but normally I won't eat any restaurants deep fried fish or seafood.    

For lunch, yeah, Fisherman's Wharf was pretty good.  It would have been nice to sit outside (we saw the deck was packed with diners on many occasions through the week when it wasn't windy), we were happy with sitting in the bar area.  Melissa did a find job taking care of us and the food was above average.  And it seemed to be a pretty good value. We were talking about coming back to Okoboji for a vacation again next year, especially after we'd been there for a couple days and getting acclimated to the area.  Fisherman's Wharf would be one place where I'd like to go back and have dinner if we have the chance.   

(Update - Fisherman's Wharf closed in the fall of 2014 as the landlord decided not to renew the year-to-year lease on the place.)

Crabby's Bar and Grill - Coal Valley, IL

We had to go over to the Quad Cities main U.S. Post Office facility in Milan one evening to drop off some mail to send out late. It was past 6:30 and I figured we'd just go get something to eat over on the Illinois side of the river that night. I threw a couple places out and Cindy wasn't thrilled with either one. She said, "We need to go someplace new." (She's getting into the spirit of Road Tips wanting to find new places for me to write about.) "Let's go to that log cabin place over here a bit. You know, the one with the neon palm trees." She was referring to Crabby's Bar and Grill in Coal Valley, IL. (See map)

We had been past Crabby's on numerous occasions, albeit the backside of Crabby's that sits up next to Interstate 280. The site on which the bar and grill sits is the site of the original Quad City Speedway. When the Interstate was built about 40 years ago, the speedway closed up and moved to East Moline. The original building that Crabby's became started out as the Speedway Inn. It later became Powers' Country Store before it became the old Fleetwood Tap and Liquor Store. In 2001, Lori and Bill Rotz bought the business and turned it into Crabby's Bar and Grill. They kept the liquor store that was attached to the side of the building. Lori Rotz was no stranger to the restaurant business having been the general manager for The Captain's Table for over 12 years.

In 2006, a roofing crew was working on the roof of Crabby's when a torch used to melt tar accidentally caught some of the structure on fire. In no time the fire engulfed the building, gutting it and causing the structure to be a total loss. With the help of friends and patrons, the Rotz's rebuilt Crabby's on the original foundation, changing the floor plan to include a larger bar area with more seating. They were able to reopen in the spring of 2007.

The bar, itself, is a large rectangular structure that can seat 25 to 30 people. On the west side of the large, well lit room are pool tables and games. There's a covered beer garden just outside the west side of the building.  The opposite side of the dining area has about a half dozen booths and high top tables. On weekends, Crabby's features live music and there's a set up area for bands on the floor on the east side of the restaurant. 

We sat in one of the booths along the south wall near the in-house entrance to Crabby's liquor store. Our waitress for the evening came over and handed us a couple menus.

The menu is primarily typical bar food - burgers, sandwiches, salads, appetizers - but they also featured an 8 oz. New York strip with a baked potato and Texas toast for $8.45. That sounded like a helluva deal. They also had comfort food such as hot beef and meatloaf sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gray. They had a Philly cheese steak sandwich and something they called the chicken cheese steak sandwich. It was intriguing, but I was looking for something else.

Our waitress came over to check on us and Cindy asked, "What are you guys known for?"

The waitress pointed at the menu and said, "Well, the steak dinner is one of my favorites and one of our more popular dinners. We have hand-pattied cheeseburgers that are pretty good. Our reuben is very good." She certainly got my attention when she said "hand-pattied cheeseburger".

She gave us a couple more minutes and I needed it. I really didn't know what I wanted. It was a toss-up between the hot beef sandwich and the reuben. I thought about the burger, but decided I really didn't want one. Actually, I wasn't really sold on either the hot beef or the reuben.

When our waitress came back, she asked if we were ready to order. Cindy was, I wasn't, so she spoke up right away. She took the steak dinner, "medium, but to the medium-rare side."

All too quickly it was now up to me to order. I took a quick look at the menu hoping for some divine intervention that would steer me to something and I saw the pork tenderloin sandwich - grilled or breaded and fried. Out of the blue, I heard myself say, "I'll take the grilled pork tenderloin." The normal garden vegetables came with it, but I just had her put onions and pickles on it. I also got a side of fries with it to make it a basket. You get your choice of five or six sides with the basket.

After the waitress took our order, Cindy exclaimed, "Pork tenderloin? Where did THAT come from? You didn't even mention the tenderloin when you were trying to figure out what you wanted."

"I know," I replied. "Something just told me to get the tenderloin."

And I'm glad I did. When she brought it out, the grilled tenderloin was bigger than the bun - and the bun wasn't small by any stretch. It had a good, chargrilled smell to the sandwich. It looked pretty damn good. And it was.

The bun is what what made the sandwich. It was light and fluffy, and had a great taste to it. The bottom half of the bun looks flat in the picture above right and that's because I pressed down on it to cut the sandwich in half. But the crown of the bun was overly flaky and held together very well. It was a damn fine sandwich.

Cindy was very impressed with her steak dinner - especially for $8.45. The steak looked bigger than 8 ounces and was cooked exactly as Cindy wanted - more medium-rare than medium. (Would that be medium-rare plus?) The chargrill marks on the steak looked like she got it from a regular steakhouse.

The waitress had taken my water glass away to refill it and Cindy said, "I wonder if they have horseradish here."

I said, "Oh, I doubt it. Unless they make their bloody mary's with it."

When the waitress came back with my water, Cindy asked if she had any ground horseradish. "Sure! I'll get some for you," was her exuberant reply. A place like Crabby's having fresh ground horseradish was certainly surprising to me. In a bit, the waitress brought back a little container of horseradish for Cindy's steak. Our waitress was very good, really on top of things and helpful all throughout our visit without hovering over us.

I was overly impressed with my sandwich, Cindy's steak and the overall service at Crabby's Bar and Grill. Everything about Crabby's was surprisingly very good. You wouldn't think a bar and grill like this would have as good as food - and at as good of a value. It's not an exquisite steakhouse, nor is it fine dining. But for a burger, sandwich or a great deal on a very good steak, Crabby's is tough to beat. We told the waitress before we left that we'd be back at some point. The next time, I'm getting the burger.

(Update - We have since been back to Crabby's and I did try the burger.  Unfortunately, it's a processed, frozen burger patty that they get from a local food distributor.  Then they overcooked it and there wasn't much flavor or juiciness left in the burger when it was served to me.  However, my wife got the steak special again - the price has now risen to $9.49 (which is still a great deal) - and it was still very good.) 

Gramma's Kitchen - Walcott, IA

The Iowa Pork Producers Association annually awards a restaurant across the state for having the best pork tenderloin sandwich.  This year's winner is Gramma's Kitchen along Interstate 80 north of Walcott, IA, at Exit 284, just west of the Quad Cities (see map).  We'd been to Gramma's in the past (it's been around since 1980), but had never gotten the pork tenderloin sandwich.  I had returned home after a long trip and Cindy wasn't up for making anything at home that evening (she was suffering from a cold), so I suggested we'd go out to Gramma's Kitchen and give their tenderloin a try.

Gramma's Kitchen is part of the Heart of America group of restaurants and hotels run by Quad Cities native Mike Whalen and includes The Machine Shed family style restaurants with six locations, Thunder Bay Grille in Davenport, Rockford and Pewaukee, WI, and Johnny's Italian Steakhouse with six locations (soon to be seven).  You can click here to see my entry on the Johnny's Italian Steakhouse in West Des Moines.  Gramma's Kitchen is the only stand alone restaurant of the Heart of America empire that stretches across six states in the Midwest.  

