Davydd wrote:Chicagoans can get to a Machine Shed Restaurant in Rockford, IL easy enough.

All too easily, if you ask me.

E.M.

Erik M. wrote:

Davydd wrote:Chicagoans can get to a Machine Shed Restaurant in Rockford, IL easy enough.

All too easily, if you ask me.

E.M.

Interesting thread on the Machine Shed, Eric. Seems there was a love/hate mix of comments. I went only for the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich. As pork tenderloin sandwiches go it was above average. What I find odd is that with Illinois being "sandwiched" between Iowa and Indiana and outstate Illinois being as crazy about pork tenderloin sandwiches as Iowa and Indiana, that Chicago would have a dearth of Midwestern style breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches. At least no one has unearthed many.

Cautiously delurking since I dont know if this place counts as "Beyond Chicagoland" (since its in Munster,IN) or not but I encountered a pretty good fried pork sandwich at my local brewpub, Three Floyds

They call it the Chancellor
"Pork Schnitzel Served On A Pretzel Roll With Stone Ground Mustard And Red Cabbage"

I get it with the garlic mayo instead of the mustard since I'm not a mustard girl. It's not as big as some of the other food porn sandwiches I've seen but its really good.

Three Floyds has been around Northwest Indiana for a several years as a brewing company but last year they opened a restaurant....right in their warehouse! So don't go expecting much in terms of atmosphere. The food overall can vary wildly from visit to visit...sometimes its dead on and other times its like the chef's incompetent brother is cooking. But the beer (and visiting beers) are always good. One of my other favorites is when they make their own icecream using some of their stout

Three Floyds Brewery and Pub
9570 Indiana Parkway Munster, IN 46321
(219) 922-4425


Debby

Welcome Debby,

Thank you for the excellent post and NWI recommendation. The Chancellor sounds like an excellent sandwich.

Now that you have de-lurked, I hope you will post more about NWI.

Regards,

I like their beer which gives me strong incentive to seek this sandwich out. Thanks for the post Debby.

Every page needs a picture to remind what's being pursued.

It's been a while since posting in this thread so here goes.

There have been numerous inquiries and discussions on the many food related Internet forums about serving snacks for Super Bowl parties centered on the signature foods of the two cities, Chicago and Indianapolis. It seems most can quickly suggest the famous Chicago deep dish pizza or the Chicago style hot dogs for Chicago but then most people outside the Hoosier state are stumped about Indianapolis. I'm drawing the line and making my suggestion. It is not corn or popcorn, it is not fried chicken, it is not beans and corn bread, it is not green bean casserole, and save the sugar cream pie for dessert. It is the famous Indiana breaded pork tenderloin sandwich - a sandwich that has its roots in Indiana and is very popular throughout the breadbasket Heartland of the Midwest, but is relatively unknown beyond.

The problem is the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich is one giant of a sandwich if done right to live up to its reputation and will fill you up, muscle out other snacks and have you napping by the fourth quarter of the big game. I don't think anyone wants that. So, to make it more feasible, here is the mini pork tenderloin sandwich appetizer. What is it? It is a mini deep-fried breaded pork tenderloin sandwich of about a minimum of 2 inches to not more than 4 inches in size and served with small dinner rolls. If in Chicago you could substitute the dinner rolls with crustless white bread and slather them with gravy, but please don't. As you might infer it is not a signature food for Chicago in the way I am preparing them.

If you want the details on how I made them it is in my blog.

Here are the results. I don't say bon appetite. I say just dig in and enjoy!

What a great idea!
Those look delicious.

HI,

They look like the White Castle version of pork tenderloin sandwich.

Thanks for the great idea!

Regards,

Can of Big Red and some Skoal, and we're all set!



I kid. I have a close connection to the Colts and Indy, and unlike most years lately (with the game "dominated" --3 games, 9 points --by the City Non-Specific Most Forgettable Dynasty in Sports History), I can focus on eating because it's a no-lose game for me...

The Czech Village in Cedar Rapids also claims to be one of the first places where a pork tenderloin was sandwiched between two slices of bread.

From my web site: (www.essentialiowa.com)
The Little Bohemia, 1317 3rd St SE, Cedar Rapids
Some food historians claim this working class ethnic neighborhood is where it all began. Tenderloins, as far as anyone can tell, were brought to the United States by Czechoslovakians who first started breading pork for schnitzel in the old country. The Little Bohemia is a century-old workingman’s pub not far from the suburb Czech and Slovak National Museum & Library. (If you’re not in the mood for tenderloins, give the goulash a try. Everything here tastes homemade.

Jay,

You're going to make me go down to Cedar Rapids aren't you?

There's lore but is there actual documentation? Like old menus, news articles, etc. contemporary to the time? Would the public library or historical society in Cedar Rapids harbor this information?

