The Tenderloin and the Town: Greenfield, IN
I finally made it out to Greenfield! They do say that the third time’s a charm. A couple of years ago I had it all planned out. The days off of work, room booked, I even contacted the local historian, Brigette, to nail down the ins and outs of what to feature in the town. I then caught a bad cold and cancelled… Best laid plans… Later that same year I planned to come again. I was going to pair the trip with Fairmont, IN. The night before I realized that Greenfield had their local festival, Riley Days, that weekend. I’m sure I would have fun at Riley Days, but I like to catch the town on a normal weekend for the blog. So I punted and went to New Castle instead. Actually, I thought I would miss it for the third time. Around noon on the day I was taking off for Greenfield, I got a cancellation for my Airbnb. Turns out it was just a mistake, so Greenfield I went!
The Tenderloin
Some of the best tenderloins are at gas stations - Matthews, Gaston, and Crawfordsville all have great ones. But how about a Car Wash and Oil Change place? Greenfield has one. Dave’s Express Care Carwash and Grill is located on the National Road just west of town. You may not know that they have any food at all unless you pay real close attention. Pull in around back like you are getting car service, but stop in the parking lot instead of a garage. Walk in the café and you will see the tables and counter where you can order up your food. The tenderloin selections are the Dave’s Zooper (regular) or the Greenfield special – Zaza Zooper which is served with gravy. I usually do not cover tenderloins covered with gravy, but Greenfield invented the Wet Tenderloin and the best served in town is at Dave’s. The gravy is like what you find on Salsbury Steak, but 100x better than what you may remember from frozen dinners. The fried tenderloin, itself, maintains the crunch of the breading despite being drowned in the brown sauce. If gravy is not your thing, you can order it up traditionally and it would still be one of the best sandwiches in the state. kHot Sauce is usually the only ingredient that I like to add to the tenderloin, but I would substitute this gravy any time. Eating a ZaZa Zooper at Dave’s will make you want to get your oil changed every thousand miles.
The Town
So what do you do with a giant grain elevator next to the railroad that towers over the cityscape that has been abandoned for the last 20 years? Well, make it into a restaurant, of course. The Depot is so tall that you can see it from a few blocks away, but if there is a concert, it can be heard throughout the whole city of Greenfield. Getting into our Airbnb a bit late and looking for somewhere to get some food, a few beers, and TV’s with the Purdue football game on – it was the perfect place to get settled into town. Be sure to tour the place to learn about its history. My son got a steak here and I went for some lighter fare with the Porky Piggy Grilled Cheese. (Although I’m not sure that a stack of ham with bacon and cheddar cheese between two slices of thick grilled bread is considered “light fare”.) I heard they have a good tenderloin here too. I’ll save this place for a future visit to check that out sooner than later.
Indiana contains the hometowns and residences of many famous authors. I’ve covered George Ade in Brook, Lew Wallace in Covington, and Gene Stratton-Porter in Rome City. No town holds more reverence for their hometown author than Greenfield and James Witcomb Riley. His boyhood home summer residence is just west of downtown and is open for tours. You start off in the museum next door and proceed to the actual residence that features period pieces and relics that were owned by Riley and his family. You can catch some “hair art” in there too. Learn the stories of how some of his poems were influenced like “Little Orphant Annie”, “The Raggedy Man” and “Old Swimmin’ Hole”. The house has been in either Riley’s or the City of Greenfield’s possession for over a hundred years so most of the construction is original to the era. The town hosts events like the Riley Festival where he is remembered and posts his pictures and quotes all over town. Generations of kids have taken field trips through his home. If you do come through Greenfield and do anything (other than eating a tenderloin), visiting the Riley museum is a must.
For breakfast we headed to Hithero Café and Gaming Parlour. Here you can get a more unique experience while getting your morning (or evening) coffee. Hithero offers gaming tables and board games where you can gather with friends or make new ones. There are also demonstration games you can use to play something new or “try before you buy”. Having something like this would be perfect for setting up a game night without having to set up at home and proving drinks and snacks for everyone, whether it be Monopoly, a Euchre Tournament, or even a friendly game of Bridge.
Would you ever want to go to the world’s biggest Hallmark Store? Of course, everyone wants to go to a “world’s biggest” anything. Cynthia’s Hallmark sits on the north side of town and you can pick up a card for your wife’s birthday… wait a minute… is that coming up? But this Hallmark Store isn’t all about cards, there are all kinds of ornaments, figurines, signs… just all kinds of things to not only collect yourself, but to give as gifts. There is a whole series of “Christmas Vacation” items – yes you can purchase Uncle Eddie’s RV! It is a must that you check out the Heritage Village room. Multiple set-ups of figurines and small buildings themed with Halloween and Christmas with lights everywhere. I know you may be thinking something along the lines of “I don’t need to go to a Hallmark Store”, but you do… You will find items that you didn’t know you would need nor would anyone else realize they want.
I have two places combined into one for the next restaurant here. Greek’s Pizzeria is inside of Wooden Bear Brewing Company. The brewery is in the back of downtown in the old Opera House. Walk right in and choose a table (kids are allowed too). You have full service on the beers and drinks, but order pizza either at the front or at the table on your phone and they will bring it to you. The beers are custom, brewed on-site, and are bear-themed. I got their OctoBEARfest as well as the witbier called “Howl at the Moon”. Pizza? Pretty good too. My son didn’t want any breadsticks, but I ordered them anyway. He ate half – the dough was buttery and garlicy. On top of that we split a sausage pizza too. It is a nice place to hang out at downtown. There are games like darts, cornhole, and connect-four if you want to spend some time out for a night downtown. It was a great place to get some food before the movie.
So, yes… this movie I mentioned in the last paragraph… On second night we spent in Greenfield we went to the newly renovated H.J. Ricks Center for the Arts for a free showing of Pirates of The Caribbean. This place was built in 1946 and originally called the Weil Theater. It had been renovated, renamed and separated over the years. After the latest renovations in 2023 it has been modernized to house concerts, plays, and, of course, movies. They host free movies on the weekends open to the residents to support bringing the community together. It was fun to see all sorts of families, friends, and couples out enjoying time together enjoying a flick on the big screen. Greenfield has something special here. Yes, you can enjoy the new blockbusters down the road, but for some really special viewing downtown at the Ricks is the venue to be at.
Greenfield is a great place to be. Only around 20 miles from downtown Indy it still feels like a small town rather than a suburb. Being right on the old National Road, it is filled with history. There are a lot of good places to eat and a great tenderloin (probably a few more if you look around a bit). Greenfield has been one of my favorite places to hang out and write about on this blog.
by Michael Tomko
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