Pork Tenderloins

CajunKing


I love the "GNAW MART"

 
A very thick and meaty BPT.  When I was a kid in Muncie BPT meant Burkie's which were the opposite, pounded very thin. 

This is MESSED UP
 
The Indiana Foodways Alliance does not include
 
NICK'S Kitchen
or
Mr Dave's
 
in either of their 2 Pork breaded tenderloin trails
 
AHHHH now i see, you have to be a IFA member to be included  what BS 
 

Pork Tenderloins, getting a lot of Super Bowl press this week!

desertdog

The Kansas City Star talked about this place, I did a word search and haven't turned up anything on this site about it. Anyone eaten there?
Christy’s Tasty Queen
More tenderloin than bun
By 11 a.m. Victoria Fieber has already breaded 100 pork loins. Dips into a concoction of milk and water alternate with her fist-pounding the meat into three types of breading.
For 25 years, this has been the morning ritual at Christy’s Tasty Queen in Kansas City, Kan.
“We hand-bread them every single day,” says owner Marla Christy. “It’s quite a process, but that’s the reason they’re so good — we put a lot of TLC into them.”
Sure, the restaurant offers more than 70 other items, including chili dogs, fried cauliflower and blackberry shakes. But it’s the tenderloins, Christy says, that put her small business on the map.
Or, more accurately, all over the map.
“We ship them all over,” she says, citing Pennsylvania and Hawaii as examples. Then there’s the woman who sends a package to Texas for her son, his only request for birthdays and Christmas.
These regular customers — families, employees at nearby Turner Elementary School and industrial workers from the nearby Kansas 32 corridor — are what Christy says keep the eatery in business. Even when shops close or kids grow up, regulars make their way back, placing orders to eat in or take home.
Larry Fowler of Kansas City, Kan., is one such loyalist.
“I used to skip school to come here,” he recalls. “I’ve tried many a tenderloin in Kansas City and out of town.”
Christy’s, he says, are the best. And apparently the biggest.
“I have a picture at home in my garage of the biggest one I’ve had,” Fowler says.
Working the line, Marla Christy says she has looked to no avail for bigger buns. As it stands now, the tenderloins often overflow more than 3 inches — on either side of the bun.
The “secret” breading recipe came from a previous owner of the first restaurant Marla and her husband, Lowell, owned in their hometown, Windsor, Mo. For eight years while he worked full time and she part time in Kansas City, their parents ran that business, a drive-in. The Christys brought their three children down every weekend, both to relieve their folks and to serve the bustling lake traffic.
"Everyone kept asking me, ‘Why don’t you bring these to Kansas City?’#8194;” Marla remembers. So when a KCK neighbor put Carter’s Tasty Queen up for sale in 1983, the couple jumped at the chance to earn the money to put their kids through college.
Their children are long grown and have jobs of their own now — “I think we burned them out,” Marla jokes at the possibility one might take over — but the two still forfeit any vacation longer than a three-day weekend to keep the place running.
It’s a good thing, too, because by 11:30 a.m., a line stretches outside the entryway and onto the sidewalk, just under the “KC’s Best Tenderloin” sign.
If you go: Mondays, the special is a pork tenderloin sandwich and fries for $6.20.

I am pleased to say we had the opportunity to eat at Christy's during our annual Holiday visit to KC.  I'd never heard of the place, but my BIL, who works for the federal gubbmint on the Kansas side, was very familiar and took us there for lunch.
 
First off, the tenderloin.  Just an excellent piece of meat, pounded out to about the size of a small dinner plate, but not exceptionally thin like some inferior BPTs I've had.  This was at least 3/8" to 1/2" thick; maybe thicker in some places.  The breading was light and crunchy with no oily taste at all.  Like all BPT's, Christy's is much larger than the bun, and a real challenge to eat.  Mrs. Roadhouse rose to the occasion with a brilliant (at least to me) solution: She took the tenderloin and folded it in half, still overlapping the bun, but much more manageable, and of course, creating a thicker sandwich.  Now, some of you may have already figured this out.  But for me this was a revelation.  I've always eaten around the edges, working my into the bun, eagerly awaiting the moment when I get to the condiments and the full combination of flavors that come together in the middle.  The simple act of folding a BPT has changed my life and I can hardly wait until my next experience.
 