I've eaten at - and shared on Road Tips - the past three winners of the Iowa Pork Producers Best Tenderloin contest.  They are the 2008 winner Augusta in Oxford, IA; 2009 winner Goldie's Drive Inn in Prairie City, IA; and 2010 winner Buck's Bar in Mitchellville, IA.  (Buck's Bar closed up earlier this year.)  While I usually don't go out of my way to experience pork tenderloin sandwiches like I do with burger joints, if I come across one that I've heard is pretty good, I'll stop.  Thankfully, Gramma's Kitchen is only 15 minutes from our home.  

We entered Gramma's Kitchen around 7 p.m. that evening and it was far from packed.  Although the parking lot was over half full, many of the people who drove - or who walked over from the Iowa 80 truck stop (the World's Largest Truck Stop) - were in the attached Checkered Flag Bar and Grill.  We were immediately greeted by a hostess, then escorted through the gift shop area (similar to the gift shops you find at the Machine Shed restaurants) and seated in a booth in the spacious and well-lit dining area.

Our waiter for the evening, Eric, was young guy who was very friendly and was overly attentive.  He apologized for not coming around sooner (he was busy with other tables and it was less than five minutes after we were seated).  And by that time we were ready to order.

Most of the food on the dinner menu at Gramma's Kitchen is comfort food, but you can get steaks and some seafood at the place.  Actually, since Cindy was suffering from a cold, she almost got the Chicken Pot Pie, one of the king comfort food dishes you can find.  But at the last moment, she went with the battered pork tenderloin sandwich with a side of cole slaw. (Grilled pork tenderloin sandwiches are available, as well.  Make sure you know which one you're ordering when you order a pork tenderloin sandwich.)

I, too, went with the battered pork tenderloin with a side of fries.  And for good measure, I asked Eric if I could get a side of gravy for the fries.  He said, "Sure!  What kind of gravy?  Breakfast gravy, turkey gravy, pork..."  

I told him beef gravy and he said, "You bet!"   

It took about 15 minutes for the pork tenderloins to come out to us.  The pork tenderloins start out as 1/4 pound pork loins, slightly pounded out, then dipped in an egg and flour batter, then deep-fried to a deep golden brown color.  The best thing about the pork loins at Gramma's Kitchen is the term "slightly pounded out".  Some places that feature pork tenderloin sandwiches pound the living shit out of the loin and they end up being large and flat.  That also takes the moisture out of the tenderloin making it dry.  The second best thing about the pork tenderloin sandwiches at Gramma's is that they're battered - not breaded.  I'll eat a breaded tenderloin, but - to me - it's not as good a deep-fried, battered tenderloin.    

Cindy's pork tenderloin sandwich (above right) was a little larger than mine.   The tenderloin stuck out a bit from the toasted bun, but not so much like you find at other places.  The only problem I had was that there weren't enough pickles.  Only one long pickle slice came with the sandwich.  Eric came back with my drink and I asked him for some more pickle slices.  He brought out a plate with about 10 pickle slices.  He said, "We try to do everything big here at Gramma's Kitchen."  

The pork tenderloins were thick, juicy and very good.  The batter was a little salty in taste (then again, I hardly salt anything), but it was still very good with the pork loin.  I had contemplated getting just one and splitting it.  But as it turned out, we were both hungry - Cindy was especially hungry as she hadn't been eating well because of her cold - and I made very short work with my tenderloin, along with the fries and much of the gravy.  Cindy dawdled a bit, but she was able to eat all but a couple three bites of her sandwich.  She said, "Yeah, that was great!  I guess I was a lot more hungry than I thought!"  

For their winning this year's best pork tenderloin sandwich, Gramma's Kitchen was given a plaque and a $500 dollar check from the Iowa Pork Producers Association.   When Eric came back to get our dishes, he asked, "Well, how was it?"  

I told him, "You guys are much better than the last two winners (Goldie's and Buck's).  But I'm not certain that you're as good as the one over in Oxford that won three years ago.  It's close, but I'd have to go back there to see for sure.  And it certainly gives the one up at TC's Point After in DeWitt a run for the money.  That's a very good one, too."

But all that's not to say the pork tenderloin from Gramma's Kitchen isn't good.  It's very worthy of its standing as the best pork tenderloin sandwich in Iowa for 2011.  Even though the plaque says "Best Breaded Tenderloin Sandwich", it's the batter on the pork tenderloin at Gramma's Kitchen that makes the difference.

Dawson's on Main - Speedway, IN

 
The 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 will take place this coming Sunday in Indianapolis.  Actually, the race track is in a small encircled suburb of Indy by the name of Speedway, a city that was one of the first planned communities in the United States.  I've been going out to the Indy 500 off and on since 1986 and while I've known about the town of Speedway, I never knew there was actually a downtown area until I met up with a guy for a business lunch at a place called Dawson's on Main.  It is literally just a stone's throw from Turn One at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (see map).  All these years of going to Indianapolis for business and pleasure and I never knew there was such a thing as downtown Speedway, let alone a place like Dawson's on Main.

Brothers Chris and Tony Hill opened Dawson's on Main in June of 2006 along with help from their father, Gary, and their sister, Barb Lesko.  The place is named after Tony Hill's son, Dawson, who will, no doubt, grow into the family business. 

As I said, Speedway was one of the first planned communities in the United States with much of the development designed around the use of the motor car.  It was one of the first communities that was laid out with wide streets and designed with garages for every home in the little city.  So I found it somewhat ironic that Main Street was effectively shut down with a massive works project putting in new storm sewers, lights and sidewalks.  I had to park up the street on 15th and walk about a block to the restaurant.  However, I understand that Main Street in Speedway should be open by now. 

Dawson's on Main bills themselves as an upscale restaurant with a casual atmosphere.  And it's sort of an upscale sports bar, as well.  It has two pretty good sized dining rooms - the main one as you come into the restaurant at the corner of 15th and Main in downtown Speedway, and a dining/bar area as you pass through the main dining room. 

It was in the bar area that I met with my guy who I was having the lunch meeting with.  He was already seated with lunch menus in front of him.  We sat for awhile and caught up on some business before I even had a chance to look at the menu.  Although the lunch menu is definitely upscale compared to other places in the area for lunch, Dawson's on Main's dinner menu was something that interested me tremendously.   While both menus share a handful of items such as some appetizers, sandwiches and salads, after 5 p.m. Dawson's on Main goes even more upscale with a wide variety of steaks, seafood, pasta dishes, chicken and pork chops, as well as their own barbecued ribs. 

I wasn't overly hungry as I'd had breakfast earlier in the day, but I knew it would be a long time before dinner that evening so I thought I'd better have something substantial for lunch.  I looked at possibly getting the iceberg wedge salad - a large wedge of iceberg lettuce that was topped with smoked apple hickory wood bacon, red onions and cucumbers, then finished with crumbled bleu cheese and honey pecans and topped with Dawson's homemade house dressing, a herb vinaigrette.  In fact, all of Dawson's salad dressings were made in house. 

Dawson's on Main also featured a number of sandwiches and wraps including the Italian chicken and pepperoni wrap - Dawson's grilled chicken with Italian spices and topped with pepperoni slices, alfalfa sprouts (I'd pass on those), red onions and banana pepper rings, then topped with Gorgonzola cheese and wrapped in slices of cheddar cheese.  Then they top it off with the house herb vinaigrette dressing.  Man!  That sounded so good, but it also sounded so filling!

I also had my eye on the reuben - black angus corned beef, slow roasted in house and served on homemade marble rye bread with sauerkraut and aged Swiss cheese with Dawson's homemade Thousand Island dressing.  I almost got that, but I'd been on such a reuben kick as of late that I decided to go another direction.

