The Original Breaded Pork Tenderloin

Breaded Pork Tenderloin sandwiches–sometimes abbreviated BPT but usually just called tenderloins for short–are something I’ve written about once or twice on this site. They were a favorite of mine in my hometown of Quincy, IL, and while they are not common in and around Chicago, you’ll find them all over the rest of Illinois, as well as most of Iowa, northern Missouri, and Indiana, and throughout much of the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Great Plains areas of the US.

The breaded pork tenderloin sandwich is an oddity. Often butterflied and pounded out flat to immense plate-dwarfing diameter, yet served on an ordinary hamburger bun, they can present a dramatic or even ludicrous appearance. Late last year, photos of the enormous tenderloin sandwich from Spoonie’s Bar & Grill in London Mills, Illinois began making the rounds on Facebook. The Spoonie’s page itself uses one such photo as its profile picture.

That tenderloin is as big as she is!

Since tenderloins are so scarce around here, I tend to seek them out when I’m back home, or someplace else where they can be found. Just recently, I was in Decatur, Illinois with my 18yo son Max helping him get signed up for his classes at Millikin University this fall, and I felt myself drawn to try the tenderloin at a local spot rather than get the world’s greatest cheeseburger at one of the local Krekel’s locations. I ended up at a spot called The Wharf, which though near a body of water was in actual fact hidden behind a gas station. Still, it was a nice little pub with a decent tenderloin, not oversized, well seasoned, fried well with crisp breading. The onion rings could have been fried a touch harder but overall, a good meal.

I’m not the only one who seeks these sandwiches out when traveling, and in fact, my personal interest in them is mild compared to the obsession of some. Take the Pursuing Breaded Pork Tenderloins Facebook group, some 22000 members strong (myself included). The group is managed by David Stovall, who I first encountered at LTH Forum posting about, what else, his adventures pursuing breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches. David, who used to maintain a separate website (now defunct) about BPTs, and still posts on his Twitter from time to time about them, can be found commenting on nearly every lengthy internet discussion of the sandwich, though he seems largely to focus on the Facebook group these days. He’s found a like-minded group there, and there are usually several posts a day, with people often traveling hundreds of miles to try a new sandwich and write up their impressions.

And since, in fact, I would have to travel out of the area to find a good tenderloin, it made sense to pick a destination-worthy sandwich to try. Tenderloin listicles abound on the internet–best tenderloins in the Midwest, best tenderloins in Indiana to mention a few–and many if not most of them mention the place that claims to be the birthplace of the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich as we know it, Nick’s Kitchen in Huntington Indiana.

Nick’s Kitchen

The Nick’s Kitchen story is fairly straightforward. The son of German immigrants, Nick Freienstein went from selling hamburgers from a cart to a 10′ x 10′ shack to, in 1908, opening Nick’s Kitchen in downtown Huntington and introducing the tenderloin sandwich. That sandwich is in fact a natural result of these elements combining, the German/Austrian cuisine of Nick’s past (Wiener schnitzel) filtered through the ingredients available in Indiana (pork instead of veal) as interpreted by a street food vendor (being served on a hamburger bun).

It makes sense that the tenderloin sandwich was invented here. It feels right. So many sandwich origins are vague or apocryphal or contested, but as far as I know, everyone agrees that this is where it all started. Jean Anne Bailey, the current owner of Nick’s, told me that until Nick’s was acquired by a new owner in the 1950s and converted into more of a full-service restaurant, everything was still served in wax paper, with no plates or silverware available. Classic street food.

Huntington, a town of 17000 in North central Indiana and about a 3 hour drive from Chicago, doesn’t so much remind me of my hometown of Quincy as it does some other midwestern towns where I’ve spent some time–Galesburg, Hannibal, Carbondale. A small, charming downtown area with some historic buildings, an idyllic drive to get there, and I’m pretty sure we passed through Mayberry on our way. (I tell a lie. It was South Whitley, IN)

Downtown Huntington

Nick’s Kitchen itself is a classic family type of place, serving pies, milkshakes, burgers, and of course their famous tenderloin. From the wood paneling to the old photos adorning it to the hand-written list of pies available, it’s every bit a classic Midwestern diner.

Nick’s Kitchen

Mindy and I arrived with our youngest in tow in the early afternoon on a Saturday. Ian, the 11yo, was delighted to try the bottled root beer in a frosty mug. He ordered a chicken bacon ranch panini, while Mindy and I both opted for the ORIGINAL breaded pork tenderloin sandwich with onion rings.

The Nick’s tenderloin was a good size, overhanging the bun but not the plate, simply seasoned and fried crisp. It was served on a kaiser roll rather than a standard hamburger bun, and normally would come with tomato and lettuce had I not asked for pickles on the side only (pickles can make the breading soggy if they’re served on the sandwich. I pat them down with napkins before adding them). It was good, very good, not transcendent perhaps but a classic example.

Nick’s tenderloin

“It may not be the best tenderloin you’ve ever had, but it’s surely the most famous,” said Jean Anne, as self-deprecating a tagline as I’ve heard recently. Was it true? I wouldn’t put it that way. There’s a lot to recommend this sandwich. Most of my favorite tenderloins have been breaded with saltine crumbs as this one was, and though it was pounded nice and thin, it was fried carefully, so that the pork was not dried out. It’s certainly better than most if not all the tenderloins in my hometown, and the best I’ve had in recent memory.

Nick’s tenderloin

It seems to me that there is more that keeps people coming here than just the tenderloin origin story. However, that story certainly doesn’t hurt when it comes to getting Nick’s Kitchen attention. They’ve been featured on the Travel Channel and have been invited to represent the state of Indiana in an upcoming event featuring the signature food item from each of the 50 states in US called Flavored Nation, not to mention the hordes of BPT groupies like myself that descend on the place regularly. Jean Anne and her staff are clearly proud of the legacy they’re carrying on, and if you like the breaded pork tenderloin, a drive to Huntington, Indiana may be worth your time. It was for us.

Jim Behymer

I like sandwiches.

I like a lot of other things too but sandwiches are pretty great