Huntington, IN does have extensive documentation on Nick Freinstein and Nick's Kitchen opened in 1908 and his street cart sandwiches in 1904. Very little is lost in history. That area of Indiana was a hotbed of an influx of the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) community out of Colonial Pennsylvania. Their version of the pork tenderloin sandwich could have pre-dated Nick Freinstein easily back to before Iowa was penetrated by the white man. It is generally conceded as an offshoot of weiner snitzel and the idea of the sandwich culminated around the turn of the last century. My maternal Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors in that area date back to the early 1800s. My fraternal ancestors came through Virginia and Kentucky and brought me stew to the table.

I have a new suggestion that a reader posted on my tenderloin page that I want to try out in eastern iowa so I need to get over there anyway. I am going to try to do some more research and follow-up with you. There very good National Czech Museum in the neighborhood would likely have some type of research on that culture's contribution to the sandwich. I'll let you know.

Jay,

See if you can find actual information contemporary to the time and not suppositions by historians. What I have found is the sandwich is an obvious derivative of wiener schnitzel. Nick Freinstein in Huntington, IN early history had called them veal sandwiches. Wiener Schnitzel from many sources say it was coined that about 1857 to 1862, came from Vienna, Austria and spread to Germany. The idea of tenderizing and breading meat goes back to Roman times. The first Czechs started arriving in Cedar Rapids in 1852 so they do go back aways.

So far from what I can find, the actual printed word referencing the sandwich goes back to Nick Freinstein in Huntington, IN.

i'm on it.

Last week I found Jerry's Woodsweather Cafe in the West Bottoms area near downtown Kansas City, MO. The service and sandwich were great. I highly recommend it. I have a lot of details about it on my blog site.





Woodsweather Cafe
1414 W 9th St
Kansas City, MO 64101
816-472-6333

Davydd,

I've been to Woodsweather Cafe at least 5 - 6 times, mostly for breakfast and once for lunch. I have to admit the tenderloin didn't even register on my radar, but they make a mean chicken fried steak. I love the place sitting all lonely next to the railroad tracks. Good call!

Woodsweather Cafe


Woodsweather Chicken Fried Steak


Edit: Now that I look at your picture, it appears that Woodsweather Cafe might have moved to a ritzier location than when I used to visit.

Steve,

It moved from Woodswether Rd to West 9th in August 2005. From the pictures I have seen of the old place, the new place (though it does not look new) is much bigger. It still has the cartoon murals on the outside walls.

Davydd wrote:Steve,

It moved from Woodswether Rd to West 9th in August 2005. From the pictures I have seen of the old place, the new place (though it does not look new) is much bigger. It still has the cartoon murals on the outside walls.

Yeah, the old place wasn't much bigger than a shack down by the railroad tracks.

I flew to Milwaukee for a meeting and managed to get in a late lunch with six others before heading back out to Minneapolis. The place turned out to be Johnny V's Classic Cafe in West Allis, Wisconsin. This is the place...



The menu adverstised a breaded pork tenderloin plate with choice of potato and gravy on the 60 or older senior's special category. A sandwich was not mentioned. However, I showed Jenny, our waitress, my porktenderloinsandwich.com business card with a picture of a pork tenderloin sandwich and asked her if she could make it that way. She said yes.

Five of us orderd the sandwich. Two ordered the plate off the menu. This is what you would have got if you did not ask...



And this is what we got made special...



The sandwich was not huge but it was well prepared, tender and tasty. Johnny V's Classic Cafe gets extra points in my book for being great sports. My host, a Milwaukee manufacturing company, should also be complimented for great spirit in meeting this challenge. Once they saw my website they felt they had to come through. They are a manufacturing company that thrives on challenges, problem solving and being inventive. None of them ever had a pork tenderloin sandwich before, but they got into it right up to the president of the company. It was a great way to cap off a very productive meeting.

Johnny V’s Classic Cafe
Located just south of the Wisconsin State Fair Park
1650 S. 84th Street
West Allis, WI 53214
(414) 771-9660
http://www.johnnyvsclassiccafe.com/index.html

I wish I could use the internets better, because this deserves a flashing red light or something. And I'm so sorry I didn't have a camera.

I had the BEST pork tenderloin sandwich for lunch today at Harner's in North Aurora. It was a special, described as homemade breaded pork cutlet. Cost -- $7.45 for sandwich and french fries.

When the plate arrived, it was clearly homemade. The breading was bumpy -- not the smooth sort of breading on a commercially-made product. It was browned to perfection. When I cut it in half to fit it on the home-made hamburger bun (this IS a bakery), I could tell it was actual pork, and not some pieced and formed bit of pork-like substance. It had a nice porky flavor, and a satisfying crunch in every bite.

While it was absolutely enough for 2 meals, I ate the whole thing. The waitress came over and said she was surprised I'd eaten it all -- it wa a little embarrassing. On the plus side, though, I hardly touched the fries -- why bother, when there was all that porky goodness sitting on the plate! Sandwich was garnished with lettuce, a not-bad slice of tomato, onion slices, and pickles.

The BEST! Unfortunately, it was a special, so they don't have it every day, and it's not one of the weekly specials. So it will be hit and miss. But God, what a hit!

P.S. They also have sublime butter pecan coffee cake -- for only $5! And you can buy a half.