The state of Indiana rivals Iowa for breaded tenderloins and I decided to see how the one at Dawson's stacked up.  I ended up getting the pork tenderloin sandwich - a pork cutlet, hand breaded and fried, then served on a bun with lettuce, tomato, red onions and dill pickles.  A side of Dawson's homemade honey mustard came with the sandwich.  I had my choice of French fries, onion rings, potato salad, cottage cheese, cole slaw or pasta salad.  I got the cottage cheese.

My guest got the chicken and spinach melt - a grilled seasoned chicken breast topped with their apple hickory wood bacon, Swiss cheese, then finished off with a dollop of Dawson's homemade spinach and artichoke dip.  It's then served on sourdough bread.  He told me, "It's the best sandwich in Indianapolis."  I came about this close to changing my order, but decided at the last moment to hold tight.

When our food made it to the table, I was instantly mentally smacking myself in the head.  This huge pork tenderloin sandwich was placed in front of me and it was huge.  Not only was it large in size, but it was thick from a combination of the breading and the thickness of the pounded pork loin.  I knew there was going to be NO WAY that I'd be able to eat the whole thing. 

 But I took a bite and it was good - very good, as a matter of fact.  The breading was crunchy and had a somewhat herbed taste to it.  The pork loin, itself, was juicy, flavorful and not over cooked in the least.   It was really a good sandwich.  The only thing I really didn't care for was the honey mustard dressing.  I ended up asking the bartender/waiter for some yellow mustard and he seemed a little taken aback that I didn't care for the honey mustard. 

My guest's chicken and spinach melt was declared to be "excellent".  And it did look good.  The spinach and artichoke dip oozed out of the sandwich.  It was definitely a multi-napkin lunch for him.  If I get back to Dawson's on Main - and I figure I will - I'll get that chicken and spinach melt.

Of course, I couldn't eat the second half of my sandwich.  And I couldn't take the leftovers with me because I knew it would be sitting in the car and not in the fridge for the next six hours.  If it would have been colder out, I could have put it in the trunk and it would have been fine.  But it was in the 60's and I knew I couldn't chance taking it with me and going bad before I had a chance to get it cooled down.  I usually take a cooler with me on the road, but for some reason I didn't bring it with me on this trip.  That's OK, I had more than enough of the sandwich to figure out that it was very good. 

Dawson's on Main is one of those great little surprises that pop up in my travels from time to time.  I like it when the locals turn me on to little places that are just outstanding.   And I thought the food, the service and the atmosphere at Dawson's on Main were all very, very good.  I would put their breaded pork tenderloin against many of those I've had in Iowa and would probably beat a couple of the "Best in Iowa" pork sandwiches I've had over the past couple three years.  I'm sure that during Indy 500 weekend, Dawson's on Main is nearly impossible to get into.  But now that I know where its at - and that the street work out front is probably finished - I won't need to wait for an Indy 500 weekend to visit Dawson's on Main. 

 

 

 

 

The Creekside "Two-Tone" Sandwich and Juicy Lucy Burger

First of all, I have to remind readers of Road Tips that the owner of Creekside Bar and Grill in Davenport, Randy Adams, is a good friend of mine. (You can read my initial entry on Creekside here.) We grew up together in Newton, IA and even though he moved away nearly 30 years ago, we stayed friends as I would visit him on my business trips to Davenport.

 

When I moved to the Quad Cities just coming up to 20 years ago on June 1, Randy and became fast friends again and have shared a lot of good times since I've been here. When Randy opened Creekside Bar and Grill about five years ago (see map), he wanted to have a great burger on the menu. Through a series of hiccups, trial and error and finding the right cooks, he finally has a pretty damn good burger, including his very good portobello mushroom, bacon, Swiss cheese burger that Randy's step-son, Stephen, came up with last year. It's a two-time nominee for the "Best Burger in Iowa" by the Iowa Beef Industry Council.

 

Randy told me recently that his other step-son, Ryan, came up with a sandwich on his own - the Two-Tone. Ryan's nickname is "Two-Tone" (I think it had something to do with a colored splotch in his hair that he used as a fashion statement at one point) and he designed a grilled pork tenderloin sandwich that was topped with a homemade onion ring, jalapeno peppers and cheese. Then for good measure, he put on some of his grandfather's homemade barbecue sauce.

 

On a recent Sunday night when Ryan was cooking at Creekside, he made one for a customer to try. The guy raved about it so much that someone else ordered one up. Then someone else ordered one. By the time he finished his grill time that evening, he had made 10 of this new sandwich which wasn't even on the menu at Creekside. In fact, they weren't really certain what to charge for it.

 

Randy soon told me that Ryan had come up with this new sandwich and that I needed to come up and give one a try. I was in Creekside on a recent visit and I was sort of hungry. Randy said, "Hey, you should try one of those Two-Tone sandwiches that Ryan made." Ryan just happened to be cooking that day.

 

I exclaimed, "Yeah, that's right! What's it again?"

  

Ryan said, "I grill a pork chop, cut it in half, serve it double decker style with cheese and jalapenos in the middle. Then I put an onion ring on top and then pour some of Grandpa's barbacue sause on it."

 

I said, "OK, you got me when you said, 'Grandpa's barbecue sauce'."

  

(As an aside, the barbecue sauce is made by our good friend, Randy Brekke. Both Randy's got to know each other when they were in an apprentice program at the Rock Island Arsenal. Randy Adams, in turn, met Randy Brekke's daughter, Lorrie, years ago. After both went through a couple failed marriages, Lorrie moved back to the Quad Cities from San Diego and got together with Randy Adams almost two years ago. They were married last fall in a ceremony in which I officiated - yes, I'm also an ordained minister legally able to conduct weddings and other non-religious ceremonies for people. But that's another story...)

 

The barbecue sauce that Randy Brekke makes - aptly named "Randy B's" - is a sweet and somewhat peppery sauce that I have to say is damn good. It has a little bit of zip to the taste and it is, by far, the best homemade barbecue sauce that I've ever tasted. Like most homemade beer, most homemade barbecue sauces I've tasted aren't all that good. If you say it's bad, it's like you've told the person their kid is ugly.  I can't say that about Randy B's sauce.  It's very, very good.

 

He now makes his sauce for Creekside and was kind enough to give me a small jar of it to use at home. I think he told me that Creekside is going through about three gallons a month and that will grow precipitously once they soon begin using this new smoker (pictured above left and right) that Randy Brekke designed and helped build.

 

Ryan commenced to make the Two-Tone for me, placing the thin, non-breaded tenderloin on the open grill and preparing the large homemade onion ring for placement on the top. It took about 12 minutes to make, and I have to say that because it was me he was extra diligent in making sure everything was right. He served it to me and here's what it looked like below left.

From the first bite, I was hooked. The Two-Tone was thick, juicy and cheesy with that great barbecue sauce on it. The jalapenos weren't all that hot - toe me, anyway - and didn't over power the overall taste of the sandwich. The onion ring - although Stephen still hasn't come up with the right seasoning for their homemade batter - was a nice additional taste that went well with the pork tenderloin.

 

Now, as I look at the pictures, there seems to be something else on top of the onion ring. I believe it's white cheddar cheese. 

 

Randy and I were sitting at the bar, and as I was eating the sandwich he was smiling as I kept exclaiming how good the sandwich was between my favorable grunts and "mmmmm" noises. Randy turned to Ryan and asked, "Now, how did you come up with this?" 

 

Ryan said, "I started to figure out all the things that I'd like on a sandwich and I just put it all together. Grandpa's barbecue sauce was the key, I think."