Christy's does have some "downfalls".  The BPT is so big, there is no reason to order a side of fries.  Maybe not a big downfall for some, but for French Fry lovers, this presents an obstacle.  I suppose if you go with a group, you can get one order and share.
 
Also, there's no indoor seating at Christy's.  There's a handful of picnic tables in an adjoining grove, but dining alfresco in the winter months can be dicey.  We were visiting during a particularly mild winter and sat out there.  it wasn't bone jarringly cold, but I was damn happy we finished eating when we did so I could get back into the relative warmth of our car.
 
All in all, a top notch experience.  I highly recommend Christy's to anyone living in or visiting the greater Kansas City area.  Just dress warm if you're going between November and March.
 
Buddy
 
Christy's Tasty Queen
1405 S. 55th St.
 Kansas City, KS 6610
(913) 287-2800
http://www.kansastravel.o...christystastyqueen.htm

 
A food truck in Chicago named Schnitzel King is selling a pork schnitzel sandwich "Chicago style" with peppers and onions along with Czech potato salad and cookies. I think Chicago food trucks aren't allowed to cook to order, but the sandwich looks good:
 
 
This is the photo from their facebook page:

Sorry I'm late.  I've been eating IN tenderloins for 50 years, live in Indy, just up the road from Davydd's Speedway haunts.  I have several on my ToDo list that have been mentioned here -- Gnaw Bone, Coachman, Pawn Shop, Plump's.  I've had a Nick's, thought it was a bit overhyped, but enjoyed it thoroughly and it certainly was worth the road trip to Huntington.
My top 4 (so far) are
   Friendly's Tavern - Zionsville
   Muldoon's - Carmel
   Nickel Plate - Fishers
   Sahm's - Fishers
...But... I still have a lot of BPTs to try.
 

IndianaPete,
 
Welcome to the group and Roadfood.com. I haven't been to Friendly's yet. Last time in Zionsville we opted for the oddly named Carolina Grill. I have a tenderloin named after me every year the Friday before the race at Grindstone Charley's in the Speedway Shopping Center but the best in that area are Dawsons on Main in Speedway and Green Street in Brownsburg, IMO. There are a lot of good tenderloins about and around Indianapolis.

Today on NPR's Splendid Table the Sterns talked about Iowa tenderloins and mentioned the Red Barn in Xira, IA. Jane Stern made a comment that she did not think tenderloins were always so huge and that competition might have driven them to the oversize they are today. I doubt that. Yes, there is a certain pride in size but like IndianaPete I go back long before 50 years ago and remember them always being oversize. I think that is just the nature of pounding out a piece of pork loin to create them. They just can't be small unless you wastefully trim them.

IndianaPete - Have you tried the Gaslight Inn in Indy for BPT's ?
Rick Garrett (of All Tenderloins, All The time ) gives high praise for
them and I'm interested in trying one the next timw I'm in Indy - probably this spring.
http://breadedtenderloin.wordpress.com/

Nobody has had more tenderloins in Indiana than Rick Garrett and nobody has had more tenderloins in Iowa than TRZHotel here on this board. Both have their respective blogs where they review them. I haven't found anyone that has taken up the Illinois mantle.

I have not been to Gaslight.
I have fairly thoroughly read the TenderloinsAlltheTime blog and like to try some of Rick's recommendations.  However, he has misled me on a few occasions, so I decide for myself.  For example, Jimmy B's is one of his top 3, but I didn't care for the double breading.  If they don't toast his bun he gets annoyed.  I found a piece of gristle in a Sahm's BPT, the only time I ever have, but it's still one of my top 4. But he's the expert, I'm just a guy who likes to eat 'em.  Difference of opinion is what makes the world go round.  I still read his stuff.
 
Here are a few others I've sampled that I consider next tier, not the very best in Indy, but worth the drive if you're in town --  MugnBun, Edwards Drive-In (both worth it just for the root beer), Nick's Chili, John's Famous Stew.
 
