With the start of Spring Break that featured a road trip to Southern Indiana with my son, I found myself in another easy position for a tenderloin trip on the end of the break. I had the day off while the kids were spending the week with my parents and my wife had to work. So, I rented a room just outside of Kentland, IN and headed out for a trip just by myself. The hotel is isolated and across a busy road. I felt like John Rambo in “First Blood”, where I just wandered in from nowhere off the highway into a small town. Luckily, the sheriff wasn’t there to escort me to the other side; instead they welcomed me in for a tenderloin and a beer…
The Tenderloin
The Downtown Lounge and Trattoria (locals just refer to it “The Downtown Lounge”) is right on the courtyard square in the half-basement connected to an old house. They didn’t quite offer a tenderloin sandwich, but instead offered what they referred to as Tenderloin Sliders. Before we get to these pork sandwiches, I’m going to explain some history on what a “slider” is. I’ll step aside from Kentland’s BPT and give you a bit of Indiana History (as I know it)
So as I was growing up in Northwest Indiana in the 80’s, the White Castle was just as synonymous as McDonalds and Burger King. My dad even talks about how White Castle was the only fast food burger place they had while he was a kid. If you’ve never been to a White Castle, their burgers are small. The patties are only 2 ½” square and have five holes in them like the “5” on a pair of dice. This is so the burgers cook through faster and they don’t have to flip them. Dehydrated onions are put on top with a pickle and the bun is steamed while the patty cooks. These little hamburger bites are so good. You usually can’t find them if you move from the northwest corner of Indiana. The result is that when the natives come back to the area, White Castle is often the first stop. My parents always called those sandwiches “sliders”. So I believe the term “slider” originated in northwest Indiana sometime in the 60’s or 70’s. Back then, and even now, the term is really a bit derogatory. The reason they called them sliders was… OK how can I put this… because the burger would exit your body very quickly after entering; you know… “sliding” right through. I don’t know the whole biology of the situation, but it was a small price to pay for being able to consume numerous delicious tiny sandwiches in one sitting. Back-in-the-day, if you called them sliders at the White Castle when you ordered them, they got pissed. In the 90’s, White Castle finally acknowledged the slider name and even started to refer to them as “sliders” in their marketing. Here in 2023, the term “slider” is generic and refers to any type of small burger or sandwich, whether it be chicken sliders, pulled pork sliders, fish sliders... Just keep in mind, next time you are at a restaurant outside the state or even another country and they have sliders on the menu, you are experiencing an influence that Indiana has had on the rest of the world.
So… tenderloin sliders… this is the first I’ve seen them being offered. I contacted The Downtown Lounge beforehand just to make sure they weren’t just putting some frozen pre-shaped patties in the deep fryer and sliding them out to eat. They assured me that the pork is cut, pounded out, and hand breaded to order. What came out what the quintessential idea of a tenderloin slider. The size of the pork is what would fit a regular sized pun perfectly, but when put on a small Hawaiian Dinner roll, the tenderloin looks freakin’ huge. It is like a mini-giant tenderloin (oxymoron!). On top of that, they give you two of them, so you can still fill your oversized appetite. The taste is also top notch. The spices in the breading combined with the sweetness of the bun combine for some good eatin’. The thickness of the pork is pretty good too, even for being a slider. Ask for the spicy peanut sauce with it. I put some on mine and it only added to the enjoyment. The restaurant, itself, is a fun place to come and eat. Dimly lit like an old time Italian restaurant, they have Christmas-type lights on the walls adding a certain charm to the place. I know there is a tenderloin trail somewhere along Route 41; the tenderloin sliders would be a highlight to stop at in Kentland.