 

All I know is that it was certainly very good. There's a lot of stuff going on with a Two-Tone pork tenderloin sandwich and Ryan came up with a real winner on this one. 

 

A couple weeks after I tried the "Two-Tone" sandwich at Creekside, I happened to be in there one afternoon and Stephen was cooking. Randy had been telling me about Stephen's version of a "Juicy Lucy", the cheese stuffed burger that is so famous up in the Twin Cities. Stephen starts off with two hand-pattied burgers, stuffs them with pepper jack cheese, then tops it out with jalapenos and white cheddar cheese.  I decided to give one a try.

When Stephen brought his "Juicy Lucy" to me at the bar, I was amazed at the size of it.  It wasn't quite like taking two of their regular burgers and putting them together, but it was close.  The cheese was just oozing out of and off the top of the burger.  Randy was sitting there and he said, "It's pretty good, isn't it?"

 

I said, "Man, it sure is!"  The spicy cheese and the jalapeno's gave the burger a little bit of a bite, but not overpowering enough to detract from the overall taste of the burger.  The bun continues to be a big selling point with any Creekside sandwich and the toasted egg bun is a great compliment to their sandwiches and burgers.  Creekside's "Juicy Lucy" would have put up a good fight against any of the similar burgers I've had in the Twin Cities.

Randy, who is always on the lookout for menu ideas when he goes out and around to other restaurants and bars, said that he's seen variations of the "Juicy Lucy" on a number of menus of places he's been.  "Oh, yeah.  I'm starting to see a lot of places that do cheese stuffed burgers." 

 

Well, I travel a lot and I don't seem to find them outside of the Twin Cities.  Maybe I need to pay a little bit better attention. 

 

The key to a good "Juicy Lucy" style burger is to not over-cook the burger while you get the inner cheese to melt.  Stephen did a fine job in making sure that didn't happen.  The one thing Randy preaches at Creekside is consistentcy.  Between Stephen, Ryan and the other cook, Alyssa, they all do a fine job.  Creekside Bar and Grill is one of the most underrated and unknown places for good burgers and sandwiches in the Quad Cities.

 

(Update - Creekside Bar and Grill was sold to a group in February of 2015 and they are planning on turning it into a sports bar.   They are planning on changing the menu and revamping the building to be more of a sports bar/restaurant.)

 

Sammy's Lounge - Cedar Rapids, IA

First of all, I have to apologize to whoever suggested I go to Sammy's Lounge in Cedar Rapids to try one of their pork tenderloin sandwiches. I finally did make it into Sammy's a few weeks ago and here's my story -

Sammy's Lounge is located just off of Interstate 380 in a strip mall next to a Hy-Vee near the corner of Center Point Road and Blairs Ferry Road (see map). Sammy's is what I would characterize as a working-class bar. Even during the middle of the afternoon there's an hard-scrabble crowd in the place. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I sort of tend to gravitate toward those types of places. But don't go into Sammy's thinking that your son or daughter isn't going to hear some foul language from conversations people are having. It's definitely more of a bar than a family restaurant.

Bob Hamilton was the longtime owner of Sammy's. "Was" is the operative term because sadly Bob passed away last November from cancer at the age of 66. Hamilton owned Sammy's since 1978 and made hundreds of friends over the years. The "Bob-O-Burger" on Sammy's menu is named after Bob. Hamilton's family continues to run Sammy's Lounge today.

Sammy's Lounge gets a good crowd at night with karaoke mainly on Tuesday and Saturday evenings. And you can be sure that if there's a NASCAR race on TV, Sammy's will have it on. And on my visits to Sammy's, I've seen everything from 20-somethings to 50-somethings hanging at the bar. That's a good sign for any successful bar/lounge.

Actually, I went to Sammy's Lounge for a pork tenderloin sandwich late last fall, but I got in after 2 p.m. and the cook, I believe her name is Cathy, had shut the kitchen down for cleaning. Not wanting to wait, I just had a beer and decided to come back at another time. I was passing through Cedar Rapids recently and decided to stop in a little earlier in the afternoon. This time, the grill was on and the fryer was hot. I sat at the long, rectangular bar and ordered up a pork tenderloin sandwich and a beer from the bartender.

It wasn't long before the tenderloin came out, piping hot. It was served with pickles and onion and I put mustard on the sandwich to complete the condiment trifecta. Sammy's Lounge gets their tenderloins from Fareway (there's a familiar theme with pork tenderloin places using Fareway pork - it is damn good), they hand-cut and hand-bread them in their kitchen. The tenderloin hung over the edges of the sesame-seed bun, but it wasn't pounded into submission and flattened into the size of a man-hole cover like some places will do.

The breading on the tenderloin was sort of tasty - it was more of a breading/battered coating on the tenderloin. The tenderloin, however, was a little overcooked and wasn't quite as moist or juicy as it could have been. She could have pulled it out about 30 seconds sooner and it would have been better.

But that's not to say that it's not a bad tenderloin. I don't think I can put it in the same category as Augusta and TC's Point After, but it's better than many that I've had. Sammy's Lounge acquitted themselves very well and their pork tenderloin sandwich is worth a mention.

TC's Point After - De Witt, IA

I've been prodded by a number of people who regularly read Road Tips to travel to nearby De Witt, IA so I can give my observations on the pork tenderloin sandwich at TC's Point After.  Their tenderloin garnered 2nd Place in the annual Iowa Pork Producers Association "Best Tenderloin in Iowa" contest in 2009 behind Goldie's in Prairie City (see the post about my visit to Goldie's here).  I've been meaning to go up to TC's for a tenderloin, but never had the time - or actually, made the time. 

Recently, a good friend of mine, Curt Buchmeier, called and said that he was staying in De Witt for a couple nights while he was selling Yellow Pages ads for Hanson Directory out of my old hometown of Newton, IA.  It had been years since we'd seen each other, so we worked it out where could meet at TC's for dinner that night.  Cindy and I hopped in the car and drove the short distance up to De Witt and TC's Point After (see map). 

Chuck Cox was a salesman on the road for over 15 years when he became fed up with overnight travel and mediocre restaurants where the kitchen always seemed to close too early for him.  He said to himself, "If I ever open a restaurant, it would have extended kitchen hours so someone can get a sandwich at 10:30 at night if they want it."  Chuck's dream to open a bar/restaurant came true when he bought a small building in downtown De Witt and with the help of his wife, daughter and three sons, they remodeled the place into a nice little family oriented sports bar.  He named the place by combining the initials of his childrens names (Tracey, Todd, Terry, Tony) with a sports theme - hence, TC's Point After.  Cox populated the walls with sports memorabilia including a lot of Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears items.  A shelf above the bar holds helmets from various high school football teams around the area.

Cox opened a second location in the Village of East Davenport a little over 20 years ago, but it only lasted a couple three years.  If I remember right, he closed up that location and moved it to the Hilltop Campus Village area of Davenport.  That place, too, eventually closed and he focused his efforts on the De Witt location. 

Being a big Cubs fan, Cox became friends with Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins (pictured at right with Cox).  I don't remember what the connection between the two was, but Jenkins regularly comes to De Witt for fund raisers and outings with Cox.  At the Cubs Spring Training facility in Mesa, AZ, Jenkins helps Cox sell battered pork chop sandwiches called "Fergie's Big Bite".  They're the same pork chop sandwiches that TC's Point After sells in De Witt. 

A couple years ago, Cox sold TC's Point After to his long time general manager Michele Bowers.  Cox still comes in on a daily basis when he's in town, but sits on the other side of the bar in a chair with his name on the back of it.  Cox's grandson, Christopher, remains the head cook at the place. 

