In January of 2003 a 24-year-old packed all his belongings from a 1 bedroom apartment into a moving truck and headed east for new surroundings in a city he had only visited 3 times before. The first two visits were for a wrestling tournament at the local high school, the last one was to find the 1st comfortable place to live as a new job had awaited him in only a couple weeks. Not knowing anyone in the area a new life was forged in the city of Elkhart. Here I am 20 years later now married, with two boys, on my 4th job, and writing about tenderloins. Even though I moved to county lands, my address says Goshen, and my kids go to Middlebury schools, I still consider Elkhart my home. I’ve lived here longer than northwest Indiana in which I now consider that the place where “my parents live”. I’ve seen the city change dramatically in the last 20 years. From a run-down downtown with one nice restaurant and a cool liquor store in the old armory, to now the reinvented comfortable strip with a shops, hotels. theaters, and a riverwalk. I wish some of the old still remained such as the places I frequently hung out at such as Gubi’s, Lakeshore, Bolts, Little Johns, and The Bulldog. But, there is still some old left to explore as well as some new to discover. One “The Tenderloin and the Town” blog could not hold what Elkhart has to offer. I have split it up in two and even have enough to do a third sometime in the future. So how about we get to that tenderloin…
The Tenderloin
Cappy’s Northside Tavern sits on the northwest portion of Elkhart. In what used to be the campus of Miles Labs, the neighborhood still had remnants of factories and bars throughout the streets. Cappy’s could be considered hidden as it is not on any major thoroughfare, but the locals like it that way and it gives them a quiet place to gather with friends. The old brick building is split into a family restaurant on one side and a tavern on the other. The corner by the strip windows has always been my favorite place to sit. The walls are covered with an eclectic collection of mirrors. Also, take note of the old crazy light dimmer switch by the door, it looks like an alarm or generator or something like that. A few years ago while I was searching for a good hometown tenderloin, I walked in with my kids after a hike and noticed the tenderloin was on the menu. When I inquired about it, the waitress raved about it being homemade and fried up fresh. It has been my favorite in the city of Elkhart ever since. The patty is large, but not circus sized. The meat is thick, tender, and the breading is flaky, with a salty crunch to it. They are pretty consistent too, every time I’ve ordered it the sandwich comes out perfect. This is the rare occasion in the blog where I am not trying it for the first time as I keep coming back for more. Cappy’s is a great neighborhood tavern and restaurant. Open since 1950 it is the go-to place of generations of Elkhart residents… with a superior tenderloin to go along with it.
The Town
About a block away from Cappy’s is an old industrial building repurposed into a boutique mall. The Steelyard Coffee Co anchors the stores and offers a homey gathering place to sit and enjoy your favorite caffeinated drink and a small meal. I would call the décor something like “posh industrial” You have old logs tied with rope holding the light fixtures, screen doors acting as separators between the tables, and an old bike just hanging there for no apparent reason other than it just looks cool to have an old bike that is just hanging there for no apparent reason. The bourbon pecan coffee was excellent, and although I didn’t partake in the breakfast they had some tempting quiches and burritos for purchase. Even their coffee cup has a neat looking hand drawn map of the city of Elkhart with the location of the cafe. I was able to set up my laptop at the counter table and get some much needed work done in the morning while watching all the people come in to also enjoy their morning coffee and breakfasts. Afterwards, you can browse the various shops contained in the old workhouse factory.
I can’t help wondering into a used book store. Of course, with all the book stores I feature in the blog, you would expect one in the town that I now call home. The Bookworm used to be up in the northwest old industrial portion of the city where the Cappy’s and the Steelyard Coffee Co are at. Now in their Main St downtown store, their new space can hold the massive amount of books that overflowed from the old Bower St location. Downstairs is where you find the interesting area. Not only will you find rows and rows of books waiting for a new owner, you can check out the basement of an ancient Main St structure. Even if you are just looking for a quiet place to take a break and read, the store offers lounges to hang out for a bit. On a quick visit, I picked up four Robert Silverberg sci-fi books and an autobiography of baseball legend Kirby Puckett.
