We were excited to learn we would be getting a Squealers location near our house—they have opened up in Castleton in what was a Max and Erma’s forever, and then for a short time, a Mexican place that was just okay. The interior is pretty similar in layout to the places before, but with a rustic BBQ kind of feel.
We were with friends on the night we decided to try it, and so we got an order of fried pickles ($6) to start. They were pretty solid fried pickles and you could tell they were making them in house. They were not all uniform and the pickles inside were still juicy. The breading had a nice seasoning, and as it turns out, was the same that was on the fried tenderloin sandwich (more on that later). I was curious about the dipping sauce they gave us and it turns out it’s a mix of ranch dressing and bbq sauce. That’s a pretty good combo—giving you the coolness of ranch but a bit of spice and heat from the BBQ sauce. We all enjoyed them and I would get them again.
For my main dish, hubby and I split the pick 3 sampler plate ($22) with pulled pork, pulled chicken and baby back ribs. For sides, I had a salad and mac and cheese. Both the pulled pork and chicken are good, although not my favorite in town. They are not quite as tender as is my personal preference, but once you load them up with sauce (I got half sweet/half hot combo for my sauce), it really doesn’t matter. I didn’t eat the ribs, but hubby keeps them on the top of his list for baby back ribs in Indy.
My salad was ok—I liked all the stuff on it—boiled egg, mushrooms, cheese and onion (not a fan of giant croutons). Strangely though, there wasn’t much lettuce underneath it all. It was almost like a garnish to the other stuff. The blue cheese dressing was tasty though—pretty thick with some nice hunks of cheese in it. The mac and cheese is good. Again, nothing mind blowing, but a good match with the bbq. Let’s face it, to me mac and cheese and BBQ are perfect partners.
AND FRIED BISCUITS. I will always like Squealers for the fried biscuits, even if the rest of the food isn’t my absolute favorite. Take one of those delicious, hot, crusty and slightly sweet (we had an extra order of them to share for $4) and load it with some of the pulled meat and some sauce, and you are good. I love those little fried biscuit sandwiches. I think next time I would just get the pulled pork (it was more tender than the chicken) and biscuits and be a happy camper. They also give you apple butter to go with them, which is also good and I happily make a dessert of the biscuits with it.
The surprise of the evening for me was my friend’s pork tenderloin sandwich ($10). It was one of those huge ones that hangs off the bun in every direction, but it was really, really delicious. And I wouldn’t have thought of ordering this at a BBQ joint (we kind of teased her about this), but they do designate it as one of the house specialties on the menu, and for good reason. It is really thin, but still amazingly tender and is breaded with that same slightly grainy, well-seasoned mix that was on the pickles. Also, she ordered cheese on it, which I have never done, and I can’t lie—it was pretty darn good as well. The fries that came along with it, well, they’re big steak fries and not my thing.
Hmmm….I wonder if it would be weird if I ordered a fried tenderloin sandwich with a side of fried biscuits…
Squealers
5899 East 86th Street
Indy 46240
317/915-7777
What's your recommendation for best BBQ in town? Thanks for all the great reviews; I always check your website before heading out to a new spot.
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