The pork chop sandwich that TC's is famous for - dubbed Chuckie's Famous Tenderloin - was actually developed by Cox's wife and daughter.  They take a whole pork loin and cut of about a six ounce center portion of pork, run it through a tenderizer front and back, and then coat it with a secret homemade batter.  It's deep fried and served on a bun.  I'd heard so much about TC's pork tenderloin that I couldn't wait to try it.  

We met Curt around 7 p.m. and took a table in the far back of the dining room at TC's.  It had been over 10 years since we seen one another and probably four years since we'd last talked, so catching up was the first thing on the agenda.  Well, that and drinking a number of beers.  Cindy didn't feel like drinking that evening, so she just had water.  It turned out good for me as one beer turned into three, which turned into six, which turned into...  Well, let's just say that I was grateful that she went along so she could drive me home that night.  

The menu at TC's Point After features a number of steaks, chops and seafood, as well as a number of salads and side dishes to choose from.  In addition to the famous tenderloin sandwich, TC's has an extensive list of appetizers, burgers and other sandwiches.  They also feature nightly specials on a regular basis.  

Cindy was getting hungry and we still hadn't really opened our menus as we were talking non-stop back and forth about what had been going on with our lives.  Cindy took the initiative and ordered up a plate of TC's Hat Trick - a combination of onion rings, cheese sticks, fried mushrooms and cauliflower.  It didn't take long for the plate to show up and I have to say that while I usually don't eat much deep fried food like this, everything that I sampled in the Hat Trick was very good.  It was a pleasant start to the evening. 

We finally decided we'd better order up food for dinner as we'd been there over an hour and Curt and I were completely pounding back the beers, having a very large time.  I knew exactly what I was going to have - the tenderloin with onions and pickles.  I had my choice of either regular fries or waffle fries - I took the regular ones - and a small side of cole slaw came with the sandwich.

 Cindy contemplated getting the grilled chicken sandwich, but she instead opted for the Black and Bleu Burger - a six ounce beef patty topped with bleu cheese and cracked black pepper.  That really sounded good to me, as well.  She got the waffle fries with her meal.

The special that evening was the "surf and turf" combo - a 6 oz. beef tenderloin filet with three shrimp coated in TC's homemade batter and deep fried.  Curt ordered the special and when asked how he wanted his steak cooked, he replied, "Just walk it through a warm room.  I like my steaks about as rare as possible."  Ah!  A man after my own heart!  A baked potato came with his meal.

 
We continued to have more beers and lots of laughs up to the time we got our food delivered to our table.  I was very happy to see that the tenderloin (above right) wasn't pounded to a paper thin width and spread out so that it hung over the bun by six inches in each direction.  While it was still bigger than the bun, it wasn't unmanageable to pick up and eat.

Cindy's black and bleu burger (above left) looked pretty good, but I thought they sort of skimped on the bleu cheese on top of the patty.  But Curt's surf and turf combo looked pretty damn good.  The battered shrimp looked pretty tasty and the small filet looked a little bigger than 6 oz.  The waitress asked Curt to cut into his steak to make sure that it was cooked rare enough for him.  We both agreed that it was overcooked a bit - but it was rare in the middle.  I said, "I think they cooked it about a minute too long on both sides."  Curt said he'd still eat it anyway. 

Cindy just shook her head and said, "You guys are nuts.  That steak is perfectly cooked!" 

I said, "Well, yeah.  That is, if he ordered it medium rare." 

My tenderloin was just outstanding.  One of the better pork tenderloin sandwiches I've ever had.  I thought it was even better than Goldie's tenderloin - the pork tenderloin TC's lost out to in 2009.  And I thought it was even better than the 2010 winner, Buck's Bar in Mitchellville (click here to see the post on my visit to Buck's).  But I'm more partial to a battered pork chop sandwich rather than a breaded one.  I think a breaded tenderloin dries out quickly during the cooking process.  The tenderloin at TC's was moist and tender, but most of all it had some thickness to it.  With the onions, pickles and yellow mustard on top, it was very tough to beat.

Cindy said she liked her burger, as well.  It looked a little over-cooked for my taste, but she said it was fine for her.  I may have to try the black and bleu burger on a later trip to TC's.

And Curt was happy with his steak.  The battered shrimp were very rich and he still had some of his steak left when he said he was finished with his meal.  The steak did look good and I noticed that a number of people that were in TC's that night got steak or prime rib for their dinners.  I may have to go back and try a steak at some point.  If that's the case, I'll have to go back three times because I'll want to get another pork tenderloin sandwich.

A couple of Curt's colleagues were in TC's that night, as well.  One of them was an old softball teammate from my days back in Newton, Brian Flattery.  Brian joined us after dinner and we caught up on stuff in and around my hometown.  Brian quit drinking 25 years ago and, as I said earlier, Cindy wasn't drinking that evening.  That's OK - Curty Wayne and I more than made up for them.  It was well past 11:30 when Curt walked over with two Bud Light bottles for me and a Fat Tire in a 24 ounce mug for him.  I protested and he said, "C'mon, Wilbur!  We only get together once every, what?  Ten years?  You can have a couple more beers with me!"  We proceeded to drink those and when Curt got up to go to the bathroom, unbeknownst to me he ordered one more beer for both of us.  When the waitress brought the beers to the table, I said, "That's it!  This is absolutely the last one!  I've got to go home!"

It was after midnight when we left TC's.  Thankfully for both Curt and I, we had designated drivers.  Brian took Curt back to the hotel and Cindy drove the 25 minutes it took for us to get back home.  It was really great to catch up with an old friend.  Cindy and I made a promise that we'd do our best to get to Des Moines some weekend to get together with Curt and his wife.

I just have to say that the pork tenderloin at TC's lived up to the raves I've heard about it for years.  While TC's isn't a large place and it's not much when it comes to decor if you're not a sports fan, I was overly happy with every aspect of our visit.  Quite honestly, I didn't really know what to expect, but I was pleasant surprised at how good everything was - the food, the service, just the homey-ness of the place.  Oh, yeah.  We'll go back to TC's for more food at some point.  

Buck's Bar - Mitchellville, IA

For the last eight years, the Iowa Pork Producers have been handing out the award for the Best Pork Tenderloin in Iowa to restaurants and bars around the state.  So far, I've written about visiting Augusta in Oxford, IA and trying their 2008 award winning pork tenderloin (click here to see that entry); and recently I posted an entry on Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe in Prairie City, IA (click here to see that entry) and trying the 2009 winning tenderloin.  The 2010 winner was recently announced and the Iowa Pork Producers awarded the best tenderloin of this year to Buck's Bar in Mitchellville, IA - about 20 miles east of Des Moines (see map).  I was coming back from a couple three days up in Minneapolis with a side trip to Ames for a meeting when I decided to stop into Buck's Bar for a tenderloin on my way home.

It just so happens that one of my sisters lives in Mitchellville, about three blocks from Buck's Bar.  I called her up before I left Ames and asked her if she was home.  She said she was and wondered why I asked.  I said, "Well, I want to try a tenderloin from Buck's Bar and I wondered if you wanted to join me for a beer."

She said, "Oh!  I just had a leftover tenderloin from Buck's for lunch!  Sure, I'll meet you there."

It was about 45 minutes later when I pulled up in front of Buck's Bar in Mitchellville (see map).  My sister was sitting on a bench in front of the place waiting for me to show up.  It was about 3:30 p.m. when I got there, saving up my appetite for a Buck's tenderloin through the course of the day.

