Who would think that a question like “What town do live in?” would be so hard to answer? My house is in a subdivision outside of any town or city borders. I have a Goshen address, but I reside closer to of Elkhart, which also is where my wife and I work. On top of that, my children go to school and participate in sports in the Middlebury district. So, I guess I consider myself living in three towns. And, just like donuts, three are better than one. For the first local The Tenderloin and the Town article, we will take a look at Middlebury.
The Tenderloin:
In many places the locals do not go to the top tourist attraction in their town. Many in New York City have never been to the Stature of Liberty just like most from Chicago have never gazed upon their city from the Sear… I mean Willis Tower. But I just about guarantee you that everybody in Middlebury has eaten at Das Dutchman Essenhaus. People come from all around to eat at the Essenhaus and it is the most mentioned attraction from out-of-towners when I try to describe where I live. Heck, instead of trying to explain that whole “What town do I live in”, when someone does ask I could just say, “right by the Essenhaus.”
The Essenhaus is an Amish Style restaurant that employs locals to wait on customers and cook your food. You can get home cooked style meals like beef and noodles over mashed potatoes and also get some of the best fried chicken in town. I noticed on their menu they offered something called “Pork Fritter Sandwich”. Well, that sure does sound like a fancy way to say fried tenderloin to me, and sure enough it was. Just like everything here, it was fresh and cooked from scratch. The breading was nice and crispy, and the loin was tender. It didn’t have that extra large crazy size and it wasn’t the thickest, but with all the other fresh home cooked sides offered, you don’t need it to be the whole meal. This is also the first tenderloin I’ve had where the bun was better than the pork. This is in no way saying that the tenderloin was bad, but when the restaurant doubles as one of the best bakeries in town, it sure better be. This is not a bun that has been sitting around all week and grabbed out of a plastic bag before getting to our plate. This was cooked this morning and it shows with the fluffy texture and crisp buttery crust. The Essenhaus is definitely one of the best places to eat in Indiana and maybe the whole country. With their signature Amish style home cooked meals, it is great to see them still offer a phenomenal fried breaded tenderloin, or as they call, “Pork Fritter Sandwich”.
The Town:
I’m going to tell you where to find the best donut in the world. Rise’n Roll Bakery, which is just across the border of Elkhart County (I’m counting it as Middlebury since it has a Middlebury address), has a Cinnamon Carmel Donut that may just be the best thing you have ever eaten (outside of a tenderloin of course). Nicknamed “Amish Crack” by the locals, it is a caramel glazed soft donut with a cinnamon sugar coating. The inside is so soft it is almost gooey, and you get a little poof of the cinnamon powder with every bite. Legend is their candy crunch used to be called Amish Crack, but when the donuts got popular, the moniker eventually switched to the holiest dessert of all mankind. There are locations across northern Indiana, but the donuts are made in the Middlebury store, so you can get the freshest here. You can find other goodies such as apple fritters, maple syrup, cheese curds, and noodles too. Don’t forget your free coffee with every purchase.
Krider World’s Fair Garden Park is a small historical feature near the downtown area. In 1934 the nursery called “Krider” in Middlebury sold plants by mail order and created a display garden at the World’s Fair in Chicago. After the fair was over, they moved the display garden to Middlebury. Now-a-days, the nursery is gone, but the display garden still remains as a town park. There are various sculptures and items that are original to the world’s fair like the windmill and toadstools, as well as recreated and new ones like the Garden Fountain and the Tea House. What I found most spectacular in this park was the millhouse with the waterfalls leading to the koi pond. It is just a beautiful and rather unique area to take a spring stroll in and enjoy being outside.
In the 1983 version of the movie National Lampoon’s Vacation, Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold is driving with his family and deadpans the famous line, “I’m so hungry I could eat a sandwich from a gas station.” Here we are almost 40 years later and gas station food is no longer comedic fodder for road trip movies. Some of the best food can be found while filling up your car. Typical fast food places and diners are popping up in them. Places like Sheetz and Wawa are basically restaurants that happen to have gas pumps. People are now cooking their own fresh food inside; heck, if you watch Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives”, it seems like half the places are at gas stations. Well, if you stop on in a Marathon station called Long’s Convenience Store right on the edge of town, you will find the best Asian takeout food outside the big city. I went there for lunch with three co-workers who have each been to China in the last couple of years and they all were blown away with the food. The shrimp in the fried rice I had was sweet and fresh, and another guy thoroughly enjoyed his Mongolian Beef. After lunch in my office I could hear the guys going on and on about the skewers, or as we like to call them “Meat-on-a-stick”. The biggest hit of the meal were the spring rolls. Spring rolls are like egg rolls, but have a thinner wrapper. They are hot and crispy on the outside, with steamed veggies and meat on the inside. Thanks to Long's, no one in Middlebury has to buy a plane ticket (or train ticket) to get authentic, tasty, Asian food.
Up on the northside of town is a little place called Yup’s Dairyland. For 62 years this walk-up ice cream stand has been serving the residents of Middlebury all kinds of cold treats and hot food. There is no inside to eat, but there is a nice outside park-like area behind where you can sit on benches and enjoy a cold sundae on a hot Sunday (well… not exactly, as they are closed on Sundays). I ordered up a Topsey Turvey, which is basically a banana split, but toppled over on its side and fit into a large shake cup. The ice cream is all vanilla, but the top has chopped strawberries with strawberry syrup, pineapples appear midway, and the bottom has chocolate syrup. Sliced bananas can be found throughout all the layers. It makes for an interesting twist on an American favorite.
The Pumpkinvine Railroad used to go right through town, but as the years went on the need for them waned and the trains stopped coming. Like many abandoned railroads, the municipalities make them into walking or biking paths. The full Pumpkinvine trail is actually 16 miles long from Shipshewana to Goshen. We opted for a shorter 2 mile hike from the southwest border of Middlebury all the way to just north of downtown. As we left the trail parking we immediately go into a tunnel that bypasses the busy crossing of US 20 and venture out into woods. As you come upon the town you travel right behind the backyards of the residents, who some themselves have made their own private gates to the trail. Along the way you pass or are passed by the occasional runner, skateboarder, or recumbent bicyclist. You start to get into the commercial district of the town where you can spot old warehouses and new businesses and realize that you have to watch for traffic as you cross some larger streets. Finally you see to Krider World’s Fair Garden on the left and cross an old wooden trestle bridge and end up at another ice cream shop, this one called Dips. While my boys each enjoyed their single scoop of either Blue Moon or strawberry ice cream, I went with a double of cake batter and coffee flavored. Ice cream tastes so much better after walking two miles for it.
There is so much more to Middlebury and I'm sure I can find another good tenderloin around here somewhere. With so many other good places to visit, I couldn't put them all in a short blog. There will be a sequel and I look forward to traveling in my own backyard to find more good tenderloin and more good town.
You have to come back soon to Middlebury
At least for this donut
by Michael Tomko
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