Chatterbox Cafe in Audubon and the Hamburloin

The Chatterbox Cafe lives up to its name, the locals were talking up a storm with the waitresses. If you are a regular here then you can get away with calling it "The Box". The sign reads Down Home Cookin', and the menu is filled with homemade comfort food.

Location: 120 N. Division St in Audubon, in Western Iowa.

Directions: Its right on the Highway 71, the main north-south drag through town.

The Hamburloin: This isn't the biggest tenderloin you will find, but the meat is expertly trimmed and kept thick through the tenderizing process. The breading is a thin golden brown layer that locks in the pork taste. The hamburger was alright, it may have been locally grown meat. The whole thing dragged through the garden, topped with enough vegetables to add moisture to the bun and breading. The final product had a "leaning tower" effect that comes with many sandwiches with toppings stacked up. Served on a toasted bun. Overall 8.193 out of 10.

Price: 5.25, or $4.00 for just the tenderloin.


Also on the menu: Comfort food at affordable prices including a hot beef sandwich, full breakfast and homemade pies for dessert.

Service: There is a to-go counter and table seating.

Ambiance: There is a dining are with tables, decor is wood paneling with agricultural signage.


Final Thoughts: Driving past Albert the Bull on the highway through town, its easy to miss this little spot. It sorta fits you would find a tenderloin with a burger on top in a town with a giant bull beside the road. I think this one holds up against the Uptown Cafe a few blocks away in Audubon, as well as Darell's Place in Hamlin and The Red Barn further down Highway 71 in Exira.

Billy Jo's Bar & Grill in Algona

Algona claims it is home to the World's Largest Cheeto, but I missed out when driving through earlier this year. I had tried a couple other places around town before stepping into this Pub 'n Grub with a humble exterior on State Street.

Location: address is listed as 4 E. State St in Algona, Kossuth County in Northern Iowa.

Directions: This is right on the edge of the main street near the courthouse. Get there by taking state highway 169 and turning on State St.

The Tenderloin: From a distance this one looked like two smaller loins on top of each other. The meat here was over-tenderized and was folded in half to fit into the take-away box and stay on the bun. The pork was white, steamy hot, and had been butterfly cut before being pounded into such a huge size. This felt like it was at least seven ounces before cooking. The flour-dusted bun was toasted, tasting rich and buttery. Overall 8.0 out of ten.

Price: $8.95 with a side.

Also on the menu: the menu is large with steaks, a grilled tenderloin, and other fried stuff.

Service: There is table service or sitting at the bar.

Ambiance: This was a high-end pub 'n grub with woodwork along the booths and a seasonal patio.

Final Thoughts: This was the last thing I ate before visiting the Grotto of Redemption in nearby West Bend, thus I have taken to this one as the Tenderloin of Redemption.

Dairy Sweet in Dunlap

In anticipation of the IPPA annointing another tenderloin as "best in the state" next month, I decided to write up one the the previous top tenderloin award winners. The Dairy Sweet was awarded the IPPA Best Tenderloin award in 2005. The plaques on the walls claim they sold six thousand sandwiches in 2006, and up to twelve thousand in any given year after that. A local real estate company recently listed the property with a note reading "owners looking to retire". This place was listed as "permanently closed" on google maps, but I called and they are still open. I would assume they are staying open at least until their regular winter break at the end of October.

Location: 714 Iowa Ave. in Dunlap, Iowa (population 1,139) in Harrison County, Western Iowa. Its about 50 miles north of Council Bluffs.

Directions: This place is a block west of the Lincoln Highway on the main street through town. Look for the sign.
The Tenderloin: The first thing you notice is the thickness and the odd shape. Its clearly beaten into a sort of thick and wavy loin shape with large bumps and curling parts sticking out. The bright white meat is consistently tender throughout. No two ever look the same. The fine breading here may have the most taste packed inside that I have found. There is just a ton of what tastes like seasoning salt and black pepper in every crunchy bite. I would put this one only behind The Augusta in Oxford among the tenderloins awarded by the IPPA. Overall 9.374 out of ten.