 

Buck's Bar is a relatively new place.  My sister explained that the original owner had built the place about three years ago, but went through a nasty divorce from his wife at the time.  The bar had opened, closed, then reopened about nine months ago under the ownership of Buck Bos.  It was sort of nice on the inside - open and well-lit with some tables and booths interspersed throughout the place.  There was a pool table and some other games that you'd find in any small town bar.  The bar area featured a three-sided bar with comfortable high-back seats. 

My sister discribed Buck Bos as a nice guy who is sort of a player with the ladies.  "He has a big smile and very white teeth.  He's always wearing Hawaiian or tropical shirts.  When I go to the State Fair, it seems I always run into him partying with a bunch of ladies at the beer tents." 

Sounds like my kind of guy.  I wanted to meet him after that, but he wasn't in his place that afternoon.  My sister and I sat at the bar and we were greeted by a tall, slender blond-haired bartender.  She asked us if we needed menus.  I said, "I understand that you guys have the award winning tenderloin for this year."

She said, "Well, yes, we do!  Would you like to try one?" 

Absolutely!  My sister was still full from her lunch a couple hours before and she just had a beer while we caught up on what's been going on with our lives. 

About 10 minutes after I ordered the tenderloin, the bartender brought it out.  It was a thin, breaded tenderloin cut in half with raw onion rings and pickles off to the side.  A side of fries came with the sandwich, but I wasn't interested.

It turns out that Buck Bos gets his pork from the same place Brad Magg at Goldie's gets his tenderloins - from the Fareway store in Altoona.  (Mitchellville and Prairie City are only about seven miles apart as the crow flies, and about a 15 minute drive between the two communities.)  The only difference, as it was explained to me by the bartender, is that Fareway does all the processing of the tenderloins for Goldie's - cutting, tenderizing, etc. - while Buck buys the pork tenderloin, does his own cutting and hand tenderizes them with a cook's hammer.  "Buck was using this thing that looked like a mallet at first," the bartender said to me.  "But then he got this big cook's hammer and he can really flatten them out."

While the tenderloin was large and hanging over the bun, it wasn't so flat and huge that the taste had been literally hammered out of it.   I've said many times that too often I've run across pork tenderloin sandwiches at restaurants where they're literally two sizes too large for the bun.  When they hammer 'em out to be that large in area, they also hammer the juiciness out of them, too.  Buck's tenderloin was big, but not big enough to make them dry in taste.

Now, I'm not usually big on breaded tenderloins - I like a good unbreaded, grilled tenderloin for a sandwich from time to time.  Buck's breaded tenderloin was good, better in my opinion than the one at Goldie's.  But as I confessed to the bartender after she asked how my tenderloin was, neither Buck's nor Goldie's could hold a candle to the Augusta in Oxford.  The breading at Augusta was better - it's more of a batter breading, I believe.  The bartender said, "We had a couple in from Creston the other day trying the sandwich and they said they liked the battered tenderloins better than the breaded ones." 

The pork tenderloin at Augusta in Oxford is still the best restaurant pork tenderloin sandwich I've ever had.

It's not that the tenderloin at Buck's was bad - far from it.  But I've had similar tenderloins at any number of places across the state over the years.  I honestly don't know how the Iowa Pork Producers can judge how one tenderloin is better than another.  The breading on Buck's tenderloin was better than the one at Goldie's, but quite honestly they're all pretty much the same.  But Buck Bos gets to wear the crown of having the Best Tenderloin in Iowa for a year and they've already seen a spike in business since they were named the 2010 award winners in early October.   And, quite honestly, other than getting the tenderloin, Buck's seems like a cool place to just hang out and have a beer.  I may have to stop more often to have a cold one with my sister as I pass by Mitchellville on my way to wherever.

(Update - My sister told me in August of 2011 that Buck's had closed its doors.  Rumors I've heard had something to do about a divorce, but I didn't think Buck was married.  In any event, the reigning Best Pork Tenderloin in Iowa is no longer available.)     

Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe - Prairie City, IA

Since 2003, the Iowa Pork Producers Association has staged a contest where they invite people to nominate restaurants who they believe has the best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich in the state.  I tried the 2008 winner - Augusta in Oxford, IA, just outside of Iowa City and not far from Cedar Rapids.  And I was plenty impressed with their pork tenderloin sandwich.  In 2009, the winner of the best pork tenderloin sandwich in Iowa was a small sandwich/ice cream shop in Prairie City - Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe - not far from where I grew up in the Newton/Kellogg area, and a 20 minute drive from Des Moines thanks to a four-lane highway that now connects SE Iowa with the greater Des Moines area. On a trip back home from Kansas earlier this past summer, I stopped into Goldie's to see if their tenderloin sandwich stacked up. 

I found out that there is somewhat of a personal connection between the owner of Goldie's - Brad Magg (pictured at right) - and myself.  It turns out that Magg's mother, Marilee, and I graduated together from Newton High School back in the 1970's and we were pretty good friends during that time.  Time and circumstances have caused Marilee and I to not connect for over 30 years, so it was sort of interesting that I found out her son was the one behind Goldie's.

Brad Magg started out cooking when he was an early teenager, baking cookies and pies and selling them to people in and around the NW Jasper County area.  He turned that into a catering business by the time he was 15, then after graduating from high school he earned a degree from the Iowa Culinary Institute at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny.

A month before he got his degree, Magg, along with his mother and his father, Gary, bought the ice cream shop in Prairie City from Golda Ingram - the "Goldie" of Goldie's.  Before the Magg's bought the place, Goldie's was nothing more than a seasonal ice cream shop.  When Brad Magg came in, he expanded the building, added food to the menu and kept the place open year round.  The young Magg kept Goldie Ingram on board where she continues to work four days a week. 

While the ingredients for the breading that Magg uses on his tenderloins is a secret, he fully acknowledges that he buys all of his pork cutlets at the Fareway store in nearby Altoona.  Fairway usually has some top quality meat to choose from.  The Altoona Fareway cuts and tenderizes each of the loins for Goldie's. 

In addition to the pork tenderloins that have suddenly given them a measure of fame, Goldie's also has a grilled pork tenderloin sandwich, a marinated pork loin sandwich, a hot ham and Swiss cheese sandwich and an Italian sausage sandwich.  In fact, the pork used for the Italian sausage sandwich and the beef for the hamburgers at Goldie's come from the Magg family farm and are processed at a small butcher shop in Magg's hometown of Mingo, IA. 

It was a lazy summer afternoon when I pulled into Prairie City.  Highway 163 now by-passes the small rural town, but Goldie's is on what used to be the main route through the city when 163 was a two-lane road (see map).  Goldie's is not unlike any other small restaurant/ice cream shop in any small Iowa town.  The outside is tidy and neat, the parking lots are on either side of the building and there's not much as far as signage along the road to alert you that you've arrived. 

 

I walked into Goldie's and there were a couple farmers in there having mid-afternoon coffee, clearly eying the out-of-towner walking through the door.  While there were tables and booths in the place, I took a seat at the old fashioned soda bar counter and took a quick look at the menu that was placed behind the napkin holder.   An older woman - who happened to be Goldie Ingram - and a couple of the girls working in the place were having a mid-afternoon snack at a table along the west wall.  Another young lady asked me if I knew what I wanted and I didn't hesitate - "You guys won the best pork tenderloin award this past year.  I'm here to give it a shot." 

She said, "Well, all righty, then!"  She asked if I wanted anything on it and I told her yellow mustard, pickles and onions.  I never use any tomato-based products on a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, not even barbecue sauce. 

