Amish Country buffets, Hoosier Pie and tasty tenderloin are but a few delectable dishes that can be found in Indiana
By Randy Mink
Loading up your plate at one of the big Amish-style restaurants in Northern Indiana’s Amish Country is an eating experience not to be missed. Buffet stations offer fried chicken, melt-in-your-mouth roast beef, Amish beef & noodles, and mashed potatoes and gravy, and other stick-to-your-ribs comfort foods, not to mention a soup & salad bar and a generous array of desserts. No one in your crew will go away hungry.
But the state’s entire dining scene is a smorgasbord of tempting delights. Farm-to-table restaurants are making names for themselves, sweet treats abound, and a growing number of wineries, breweries and distilleries are playing a part in the Hoosier State’s culinary profile. Many of Indiana’s best locally owned food-and-beverage destinations can be found on restaurant trails developed by the non-profit Indiana Foodways Alliance.
Indiana’s Most popular restaurant trails are:
- Hoosier Pie Trail
- Tenderloin Lovers Trail
- Sweet Temptations Trail
Amish Country Buffets and More in Indiana
When it comes to all-you-can-eat Amish Country buffets, Blue Gate Restaurant in Shipshewana and Middlebury’s Das Essenhaus lead the pack. (Seating over 1,100 persons, the latter is Indiana’s largest restaurant.) Both offer family-style dining as well—they’ll bring shareable platters of meat, potatoes and vegetables to your table until you tell them to stop. Slather the homemade bread with apple butter or Amish peanut butter (sweetened with corn syrup and marshmallow crème). Blue Gate and Das Essenhaus have on-site bakeries that turn out more than 25 kinds of pie—from pecan, lemon meringue and rhubarb to butterscotch, Dutch apple and German chocolate—along with breads, cinnamon rolls, hand-held fry pies and spongy, cream-filled whoopie pies.
Sugar cream pie, the official state pie of Indiana, is found in restaurants and bakeries in Amish Country and across the state. A simple mixture of cream, sugar, flour, cornstarch, vanilla and butter or shortening, the velvety-smooth pie is said to have originated in the kitchens of Amish and Shaker settlers in the 1800s. Wick’s Pies, Inc. in Winchester makes more sugar cream pies than anyone—try a slice at Wick’s restaurant. You’ll also find Wick’s pies—they make 36 varieties daily—in grocery stores and restaurants around the state.
More Indiana Food Destinations
The pork tenderloin sandwich is another Indiana classic. Pounded out until it’s as big as a dinner plate, the breaded, fried cutlet extends well beyond the confines of a standard bun. Garnishing the crunchy meat are lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, or perhaps pickles and mustard. The Tenderloin Lovers Trail has 75 locations. Muncie restaurants serving the tasty behemoth include Amazing Joe’s Grill, Elm Street Brewing Company and Mulligan’s Clubhouse Grill, which offers views of the adjacent Crestview Country Club. Among other top choices for pork tenderloin: Narrows Restaurant at Turkey Run State Park and Oasis Diner in Plainfield.
Indiana for Meat Lovers
Meat lovers also frequent the Hoosier BBQ Trail. The Hog Pit at Thirty-Six Saloon in Rockville, not too far from Turkey Run State Park, serves slow-smoked meats in a rustic, wood-paneled room with antler chandeliers and mounted game animals. Overlooking Donald Ross Golf Course at French Lick Resort, Hagen’s Club House Restaurant is celebrated for its fall-off-the-bone ribs coated in house-made BBQ sauce. The Pub Burger comes with BBQ pulled pork, onion rings and Provolone cheese, while the Pulled Pork Skillet features fried potatoes with sauteed onions and pepper, all smothered in Monterey Jack cheese.
Old School Indiana Diner and Family Restaurants
If you’re anywhere near Fort Wayne, drop by downtown’s Coney Island, an old-school diner. Founded by Greek immigrants in 1914, this Main Street mainstay is Fort Wayne’s oldest restaurant and claims to be the oldest hot dog stand in America. Grab a stool at the counter or at a table for an iconic coney dog (with mustard, chili sauce and hand-chopped onions) in a steamed bun and wash it down with a small glass bottle of Coca-Cola.
Fans of grilled cheese sandwiches flock to Fair Oaks Farms, a common stop on Interstate 65 in northwest Indiana. The COWfé, a great place for a quick meal or ice cream, is famous for its grilled cheese, made with Swiss, cheddar or Havarti pepper on ciabatta bread—perfect with Fair Oaks chocolate milk. For a full dining experience at this working dairy farm, a popular family attraction with behind-the-scenes tours of the barns, the Farmhouse Restaurant features menu items with ingredients grown and harvested at Fair Oaks and other local farms.
Other farm-to-fork favorites include Joe Huber’s Family Farm & Restaurant in Starlight. Its made-from-scratch menu features fried chicken, Huber Honey Ham, fried biscuits with apple butter, chicken and dumplings, and a variety of fresh vegetables and homemade pies and cobblers. Payne’s Restaurant in Gas City touts grass-fed meats, fresh herbs grown in the on-site garden, and a wide range of vegan and gluten-free options. The farm-to-table concept has always been big at Traders Point Creamery in Zionsville, which started as the state’s first organic dairy in 2003 and grew from there to include a farmstead restaurant, dairy bar and farm tours.
Sweets in Indiana
For nostalgia in downtown Columbus, a must-stop is Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum, a beautifully restored relic of yesteryear, complete with melodious sounds emanating from the 1908 self-playing organ. “Serving sodas, sundaes and smiles for over a century,” this local institution is the place to have a Green River soda made with syrup and carbonated water dispensed from one of the two Mexican onyx soda fountains purchased from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. The premium ice cream is made fresh at Zaharakos, which also dishes up breakfast, lunch and dinner.
In South Bend, chocoholics make a beeline to South Bend Chocolate Company, which makes chocolates, popcorn, cookies and other goodies. Factory tours (hairnets required) include multiple samples and illuminate the whole chocolate-making process. Owner Mark Tarner says the turtles and double-dipped chocolate peanuts top the list of popular candies. Also big are the malted milk balls, which come in flavors ranging from peanut butter to pumpkin spice. He makes more than 30 varieties of chocolate-drizzled caramel corn, including mint-flavored Irish Crunch, part of a Notre Dame line of products. A new factory under construction will include a museum housing Tarner’s collection of dinosaur fossils.
Wineries in Indiana
Indiana, the first state to grow grapes commercially, as far back as 1802, boasts more than 100 wineries, many with tasting rooms. Top picks in southern Indiana include Blue Heron Vineyard in Cannelton, which offers breathtaking Ohio River views from its patio; Huber’s Orchard & Winery in Starlight, Indiana’s largest estate bottled winery, located on a sixth-generation family farm that also hosts Starlight Distillery; and German-inspired Winzerwald Winery & Vineyard in the Hoosier National Forest. In the French Lick-West Baden area, top stops are Patoka Lake Winery, known for its different flavors of wine slushies, and French Lick Winery, adjacent to Spirits of French Lick, a true artisan craft distillery that mills all its own grains in producing gin, vodka, bourbon and other spirits.
Cheers and Bon Appetit!
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