When we did the first blog post this year in Kokomo, there was a lot of pushback on the selection of the restaurant we tried. Although some people absolutely loved the chosen tenderloin, others had their own favorite place in town and were disappointed that their joint was left out. My son and I had thrown around strategy in what to do when we had a town with multiple tenderloin selections. We came up with an idea where we could eat four sandwiches in one trip without stuffing ourselves sick. It came about like this: First, we need a town where we would have at least 4 viable top-notch selections. Secondly, we would need to stay long enough to have 2 meals (lunch/dinner or dinner/overnight/lunch). Then, we would only order one sandwich and cut it in half to share. Finally, we would hurry to the next place to make 2 restaurants for 1 meal. Anderson, Indiana seemed like the ideal place to start this selection challenge, I even had a backup place in case one of the four were closed or the tenderloin wasn’t worthy of writing about.
The Tenderloin(s):
The first place visited was Heaven’s Delight over on the west side outskirts of the city. It looks like a little shack from the outside, but inside there are some comfortable areas to sit and enjoy your food similar to the setting of a coffee shop. You order at the counter and then choose your seat to wait while they bring the food out to you. The breaded tenderloin was large sized and had some thickness to the meat inside. The breading was fairly thin with little breadcrumbs and mostly flour. It provided a nice coating for the pork, but did seem to lack seasoning. The Tabasco Sauce helped out with that though. Overall it was a great sandwich, I kind of like that chicken-strip-like breading. In any other town it may be considered the best to offer.
We scurried across town to eat at Bobber’s Café over on Killbuck Creek. It seemed like they are having issues with the building that prevents indoor dining, but we were able to order at the window and eat our second half of lunch outside along the water. Out came one of the larger tenderloins, both in area and thickness, that we have seen on these journeys. The breading was a crisp, seasoned breadcrumb coating. It was tasty; you didn’t even need any toppings to enjoy eating this loin. The meat was thick and juicy. Sitting outside by the creek make it an even more enjoyable way to have lunch.
Our dinner portion of the tasting started at the 1925 Pubhouse at the Grandview Golf Course. This building has been around since 1927, but it’s only been the last two years that the restaurant has been open and serving up high class food to the public. The dining area still has the dance floor when the space was once used as a banquet hall and displays old pictures of Anderson covering the walls. So we order the sandwich, the 1925 Pubhouse Tenderloin to be exact. Again, Anderson supplies us with another top notch pork sandwich. You could say that the meal was a… wait for it… “A Hole in One”. The toasted bun and the soft batter was a perfect shell for the giant tenderloin meat inside. That batter was really good, it has kind of a subtle buttery taste to it, the kind of flavor you get from eating movie theater popcorn.
The final stop on our tenderloin tour was Gene’s Rootbeer and Hot Dogs, which is over by the university. It’s a traditional drive-in where you park, stay in your car, and a carhop comes by to take your order and deliver it on a tray connected to your window. I usually avoid the drive-in’s when wanting a tenderloin as most seem to serve fried up pre-frozen pork patties. I was under the impression this one was different, and couldn’t be more happier when I sank my teeth into this meal. It was small, but only cost $5, so totally worth the price (and the small size was also welcome after this being the 4th sandwich of the day.) The loin had good seasoned crisp breading and the meat, itself, tasted fresh. We washed it down with some soft-serve ice cream.
My son and I discussed the pros and cons (mostly pros) of the tenderloins we consumed. He picked the 1925 Pubhouse as his favorite. I declared it a tie between Bobber’s Café and the 1925 Pubhouse. Bobber’s has the more traditional offering with crisp breading, and the seasoning was the tastiest I’ve ever had, but the buttery aroma of the batter on the 1925 was unique and something I could eat over and over again. The meat was about equal in size and quality with both, so I can’t really rate one above the other. In fact, all four tenderloins were better than most towns can offer with their one best place. Anderson does a tenderloin well and the people there are lucky to have them.
The Town:
My son’s theater group will be putting on a Queen musical later this year. To help him with auditions I started introducing him to their music. We’ve downloaded their platinum collection of greatest hits, watched the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, and when I saw a Queen tribute band was playing in Anderson on a Friday night, we circled the date and headed out here. The Paramount is a huge old theater that has been beautifully renovated to show concerts and shows. Built in 1929, it was closed in the 80’s and almost torn down until a local group got together to “save the Paramount.” Today the décor looks like something out of a Spanish villa and the ceiling is tinted dark blue with lights to simulate being outside with stars. It is one of the most decorated, ornate, and gorgeous theaters I have ever set foot in. Two grand staircases on either side lead to the balcony seating, which is tiered so we can view the show without having to look between people’s heads in front of us. There is a little museum in the concession area displaying the old movie projectors. The concert was a lot of fun and the theater made it just that more enjoyable to attend.
Uranus, Indiana isn’t a town or a planet. It is a place to buy fudge. They say, “The best fudge comes from Uranus.” They actually do say that, over and over again while you are in the store. In addition to fudge, you can find a whole lot of other types of candy and trinkets. The original Uranus Fudge Factory is in Missouri on Route 66. This one is newer and the only reason I can imagine they chose Anderson is because it is right off of I-69? Anyway, they do make some great fudge there as I had them pack me dark chocolate and also some praline pecan. Just brace yourself for the toilet humor puns you will hear (and read) during your whole visit, all up until you check out and the cashier informs you that you “can go either left or right, but the only exit of Uranus is in your rear.” Seriously, though, stop off there, it is a trip. I also can’t believe they haven’t seemed to notice that Ball St is nearby.
I have one last inappropriate pun for you. Now that I’ve talked about fudge from Uranus, I’m going to segue into some mounds. (Alright, I’m done). Mounds State Park is another one of Indiana’s wonderful state parks. This one is a bit more history than nature though. It is home of the Great Mound that has been around for thousands of years. You may ask yourself, what is a mound? Well the natives were very primitive in culture. They didn’t have building materials that we have today, so when they wanted to create an architectural wonder, they piled a bunch of dirt up and made large hills and valleys. Most mounds have been lost to farming, excavation, and erosion over the years. But, the ones here in the park have been saved for us to observe today. We were able to join a guided hike around the property and to the Great Mound. Our tour guide, Mary, was very knowledgeable about the history and was willing to answer questions about the area. We learned about the original land owner’s quest to protect the mounds as well as the amusement park and trolley lines installed in the 1920’s before the land became property of the state. Various studies have been done on the mounds, but without a time machine there is no concrete proof on what their purpose was. There are arguments for various uses such as, religious, ceremonial, or even astronomical. But, then again, maybe they just were really bored and not having video games and Netflix they wanted to create something really cool. Either way, it is very interesting to check out as it is probably the oldest surviving structure we have in Indiana.
I’ll agree that Anderson has some of the best tenderloins in the state. Running around from place to place getting meals sure did steal some time away from exploring the town, but the incredible food made it worth it. I’d sure like to come back again, highlight one tenderloin, and check out the history and culture of the city a little more. But until then I’ll suggest you to make that detour in the future traveling the I-69 to Anderson enjoy gooey fudge, large mounds, and them tasty loins (Sorry had to get one last pun in).
Packing Fudge in Uranus
by Michael Tomko
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