If I think of some others, I'll pass 'em along.  Good to be here with BPT enthusiasts.
 
I sometimes find myself down toward Naples and may stop in on that Hoosier ex-pat down there to try one of his.  Also I'm a Philly Cheesesteak enthusiast.  The best one I've found outside Philly is Alpine Steakhouse in Sarasota.  They "import" their rolls from Philly.
 
EDIT:  I'll try to get down to Gaslight in the next week or two.  I'm overdue for a winter trip to the Garfield Conservatory which is in the vicinity.  I'll post a review. 

I agree with Pete on all his tenderloin restaurants.  By a slight margin, Muldoons in Carmel have my favorite. 

The BPT @ Muldoon's is exceedingly tender.  I don't know how they do it.  You almost wish it had a little more chewiness to it.  On the other side of the scale is Nickel Plate (I've only had one there) which has a very chewy BPT.  You first think this is too chewy, but then you realize it's the thickness of the meat that is the "culprit." 

Thickness of the meat is not the "culprit" for chewiness. It is more prep and quality of meat. I've had very tender thick cuts of pork tenderloin. There is a limit to thickness and that is a balance of fry time and temperature to evenly deep-fry completely through without burning the breading or getting it too dry. That limit is about 3/8", IMO based on sampling experience.

We took our first RV trip this season and drove down to Van Buren, Missouri in the heart of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways on our way to a Class B Social rally with others from Wisconsin, New Jersey, Missouri, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Arizona, Kansas, Ohio and Minnesota.

On our way we stopped at Smitty's Tenderloin Shop in Des Moines, Iowa and tried their tenderloin. Smitty's would be be described as an "Iowa Skinny". The Iowa skinny's meat is pounded very thin usually less than a 1/4" thick and is fried with a more finely textured breading. When bitten into it is rather crispy and is generally drier than most other tenderloins. This is an oft mentioned Iowa favorite but it has never won an award from the Iowa Pork Producers Association.



Our next stop was the Jolly Cone in Van Buren, Missouri. It is a walk-up to a counter with outdoor seating and primarily an ice cream shop. They served what would be better termed a fritter of constituted pork. Nevertheless the taste was fine. I'd put it a notch above the fritter served at the Mug n' Bun in Speedway, Indiana.



On our way back north we detoured to Bonnots Mill, Missouri near Jefferson City to seek out the Missouri Pork Board's 2009 best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich at Johnny Mac's Bar and Grill. Bonnots Mill is a small town at the terminus of a dead end road of about 8 miles on the Osage River. You are not going to just pass by it on the way somewhere. We tried to stop on our way down but found they were only open Thursday through Saturday from 3 PM and on. This time we timed it to arrive right at 3 PM on Thursday. The sandwich was a deserving winner - thick, moist and tender. Missouri holds no back seat to Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. Note the Indianapolis 500 banner on the wall.



Finally we stopped in La Crosse, Wisconsin. We went to Rudy's Drive-in in La Crosse. Rudy's is an old fashion 50s style drive-in complete with carhops in pink poodle skirts delivering your window tray while on roller skates. That's the experience. Unlike similar drive-in restaurants this tenderloin was a true tenderloin and above average. Not a fritter. Rudy's is an inexpensive stop and a favorite place to take our grandsons.



This was our first trip of the season and just a warmup. Our main tenderloin tour trip is next month where we are heading to Washington, DC and back through Indianapolis for the Indy 500. If our schedule clicks we could end up sampling tenderloins in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Virginia, and an outside possibility in Ohio. Definitely Indiana.

Our second trip of the year to Washington DC and Indianapolis.

I think my spring tenderloin tour is over. I am in Midland, Michigan and on my way to the Upper Peninsula. It is now time to switch to Pastys.

We started our trip a few weeks ago and planned our route across I-80 in Illinois.  We arrived at the Village Grille in Naplate, Illinois just as it was closing at 2 PM. Luck was with us. The cook agreed to stick around and fry up a tenderloin for us. Knowing in advance they were monster size we asked for two buns for the one sandwich so we could split it. It was thick, juicey and delicious.