The Town
I’m going to throw out some names here: Mark Twain, James Whitcomb Riley, Charles Dickens, Stephen King, Quentin Tarantino, Lin-Manuel Miranda… All are famous celebrity writers, but if I were to put George Ade’s name in there, he would be the odd man out that no one would recognize. One hundred years ago this wouldn’t have been the case as the writer and playwright would have been one of the most famous names to grace any newspaper or gossip column. He was born in Kentland, educated at Purdue, and the George Ade home, Hazelden, still stands in Newton County outside the town of Brook. To try to give you the scope on how popular and famous George was, four U.S. presidents have visited this estate. One president, Taft, even announced his presidential campaign from the front lawn. A golf course used to lay out back where all the top pro golfers would visit and go-a-round with Ade; proof is in the pictures that hang on the walls today. A large garden used to reside out back in the shape of Indiana with a large fountain in the location of Indianapolis. George Ade’s popularity faded away the mid 20th century. His contemporary musings on the times of the day did not translate as well over the years as the other authors of his day. With a more poetry style of writing and many plays and movies being lost or “wiped”, his followers dwindled over the years. After passing away in 1944 and with no heirs, his estate started to decay. A hospital, which is now a nursing home, was built beside the grounds. Major renovations to the house occurred in the 60’s and 90’s just to preserve the structure, but nothing like the current revitalization project that is taking place today. Currently the house has one room, his office, restored to how it looked in the time of George. The rest is used as office space, meeting areas, and exhibit rooms. The county is working on full interior and exterior renovations to bring the rest of the house back to its original style. I was able to get a tour of the house in the current state. Walking around the rooms I found it fascinating to see it before it becomes a walk-thru museum. I was able to view what was there and imagine what it is to become. The office, especially, was fun to see. His desk is laid out just like he had when writing; mementos hanging on the walls with parts of the history of his life. It is an exciting time for Newton County. The revitalization of the estate is sure to bring many people to discover a once lost celebrity, as well as a place to enjoy taking the family whether for the history or the other community projects that will be able to take place at the restored estate. No longer will George Ade only be associated with a nursing home or a football stadium.
I wandered downtown after eating the tenderloin and went to the inn, not the hotel I was staying at, but the Old Colonial Inn. Although you cannot rent a room in the old hotel, you can enjoy fine dining based on the menu from when the first restaurant opened up in the 60’s. I hung out at the bar where they were gracious enough to make me a custom handcrafted Old Fashioned. The rest of the patrons at the bar were all local residents willing engage in friendly conversation. Small world as not only was one lady from the town I live at now, Elkhart, and we were able to talk about local pizzerias’, but when I mentioned I was taking the tour at the George Ade House, they replied somewhat of, “Oh… you’re the guy coming tomorrow.” The place has been around since the 1800’s, so when you go to the bathroom there is a restored piece of graffiti behind a frame drawn in 1894. It’s a wonderful place, with awesome food, historical ambiance, and great people around. I encourage all to take a detour off 41 and come in for a meal and a drink.
There were a couple of other places of interest I popped in and out of real quick. The town of Morocco has the Antique Snowmobile Museum of Indiana. Hidden behind a downtown office, you can wander in-between the two rooms and witness the evolution of the modern snowmobile. Back in Kentland you can go to inside Community Center and see an old time “Hoosiers” style basketball gym. The Kentland High School used to be on these grounds and although the school is gone, the gym still stands. We were just in Milan during the Versailles blog trip and they had torn down all the old small gyms. It was really neat to sit up top of the bleachers and imagine Hoosier Hysteria in its prime.
Can you believe that Newton County was once home of one of the largest lakes in Indiana? Beaver Lake almost covered half of the northern part of the county until the mid 19th century when it was drained to produce farmland. In the 1990’s the county started buying up farms in the former lakebed to revert to its natural state. Well, not exactly to its natural state since roads and houses have been placed on it, but a good portion has been reclaimed and restoration has begun back to wetlands. As you drive along US 41 in the northern portion of the county, you enter the former lake and may notice the corn and bean have been replaced with weeds and grass. It almost looks like the zombie apocalypse has happened and you are traveling along the ruins of American farming society. You can head out to the former Island of Bogus and get to the high ground to observe the bison that roam the fields. I chose to hike the Grace Teninga Discovery Trail. This 2 mile trail starts in the former lakebed. First leg of the hike is to the old dune that used to be at the shore of the lake. From the peak you can visualize where the old water used to be and get a picture of what the Native Americans would see as they fished and gathered plant life for their daily lives. Going down the hill and back into the savannah, you wonder around back to the start through the former swamp. My early-April hike did not yield many visuals for flowers and colorful insects as everything was waking up from the dormancy of the winter, but it was a quiet, pleasant hike to open my mind for the start of the day.
Newton County hidden away in the northwest corner and is one of the least populous in the state. It contains no cities and the county seat has less than 2,000 residents. But, there was a lot to do and many things to see while I was there. In the teaser picture that I put on Facebook while I was in Kentland, I mentioned that “not many have heard of this place, but I will tell you why you should.” I sure hope I have convinced you.
I've seen many views out of a hotel room, but an Indiana sunrise is at the top of the list
by Michael Tomko
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