Harners Bakery & Restaurant
10 W State Street (between Rte 35 & 31 on Rte 56)
630-892-4400

tcdup wrote:I wish I could use the internets better, because this deserves a flashing red light or something. And I'm so sorry I didn't have a camera.

I had the BEST pork tenderloin sandwich for lunch today at Harner's in North Aurora. It was a special, described as homemade breaded pork cutlet. Cost -- $7.45 for sandwich and french fries.

When the plate arrived, it was clearly homemade. The breading was bumpy -- not the smooth sort of breading on a commercially-made product. It was browned to perfection. When I cut it in half to fit it on the home-made hamburger bun (this IS a bakery), I could tell it was actual pork, and not some pieced and formed bit of pork-like substance. It had a nice porky flavor, and a satisfying crunch in every bite.

While it was absolutely enough for 2 meals, I ate the whole thing. The waitress came over and said she was surprised I'd eaten it all -- it wa a little embarrassing. On the plus side, though, I hardly touched the fries -- why bother, when there was all that porky goodness sitting on the plate! Sandwich was garnished with lettuce, a not-bad slice of tomato, onion slices, and pickles.

The BEST! Unfortunately, it was a special, so they don't have it every day, and it's not one of the weekly specials. So it will be hit and miss. But God, what a hit!

P.S. They also have sublime butter pecan coffee cake -- for only $5! And you can buy a half.

Harners Bakery & Restaurant
10 W State Street (between Rte 35 & 31 on Rte 56)
630-892-4400

I was at Harner's on Sunday and this was not on the menu but it does not surprise me as the Harner family raises pigs on a farm nearby. Anything they make of pork is wonderful. On the first Friday of every month they have a pig roast and frequently feature pork chop dinners during the week. Their pork sausage patties on the breakfast menu are the size of a hamburger patty. BTW, you have to walk into the wonderful smells of the bakery before you hit the dining room.

btw,

I was at George the Chili King's in Des Moines recently (mentioned on the stalking the pork tenderloin" page mentioned in this thread. Good but not great sandwich but very cool 50's drive-in. The proprietor takes a lot of pride in his product - offering me samples of freshly made onion rings, etc.

after a discussion of chicago hot links, he mentioned that he has been toying with the idea of opening a place in chicago to do tenderloins - so if folks have any opportunity to talk to him and want ternderloins in the city . . .

Zim- I am heading to Des Moines next week. The inlaws live around the corner from George's. I haven't been there yet, but definitely will this time. Anything other than tenderloin that you would suggest trying from the menu?

Here is Iowa's best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich in 2006 selected by the Iowa Pork Board from over 800 nominations and 83 restaurant samplings...



The Townhouse Supper Club
520 N. Adams, PO Box 340
Wellsburg, IA 50680
(641) 869-3848
http://www.townhousesupperclub.com/

http://web.mac.com/davydd/iWeb/Site/Por ... 5C6C6.html

Davydd wrote:Here is Iowa's best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich in 2006 selected by the Iowa Pork Board from over 800 nominations and 83 restaurant samplings...

Beautiful photos. How did it stack up to your knowledgeable experience in tasting and recording pork tenderloin sandwiches?

Regards,

Tomorrow, my husband and I are driving from Chicago to Westfield, IN (just north of Indianapolis) and I was hoping to try one of these for lunch somewhere along the way. Does anyone have any recommendations closer to Westfield?

Rudy wrote:Tomorrow, my husband and I are driving from Chicago to Westfield, IN (just north of Indianapolis) and I was hoping to try one of these for lunch somewhere along the way. Does anyone have any recommendations closer to Westfield?

too funny, tomorrow I am actually driving through IN from Chicago on my way to Cincinnati and have not had a pork tenderloin sandwich for ages.

Take a look at Davydd's pork tenderloin website , he lists a few that are close to Westfield, such as: The Red Onion, Sheridan, IN and Muldoon’s Pub, Carmel, IN

Just called Muldoon's and they open at 11am (Central Time), looks like I'm having pork tenderloin sandwich for lunch.

--

The Red Onion in Sheridan and Muldoon's in Carmel are both very close to Westfield. You can't go wrong with either but if I were to choose one I would recommend the Red Onion.

Cathy2 wrote:

Davydd wrote:Here is Iowa's best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich in 2006 selected by the Iowa Pork Board from over 800 nominations and 83 restaurant samplings...

Beautiful photos. How did it stack up to your knowledgeable experience in tasting and recording pork tenderloin sandwiches?

Regards,

Cathy,

The Townhouse Supper Club earned my top rating. It was the best in Iowa and maybe second to Nick's Kitchen in Huntington, IN. I will be returning to Nick's Kitchen Tuesday for an encore sampling. I had what was billed as the "World's Largest" at the St. Olaf Tap in St. Olaf, IA and it was also very good, thick and juicy. I also had what was billed as "The Biggest in Iowa" at Joensy's in Solon but it was no where near as good, average at best and big because they pounded it thin.

I will be starting my 2007 tour Monday and will sample a lot of new tenderloins.