The next day Nick's Kitchen was closed when we got there due to a power outage. Fortunately, the owner, JeanAnne Bailey knew we were coming and let us in. Also, fortunately, the gas deep fryer runs without electricity and with the aid of us shining our iPhone flashlights to see we were able to fry up a couple BPTs along with still cold XXX Rootbeer and some homemade butterscotch pie. So, if you were one of the unfortunates dropping by for lunch peering in the windows and seeing an old gristled white hair guy sitting in the dark and wondering, it was me having this...


We continued on to Northern, VA. As far east as Virginia they have breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches. In Nokesville, VA near Manassas. I had this one at the Chuckwagon Restaurant...


I'm not done in the Washington DC area. My last tenderloin was interestingly right on historic King Street in Alexandria Old Town, Virginia. The place was Murphy's a Grand Irish Pub. They only serve a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich on the dinner menu starting at 3 PM so on a casual daytime visit you could miss out. Naturally I delayed lunch until then. It was a fortuitous find I wasn't expecting. I knew ahead of time about the previous place in Nokesville and just happened to decide to check out Murphy's because I had stopped there over 20 years ago.


After Virginia it was on to West Virginia and then Kentucky. No finds there but I wasn't looking. The serious pursuit started again in Indianapolis. The Stacked Pickle tenderloin in Carmel, IN. What you see on top is their special sauce they put on the sandwich during preparation. You can order it without. They also have a with cheese option and a grilled option. 


This was one of the thicker tenderloin cuts so the sandwich did not exceed the large bun much. Despite the thickness they managed to fry it perfectly. 


Friday's Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was exciting. I think the new cars looked great. That Indy Lites 100 race was exciting with cars going two abreast through the turns faster than parading NASCAR Sprint cars. We skipped out after the race and went down to the Workingman's Friend, a local dive bar on Belmont Avenue just north of Washington. I hadn't been there for some 50 years back in my underage years buying 6 packs out the back door. I think I should have gotten the burger. The advertised giant tenderloin was nothing but a fritter just like the Mug 'n Bun in Speedway.


Friday night I attended our Speedway HS annual mini class reunion at Grindstone Charley's in Speedway. They always have a tenderloin as a menu choice named after me but this time my other half decided I had exceeded my quota for the day, actually the week. So I snapped this photo of a classmate's tenderloin. Over the years I've had a lot of tenderloins there. We have a standing reservation for the back room the Friday night before the race and I believe this might be the 17th consecutive year.


The last tenderloin was at Squealer's Barbeque Restaurant on West 86th Street in Indianapolis. My wife ordered this one. It was so good she wouldn't share it with me other than an obligatory bite sample.

I had my first bpt last Friday! Not knowing, where, in the Milwaukee area to get one, someone( thinking Miwfoodlovers or JRPfeff) recommended Johnny V's in West Allis, where Bob and I just moved recently.
First of all-great one of a kind place! It was Bob's b-day, so, the sky was the limit( neice and nephew took us). I noticed one of their breakfast choices included the bpt with sausage gravy( eggs hashbrowns and toast, as well) I wanted to have the bpt separately, and they were kind enough to put the gravy on the side, and add a bun so I could eat it separately.( No extra charge, by the way, for the bun-still got the toast included in my meal) Wonderful, crispy coating, with a very tender pork tenderloin underneath. While not as large as some of you all have eaten, this was a winner! I ended up taking home half my meal-the sausage gravy over my sour dough toast later was a treat-and all for $6.99!

Ann,
Here is my report on Johnny V's five years ago.

Johnny V's

 
The host of Bizarre Foods was filming at B & B Market in Des Moines to eat the Killer Pork Tenderloin:


 
The segment is expected to air in November. Zimmern had previously recommended the B & B in some promotional interviews about traveling through the Midwest, if I remember correctly.

you're all making me hungry! pork FTW!

I just had my northernmost tenderloin at the Wolf's Den Restaurant near Whitehorse, Yukon. It was actually a pork schnitzel on a rye bun made up after I described the Midwest BPT to the owner.

Rye bun? A Canadian thing? Sounds good.

