Pawn Shop

Purely based on reader recommendations, hubby has been nagging me to try the Pawn Shop’s tenderloin so we finally managed to get over there and give it a try. Ok, this place is a bar. A bar in an old Long John Silver’s—so it’s a small interior. And smokey. So for me, I would not be eating there unless the weather is nice and you can eat on the deck, which is precisely what we did (and I am guessing there are no kids allowed in this place either).

So naturally hubby already knew what he wanted, but I was not as sure and it took me awhile. It isn’t as huge a menu as most, but still there are several things on there that sounded interesting. It was beastly hot so I was intrigued by the water buffalo sandwich because it was listed under the subheading of sweet honey wheat sandwiches and the menu claimed they were often imitated, but never duplicated. I took that to mean they saw these sandwiches as their specialty, so I ordered one.

The water buffalo is the honey wheat bread with cream cheese, avocado, tomato, lettuce, boiled egg, sprouts, and mushrooms (I went with no sprouts). I liked the sound of it because it was something different. And it was nice and cold which it the spot. I liked it. I mean, it wasn’t like something you couldn’t make at home for sure, but it tasted light and the bread was soft and sweet. I also ordered a half order of hand dipped onion rings. Thank goodness I got the half order that’s for sure. Wow, those things are big. The batter was the same that was on the tenderloin, which I will get to shortly, but they were tasty and crunchy, although a little big for my taste. The crust would fall off in big pieces, making them a little challenging to eat. I would have enjoyed slightly smaller onions to start with, that were then battered in the same crust. They served them with cocktail sauce, but I just went with plain old ketchup.

Hubby’s tenderloin? It was great. He declared it the best one he has had to date. It was really big, but not so thin that it was dry. In fact, it was the most tender example of a fried tenderloin he or I ever ate. As I mentioned, the crust was the same as the onion rings. It was really nicely seasoned and had a great crunch. He cut off the giant edge that stuck off the bun, and I promptly ate most of it just by itself. It was delicious. Anyway, he had it with mayo and onions, and it was good. Really good. It came served just with chips.

On a nice day, I highly recommend heading over there for their tenderloin. It is the first one I have ever eaten that I thought on a return visit, I might actually get myself.

Pawn Shop

2222 East 54th Street

Indy 46262

317/255-5430

www.pawnshoppub.com