Price: $4.95
Also on the menu: Its surprisingly big with a full ice-cream selection, burgers, fried stuff and taco salads.

Service: Its counter service with a walk-up or drive-thru window on the side. It looked like three teenagers and one adult running the show when I visited.
Ambiance: This is another small town ice-cream shop with small tables in a cramped interior and picnic seating outside. I think there were jigsaw puzzles hung on the walls inside.

Final thoughts: Both of my visits to the Dairy Sweet have been special experiences while driving through the more scenic part of Western Iowa. Its really heartbreaking to see a place like this might be closing down, although I get the idea the owners are getting old and are ready to move on. Hopefully new owners can keep the tenderloin recipe intact. I really doubt any small town ice-cream shop ever suffers from a lack of business, especially over a hot summer.

Angle Inn in Walford

I drove past this humble pub'n grub on a cold night earlier this year. It was named honorable mention in the 2009 IPPA Best Pork Tenderloin in Iowa contest. For such a sizable town, there doesn't seem to be any other operating restaurants according to google maps. The one place that is open here serves up some tasty fried food, and the award-winning tenderloin. My camera just wasn't working right on this night, but the tenderloin was too good to forget.

Location: The address is listed as 505 US 151 Walford, population 1,200 in Eastern Iowa.

Directions: This is just southwest of town on the surprisingly busy road connecting Cedar Rapids and Amana.

The Tenderloin: First off, this thing is huge. The other patrons tell me that each tenderloin has a different shape, and this one was a little bit thinner and wider than what is usual for the Angle Inn. The meat was a little on the dark grey side, and was soft in even the thinnest parts. This one was pounded so much that holes were present in the middle. There was enough flavour in the breading to keep it interesting. The small bun just wasn't useful here. Overall 8.0 out of ten.

Price: $4.49, an incredible value.

Also on the menu: The usual fried stuff, pizza, and burgers with The Angle Inn Burger as the specialty.

Service: I ate at the counter, surrounded by regulars who made a lot of conversation with the bartender.

Ambiance: This is a pub and grub that caters to racing fans, with beer posters and a pool table. The lights were dim and my photos turned out bad, really bad.

Final Thoughts: The Angle Inn had a brief moment of fame when it lead a "Fight for Freedom" against the 2008 Iowa Smoke Free Air Act. Small town bars across the state were frustrated by the legislation, but few took their protests to the point of civil disobedience. The Angle Inn eventually went smoke free. Its hard to quantify the effects of the ban on many small town bars and restaurants that are desperate for business. Although it has made trips to once-smoky bars more enjoyable for me in the past two years.

Gateway Market and the Vegetarian Tenderloin

Local Des Moines super-chef George Formaro is not afraid to put something a little bit different on the menu, and never forgets about the vegetarians. For Iowa State Fair time, three vegetarian versions of midway food classics are available at the Gateway Market Cafe. Along with a Seitan Gyro, and a Veggie Grinder, the Veggie Tenderloin is available through Fair Week until August 22nd. The Gateway Market website reads "George is crazy about the state fair..." and "even meat-eaters will find them fair-worthy". We'll see about that.

Location: 2002 Woodland Ave. in Historic Sherman Hill Des Moines. The west location at the Villages at Ponderosa, reviewed here, just recently closed

Directions: This is at the high traffic intersection of Woodland and Martin Luther King Jr.

Online at: http://www.gatewaymarket.com/


The "Tenderloin": First off, it looks like a tenderloin, but doesn't smell like fried pork. The menu describes this as "A monster veggie patty on an egg bun", and I don't understand the use of the huge, toasted sesame-seed bun. The veggy patty tastes likes its mostly made of beans along with some tiny white bits of what feels like tofu. There is a solid layer of fried bread crumb bits, but beneath lies a grey and dark mass that is mushy and just no fun to eat. The patty is thick and with the big bun and toppings it weighs over half a pound.

Price: $7.50, with fries.

Also on the menu: There is a diverse selection of high end food, like fresh raw-men noodles or an expensive hamburger.
Service: Counter service with food brought to your table.