Just had one of the best BPTs I have ever eaten this afternoon at the Gaslight Inn in Indy. The pork was thick, juicy, and delicious. The outside crunchy without tasting dry. The neighborhood on S. Meridian is bit on the run down side, the location more of a local hang-out than a dive ( unlike my favorite cheeseburger place, Workingman's Friend Tavern, a true dive). I forgot my smartphone or I would have taken a photo of the sandwich before I devoured it.  

A local for the self-reporting website patch.com claims Joensy's original location in Solon is closing. I am guessing the two other locations are doing much better and will remain open.

That's interesting because the Solon Joensy's has always gotten more publicity than the others. They were closed down a couple of years ago by the Health Department. You might wonder if their problems have surfaced again.

Last week I had the BPT at the Abe Martin Lodge at Brown County State Park in Nashville, Indiana.


 
Meals come with complimentary fried biscuits, which are topped with what tasted like sugar and cinnamon.

 
But enough small talk...on to the reason we're here.


 
The pork wasn't particularly thick (perhaps this is more of a fritter?) but the breading was very pebbly and crunchy, and not at all greasy.  When I was ordering I had a hard time choosing the BPT over the fried chicken but the server assured me both were popular and generally well-liked, and knowing that I would be having chicken the next day the pork won out.

Serious Eats and the Chicago Reader featured an old-school deli in Chicago serving what may be a Breaded Pork Loin Sandwich along with other sandwiches like a Chicken Schnitzel, looked like an interesting place. The articles seem to point to the schnitzel being made then chilled and served cold in a sandwich, very odd. The pictures don't really clarify what the pork sandwich is:
http://www.chicagoreader....ndwiches-at-olgas-deli
http://chicago.seriouseat...as-deli.html?ref=title

Amen to that.

Alaska Trip Tenderloins

We took a two month RV trip to Alaska and back but that did not deter the breaded pork tenderloin pursuit. I found some and let two get away because of scheduling circumstances in Calgary, Alberta and Muncho Lake Provincial Park in British Columbia. Oh well, there could be a next time as the lure to go again is strong.

My first opportunity was at a restaurant called the Wolf's Den a few miles east of Whitehorse, Yukon on the Alaska Highway. It was part of an RV park and we were passing through at lunch time. They did not have a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich on the menu but the restaurant was operated by German immigrants and did feature pork Schnitzel on the dinner menu. So I took a flyer and stopped. The first thing I did was ask if they could prepare a Schnitzel sandwich like a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich. A discussion ensued about what a BPT was because the owner in his broken English said he used pork loin for his Schnitzel not pork tenderloin. I explained that was OK. He was willing to give it a try. His result was a delicious sandwich using a light rye bun instead of a hamburger bun.


In Alaska I had two potential pursuits. The first was in Talkeetna, the town south of Denali National Park that was the model for the fictional city of Cicily in the TV show, Northern Exposure. The place was the Swiss Alaskan Inn. I knew they had pork Schnitzel but did not know if they had a sandwich. As it turned out they did, so no special requests needed. It was served as you can see with Swiss cheese, naturally, on toast instead of a bun.


OK, those were not traditional Midwest breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches but breaded and fried pork nevertheless. My last stop was in Palmer in the Mat-Su Valley northeast of Anchorage at a place called Rusty's at Dahlia Street on Dahlia Avenue. Rusty's was kind of an upscale restaurant, not a dive. As it turned out the owners were from the lower 48, Liz was from Illinois and they thought they needed a catch food item to appeal to the many transplants and tourists. Thus, a true Midwest BPT and it could hold its own with any in the Midwest. It was that good.


And if you doubt Rusty's BPT is authentic, this northernmost BPT is hand pounded with this custom made "Hog Hurter" Liz is holding up. It is solid steel and heavy. I didn't get to meet Rusty but he would have to be one strong dude to wield this tenderizer.


The rest of the time I pursued fresh Halibut and Salmon every chance I could.

 
Madison Lighthouse Restaurant. A riverside dive by night. We were hungry 09-01-12, and this place seemed unique. Right on the water in Madison, IN. Had read no reviews so didn't know what to expect. The BPT was freshly made and very good. Nice breading although it seemed to have been deep-fried. Good sandwich.