While I waited, a lady came in to get some soft-serve ice cream.  I also noticed they had a number of homemade pie slices in a couple holders on the counter.  The "special" board above the back soda bar touted the different types of pie and ice cream Goldie's had available that day.  It was a slice of small town living that I certainly remembered when I was growing up. 

Since I was the only one in there getting food at that point (the farmers had long gone, figuring the stranger wasn't anyone to trifle with), my breaded pork tenderloin showed up in just a bit over five minutes.  The sandwich came out open-faced with a ton of pickles and a sliced red onion with a kosher dill spear on the side.   I put a little mustard on the sandwich and I took a bite. 

Now, I've had a number of breaded pork tenderloins over the year - I live in Iowa, for God's sake.  Some are just thin and huge, hanging well over the bun and impossible to eat without a knife and fork.  Those, I've found, are usually not that good.  The ones that are just a bit bigger than the bun are usually the best.  And that was the size of the Goldie's breaded pork tenderloin.  The only problem was that their pork tenderloin sandwich was average, at best.  I mean, it was good, but it certainly didn't open my eyes like the tenderloin at Augusta did when I tried it after they won the 2008 award.  It was OK, but far from the best breaded pork tenderloin I've ever had. 

When I got up to pay my bill, Goldie Ingram asked me, "So, what do you think about our pork tenderloin?"

I had to be honest.  "It was good," I said.  "But, I really can't say it was the best I ever had." 

While I'm happy for Marilee and her son, I walked away from Goldie's thinking that if this was the best tenderloin in the state of Iowa for the year 2009 there had to be some pretty average places that were nominated.   Still, Goldie's is a slice of small-town life where you can go and get a good sandwich at a reasonable price and know that it just isn't going to suck.  But at the same time, it's not going to be "knock-your-socks-off" great.  If you find yourself going by Prairie City during the middle part of the day, it won't hurt to stop in to Goldie's and get something to eat.

Breitbach's Country Dining - Balltown, IA

(Update - The Iowa Pork Producers Association has awarded Breitbach's with the coveted "Best Pork Loin Sandwich in Iowa" for 2012.  Here's Road Tips take on the pork loin sandwich from the summer of 2010.)  

Breitbach's Country Dining is located in little Balltown, IA which is situated high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in Northeast Iowa (see map).  (Above - the panaramic view of the Mississippi River valley from behind Breitbach's.)  Breitbach's has been a family owned restaurant/tavern since back in the 1860's, but it's history goes back to 1852 when it began as a stage coach stop.  Recently, Breitbach's has suffered from two devastating fires - one in December of 2007 and another one in October of 2008.  But they've rebuilt both times and continue to serve country style meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Cindy turned me on to Breitbach's a number of years ago when we were out on a weekend drive in NE Iowa, going around to see some of the places her family was from and places she used to visit as a little girl.  That one and only visit, I forget what I had for dinner, but Cindy had grilled shrimp.  The only problem was that there were these little metal flakes on the shrimp.  When we brought it to the attention of the waitress, she quickly took the shrimp away.  It wasn't long before more grilled shrimp - a LOT more grilled shrimp - came to the table.  And stopping by to apologize was Mike Breitbach, the owner of the place.  He comped Cindy's meal that evening with a promise that we'd make it back at some point.  We always had planned on going back, but just never got around to do it.  However, I had to drive up to La Crosse earlier this summer and I had a chance to stop in to Breitbach's for lunch. 

 

Mike Breitbach (right) is the fifth-generation owner of Breitbach's.  His great-great grandfather, Jacob Breitbach, worked at the stage coach stop that served food and beer to weary travelers heading up the Mississippi River to Minneapolis.  In 1862, the elder Breitbach bought the establishment from the previous owner and it's been in the Breitbach family ever since.  Breitbach's Country Dining is said to be the oldest continuous restaurant/tavern in the state of Iowa.  And with Mike's kids and - I was told - grandkids working in the restaurant, there would be now eight generations of Breitbach's who have helped out in the place. 

On Christmas Eve of 2007, a fire engulfed Breitbach's restaurant.  (For that story, click here.)  Mike Breitbach and his wife, Cindy, decided almost immediately to rebuild the restaurant.  With the help of local contractors and volunteers, they rebuilt the place from the ground up.  They redecorated with vintage antiques and large dining rooms with wood-beamed ceilings.  The Breitbach's would have loved to have installed a water-sprinkler system throughout the restaurant, but Balltown doesn't have a city water system - the residents get their water from wells.  Installing a pressurized sprinkler system in the restaurant would have been too expensive.

So, guess what?  Breitbach's Country Dining went through ANOTHER devastating fire in October of 2008, less than five months after they'd reopened and exactly 10 months to the day after the first fire.  (For that story, click here.)  While a gas leak was found to be the cause for the first fire in December, authorities weren't sure what caused the second fire.  A number of framed newspaper pages and articles on both fires adorn the wall of a hallway between Breitbach's bar area and one of their dining rooms.

After a second fire, Mike Breitbach wasn't too certain that he wanted to rebuild.  He was still waiting to get the final verdict from his insurance company who was doing a thorough investigation of the first fire.  The second fire was investigated by up to 50 insurance inspectors who combed through the rubble for any sign of what may have started the fire.  I've since heard that the second fire may have been started by faulty electrical wiring, but that wasn't the definitive ruling of the probe.  In any event, arson was ruled out. 

The Breitbach's eventually decided to rebuild, buoyed by the support of longtime customers and friends in the area.  Breitbach's new restaurant opened in the Spring of 2009.  It features a large bar area and three large dining rooms.   The main dining room also features a buffet area for lunch through the week, a full buffet on Friday and Saturday nights, and a breakfast buffet on Sunday mornings followed by a brunch buffet on Sunday starting at 11. 

 
Balltown is so small that it basically has one main road through town.  It's on this main road that Breitbach's sits next to.  They have a large parking lot in back, although a large semi and a bus were parking in the lots making it difficult to maneuver around them.  I went in and was greeting by a young hostess who showed me to a table.

I sat in one of the dining rooms toward the back of the place.  A smaller dining room off to the side was host to a group of motorcyclists who had driven their U.S. flag-adorned bikes to Breitbach's for lunch.  I was given a lunch menu and while I thought about going through the buffet, I ended up thinking about just getting a sandwich for my lunch.  While they don't really have deli sandwiches, per se, Breitbach's serves up basic fried or grilled items burgers, chicken sandwiches, BLT's, tuna melts and tenderloin sandwiches.  I'm guessing the buffet is the go-to item on the menu during the lunch hours and that's why they don't go much further than the basics on their menu.

 I thought the fried pork tenderloin sounded good.  The waitress told me they use the same batter on their tenderloins as they put on their fried chicken.  I prefer a battered pork tenderloin than a breaded one. I will say that I looked at the fried chicken on the buffet and thought it looked pretty good.  I ended up getting the fried pork tenderloin with onion rings. 

And I'm glad I did.  The tenderloin was very, very good.  A top notch sandwich, indeed.  The batter was light and they didn't pound the tenderloin beforehand to squash it out into an uneatable size.  The bun was lightly toasted and wasn't dried out in the least.  The onion rings were *OK* - nothing special.  I'm sure they were of the frozen variety that Breitbach's buy from a food purveyor.

After lunch, I walked around the inside of Breitbach's to take a closer look at things.  Mike Breitbach had been running around the place, helping bus tables, pointing things out to the wait staff, and talking with what appeared to be long-time customers of his restaurant.  I wanted to ask Mike if there were any changes he did to the restaurant between the first and second fire.  You know, you put up a new building and about four months later you're thinking, "Well, if I had to do it over again, I would have done it this way."  I didn't know if it would be tacky to ask him such a question.  And he sort of disappeared into the kitchen, so I never did get the chance to ask him.  And thinking back, it's probably for the better. 