Ambiance: Air conditioning, well-dressed erudite epicurean patrons, clean tables, a distinct absence of body odor or any other smell; its basically the exact polar opposite of the State Fair that inspired this sandwich.

Final Thoughts: I just don't see any appeal to this sandwich. Its nice that someone tried to give vegetarians a taste of a pork tenderloin, but this is like a veggie burger with less texture. There are some other "tenderloin" sandwiches made from other meats around Iowa, like a turkey tenderloin, that I may check out sometime. As a general rule, I would advise people to accept no substitutes for real Iowa pork.

Ted's Coney Island West in Urbandale

Ted's Coney Island has been serving Greek American fast food in Des Moines for decades, first downtown and later on Ingersoll Avenue. The Ingersoll location has advertised tenderloins on their sign but has served the pre-formed frozen ones for as long as I can remember. Their location in Urbandale has been around for just a couple years. Recently, a chalkboard reading NOW SERVING HOMEMADE TENDERLOINS appeared beside the menu board.



Location: 2667 86th St in Urbandale, in the Des Moines Suburbs. I thought this was in Clive, then I looked at a map and found out its in Urbandale.



Directions: This is in the Westmark Plaza II strip mall with Hobby Haven and its toy race car dirt track on the corner.

The Tenderloin: You get a real good size pork loin for your money, it feels like about eight ounces. The meat is only slightly tenderized, the grain is still visible. The breading forms a thick layer. The whole thing has good thickness, only thin on the edges. Fried to a golden brown with ketchup, mustard, onions, and pickles. Overall a good 7.0 out of ten.

Price: $4.85, add $3 to make a basket with fries, onion rings and slaw to make a complete meal.


Also on the menu: Greek American fast food favorites including gyros, coney dogs, grilled burgers, chili, and falafel.

Papa Joe's Pizza Loin: This sandwich includes a Italian Sausage patty with marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and Italian Peppers on top of a tenderloin. The Italian Sausage is served at more places in Des Moines than the pork tenderloin, so it is only natural to combine the two. Its priced to sell at $5.95.



Service: Its counter service with food brought to your table.

Ambiance: Both locations have an upscale fast food setting with high ceilings and good lighting. This place is not a dive.



Final thoughts: Its always good to see a restaurant replace a frozen tenderloin with a homemade one. The Pizza Loin is a good addition to the topped tenderloin selection, because it uses the next most popular sandwich in Des Moines. I would like to see the Ingersoll Avenue location serve these homemade sandwiches as well.

The Glenn in Manchester

I have visited Manchester several times before and had never found much of anything to eat beyond the Pizza Ranch before I found this place. Its tucked inside a high rise office building in downtown Manchester.

Location: 222 S. Franklin St. in Manchester, Eastern Iowa.

Directions: Its a block south of the main east-west street through the center of town, on the first floor of a tall building.

Online at: http://www.visittheglenn.com/

The Tenderloin: The dim lights meant my photos turned out poorly. The meat takes the classic three point pork loin cut shape. The menu describes this sandwich as "hand pressed", and a guy who looked like the manager or owner told me he personally presses the seasonings into each of the pork loins after tenderizing. What you get is layers of crunchiness in the breading and more noticeable taste in the seasoning. There were no gaps between the breading that occur in the larger, thicker tenderloins. Overall I prefer the thicker varieties, but this one was worth checking out 7.0 out of ten.

Price: $5.25 a la carte, served on a toasted bun..

Also on the Menu: Its the regular diner fare for breakfast and lunch with some Mexican entrees available for dinner. Since my visit they added a huge sandwich, the Westcott Tower, which they claim is the tallest sandwich in Delaware County.

Service: Table service seemed to be the only way to go.

Ambiance: This is another family restaurant that looks like it was decorated by someone's grandmother. They seem to pride themselves on cleanliness.


Final thoughts: The website claims The Glenn is "A Relaxing Place to Dine", and promotes the family friendly atmosphere. I can't argue with that. Their tenderloin takes an approach that is thin with pork but packed with crunchiness and seasoning. If there is a better tenderloin in Delaware County, I have not found it.