There is a silhouette on the horizon in the north side of Elkhart. It’s an auto parts store, it’s cigarette store, No – it’s a superhero museum! The Hall of Heroes Superhero Museum has been in Elkhart for over 40 years and it was first housed in a replica of the Hall of Justice in a quiet residential section. In 2019 they moved into larger digs just south of the tollway where they could display their more expansive collection. The museum houses mostly action figures and comic books, but you can find epic relics of the action packed TV shows and the big budget movies with items like Ghost Rider’s motorcycle, Adam West’s personal Batman costume, and the smashed car that Ironman fell on from the movie Ironman. Believe it or not, they have the costume from “The Greatest American Hero”; I was walking on air. I never thought I could feel so free to see Sheldon’s Green Lantern Shirt framed on the wall. A Superman costume was hung from the ceiling flying away on a wing and a prayer. Behind the next corner was a mannequin of a Batman villain, who could it be? Believe it or not, it was… The Riddler. If you haven’t had your fill by the end of the tour, there are a handful of superhero arcade and pinball machines set on freeplay. Even for the casual cartoon or comic book fan, this place is a must-see and would be enjoyed by anyone that took the Elkhart exit off the toll road and went south.
The Old Style Deli has been a staple for lunch for those working in the city of Elkhart since 1983. At the corner of Lexington and Main, you can order up both cold and hot sandwiches with some named after celebrities like the Ham Kinneson (ham) or the Jimmy Fallon (turkey). You can even find the rarer meats for sandwiches usually reserved for big city delis like pastrami and corned beef. I walked into the deli this afternoon and it felt the same as the first time I went way back in 2005. The sandwiches are all written chalkboard style on black walls while you order at the counter and pick up on the side when your name is called. I went with a simple turkey sandwich which is on the top of the menu called “Two rich to see”. It’s piled turkey, swiss, bacon, lettuce, and tomato (hold the mayo) on rye bread. It’s not quite a fried tenderloin, but for a light lunch it does perfectly fine. I even had to go back the next day for a pastrami sandwich after writing the start to this blog portion. The V.I.P. has got to be the best thing on the menu. This one is served hot with pastrami, provolone, grilled onions, and mustard. Try getting one of those at a chain-style train themed food place… It won’t happen.
Elkhart’s Main Street has gotten a lot of new small shops over the past couple of years. What used to be solely a popcorn shop now offers all kinds of sweet goodies and has been rebranded, “All Things Snacks”. Although you can’t buy popcorn anymore, they instead offer all flavors of kernelless corn puffs. My wife and I discovered these puffs a few years ago and prefer them 10x over the popped corn (sorry fellow Purdue alum Orville Redenbacher). We were able to sample the numerous sweet and savory flavors and settled on a tin of three separate ones. Oreo was the pick of my son. Imagine a DQ blizzard with the pieces being stuck to corn puffs. The “Like The Donut” flavor was a must try. It has the cinnamon sugar powder flavor, like the popular donuts around here from Rise’n Roll. My favorite, by far, and the first to emptied from the tin, was the butter flavor. Imagine the taste of movie theater butter on every kernel with a melty corn crunch with every bite – and no hard kernels. Other snacks such as freeze dried skittles and gummys come in individually packed bags. I didn’t know the freeze dried skittles were such a thing, my other son was ecstatic when he saw I brought them home and then continued to bounce off the walls after finishing the bag. Slushies are a popular item here too. We were able to get a sample of the apple cider while there. There are even more snacks and flavors to check out. Can’t wait to try new things again when we get a refill on our tin!
High Dive Park has one of the more unique histories of a place for the public to gather on a beautiful Saturday morning. Started off as a quarry, the nearby Christiana Creek was dammed in the 1940’s and diverted to create large swimming holes for people to enjoy in the hot Elkhart summers before air-conditioning. A platform in which one could dive from a high height was added as well as viewing stands and a windmill. As the city grew the swimming holes were subject to sewage overflows which eventually closed the bathing aspects of the park. Now-a-days the waterholes are used for fishing, but some of the infrastructure remains. The windmill was turned into an observation tower which is now just a tower. You can walk around the site next to the railroad tracks, creek dams, cross the old bridges, and stroll on the artificial island. There are new tennis courts, a dog park and playground equipment to upgrade the area to a community park. Most former amusement parks have been abandoned on private property or paved over and developed to be unrecognizable. It is great to still have High Dive park to not only remember the past, but to get a glimpse of what was once there and to get to feel like you also got to participate in a historical place that created such good memories and meant so much to so many people.
As you see… there is plenty of old and plenty of new coming in the city of Elkhart. Stay tuned as one blog could not contain it all
Yes, that is a dimmer switch
by Michael Tomko
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