 
Outside Breitbach's, they have a large beer garden behind the restaurant.  It actually looked rather nice with heavy walnut oil-stained tables and benches, a heavy roof over the top and a number of hanging baskets through out the garden.  There was a garden area just to the east of that with a number of ornamental plants and flowers.  It looked like a great place to hang out on a warm Friday afternoon during an Iowa summer. 

You can tell that it's a labor of love for Mike Breitbach and his restaurant.  When we first met him years ago when we had a problem with Cindy's meal, you could tell he was a genuinely nice guy who cared about his customers first and foremost.  Joking with his customers during my visit tells me that even getting hit in the stomach twice in less than a year he's been able to pull through and carry on a tradition that began in the mid-1800's.  While their food overall is average to above home-style cooking, I felt the pork tenderloin sandwich was one of the best I've had. It's tough to beat Breitbach's for a small slice of Americana high above the bluffs along the Mississippi River in NE Iowa.     

 

Augusta - Oxford, IA

The state of Iowa is nationally known for having some of the best breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches on the face of the earth.  Now, I have to say that I'm not a big fan of these type of pork sandwiches.  But on the recommendation of my local, yet long distance friend, Burt Gearhart, he told me that I had to try one at Augusta in Oxford, IA. 

Oxford is a small town west of Iowa City, southwest of Cedar Rapids and just to the east of the famous Amana Colonies (see map).  Oxford is a small, non-descript town that reminds me tremendously of my hometown of Kellogg, IA.  There's not much to the town.  I didn't exactly know where Augusta was in town, but I figured it had to be in the small downtown area of Oxford.  After coming off the interstate and taking the trip north to Oxford, I easily found Augusta (see map). 

Ben and Jeri Halperin were living in New Orleans as Ben was working as a chef in some restaurants down there.  Hurricane Katrina pushed Ben and Jeri up to Chicago where Ben worked in a number of restaurants, not finding a particular one that he liked to work for.  When a friend in Oxford told them that a local restaurant was closing it's doors, Ben and Jeri went out to Oxford to inquire about renting the building.  It turned out the rent was reasonable and after some clean-up and refurbishing, Ben, Jeri and a partner, Nathan Ruble opened a year ago.  They named the restaurant Augusta after the street the restaurant is located on.

Ben wanted the restaurant to serve comfort food - Cajun style.  Many items on their menu have a Cajun flair - po' boy sandwiches, crawfish beignets, chicken and andouille gumbo and cornmeal crusted catfish.  They also feature steaks, roasted pork loin and chicken entrees. 

Since 2003, the Iowa Pork Producers Association has handed out an award to the restaurant who has the best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich in the state.  The IPPA focuses more on small family style restaurants and taverns across the state.  Restaurants have to be nominated by two different people and the IPPA officials go out and try the sandwiches.  The winning restaurant receives a plaque of recognition and a $500 dollar check. 

And it also brings in a lot of business.  Since the Town House Supper Club in Wellsburg, IA won the award in 2006, they've served nearly 30,000 of their famous breaded pork loin sandwich.  Other winners include:

2003 - Darrell's Place - Hamlin, IA (I had to look Hamlin up on a map - I'd never heard of it before.)

2004 - Suburban Restaurant - Gilbert, IA (Actually, it's at the intersection of Highway 69 and a county road that takes you into Gilbert.)

2005 - Dairy Sweet - Dunlap, IA (I used to travel between Omaha and Carroll, IA on Highway 30 quite a bit, years ago.  I know I had to pass the Dairy Sweet on each of those trips.)

2007 - Larsen's Pub - Elk Horn, IA (I've been in Elk Horn on a few occasions.  Would have never thought any place in that town would have a good tenderloin.)

I had a meeting in Cedar Rapids recently and I decided to make a side trip to Oxford to have lunch at Augusta.  I walked in and I was the only person in the restaurant, other than a couple of insurance guys talking to Ben Halperin.  Jeri Halperin greeted me and told me that I could sit anywhere.  I took a table toward the front and got a menu from her.  

When Burt visited Augusta last fall, he took along his camera and took a few snapshots of the place.  He sent them out to some friends to show them the place and the delectable sandwich he got.  Here's a picture Burt took of the inside of Augusta.  The tables are topped with table cloths and then a fresh square paper is placed on top of the table cloth each time a table is turned.  There's a small bar that seats two or three people.  They have six beers on tap, including some Goose Island varieties. 

There's not a lot on the menu for lunch items - a burger, a Cajun-style Po' Boy with your choice of catfish, shrimp or roast beef, and a grilled chicken club in addition to the pork loin sandwich.  They feature salads and a kids menu.  But I was in for the tenderloin, which comes with homemade dill pickles, homemade mayo and topped with lettuce, tomato and onions.  You have your choice of either hand-cut french fries or homemade sweet potato chips.  I ordered up a tenderloin with fries.  The waitress asked, "Have you ever had the sandwich before?"

I said, "This is my first time here.  Heck, I went to school in Iowa City for five years and this is my first time ever in Oxford."

She said, "Oh, you're going to love this sandwich." 

I waited for about 15 minutes on my sandwich and the waitress brought it out with a side of ketchup in a small container.  Looking back, I should have gotten a small container of their homemade mayonnaise to dip my fries into.  (That's something I picked up from the Canadians, who, in turn, probably picked it up from the Europeans.  They don't put ketchup on french fries.)

This is just about what my sandwich looked like when it was served to me, only Burt got his with the homemade sweet potato chips.  The pork loin was thick and the buttermilk breaded batter around the loin was light, flaky and flavorful. 

The problem I have with a lot of these breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches is that they take a 12 to 14 ounce, pound the piss out of it, bread it and then deep fry it.  And they're usually too big.  I read somewhere that a true Iowa breaded pork tenderloin had to be three times the size of the bun that is served with it.  Well, the pork tenderloin at Augusta certainly achieved that.  And the breading is usually pretty rich and it's tough to eat the whole sandwich in one sitting.  It's never as good if you take it home and heat it up.  So a lot of it gets wasted.  And I hate to waste food, especially when it's good. 

One other thing that Augusta has going for it, they do their own breaded tenderloins.  I've eaten at restaurants where they have pre-made breaded pork tenderloins and they're usually frozen in advance.  But Augusta's pork tenderloin was definitely pounded out by hand (I could hear them pounding it out in the kitchen) and they have their own breading recipe.  Even though the pork loin was pounded out, it was still pretty thick.  I would have liked to have seen the pork loin before they started to work on it. 

Bottom line - the sandwich was very good.  I didn't care for the mayo on it - even though the mayo was very good - and I didn't use the tomato or lettuce.  A true pork tenderloin is topped with only pickles, onions and mustard. 

As I was paying for my meal, I got to talking to Jeri Halperin.  She was giving me some of the background on the restaurant and how they ended up in Oxford, IA.  It turned out that Jeri was a native Iowan, growing up in far NE Iowa in Clayton County, before she left to go find the world.  We agreed that while places like New Orleans and Chicago are great places to visit, Iowa is definitely home. 

The pork loin sandwich at Augusta was everything that it was advertised to be.  It was a little expensive - $9.00 with fries - but it was worth it.  Every restaurant says they have the best pork tenderloin, but Augusta can really back up their claim.  Augusta is closed on Monday's and Tuesday's, so if you go, make a note of that.  I really want to go back and try the roast beef Po' Boy sandwich sometime.  I'm hoping that with Ben Halperin's New Orleans background it will taste as good as the ones I had at Mother's in New Orleans years ago.