I’m interrupting my normal food adventure timeline for an emergency food adventure. Back on October 15, the Iowa Pork Producers Association announced this year’s winner for Iowa’s best breaded pork tenderloin. The great news is that the winner is less than 1 hour away from my front door! Earlier this week the Tenderloin Crew loaded up in Scott’s Camry (I miss my Camry – stupid Perry drivers) and drove over to Carroll to kick the tires on this year’s winner. The Tenderloin Crew on this food adventure consisted of Scott, Tim, Hammer, and Yours Truly.
Here is some information on this year’s winner from the Iowa Pork Producers Association’s website:
Wasted Grain in Carroll serves Iowa’s best breaded pork tenderloin this year, according to the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA). The restaurant rose to the top of 464 restaurants nominated by Iowans this spring, then beat four other finalists to win IPPA’s 2026 Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin contest, announced during National Pork Month, better known as Porktober.
- 2026 Winner: Wasted Grain, Carroll — receives $500, a plaque, and an outdoor banner
- Runner-up: Friends Hide-A-Way, Underwood — receives $250, a plaque, and an outdoor banner
IPPA will present the award to Wasted Grain today at noon at the restaurant,1235 Plaza Drive in Carroll.
A hometown favorite, recreated
This year’s winning sandwich started as a memory. Co-owner Cory Handlos remembers eating tenderloins at Darrell’s Place in Hamlin, a famous diner that won IPPA’s inaugural tenderloin contest in 2003. For Handlos, it set the standard. Now, more than two decades later, the tenderloin it inspired has earned the same title.
When Handlos and his wife, Missy, opened Wasted Grain on Mother’s Day 2023, he knew the tenderloin had to be on the menu, and he knew how he wanted it to taste.
“I’ve traveled around the country all my life, harvesting and farming, and I know what good food is,” said Handlos, whose family raises pigs near Audubon. “I wanted that here at Wasted Grain. The pork tenderloin definitely had to be on the menu.”
The Wasted Grain team worked with him to recreate the tenderloin he remembered. Within the restaurant’s first year, the recipe was set.
Tasting the pork, not just the breading
The key to the recipe was simple: tenderize the pork once instead of twice and add a couple of extra ounces of meat. Tenderizing twice made the cutlet wide and thin, so a bite was mostly bun and breading. Wasted Grain’s version is still big enough to hang off the bun, but each bite balances bun, breading, and pork.
“Otherwise, you’re tasting breading, you’re not tasting the pork,” Handlos said. “Appearance matters too, so it still sits out past the bun. But the main thing is tenderizing it once to get the meat in the bun.”
That balance is exactly what the judges look for, and it stood out to them.
“A lightly golden-brown breading with a moist and very tasty pork flavor, this breaded pork tenderloin hits the spot,” said Phil Carey, a finalist judge and retired chef and culinary instructor. “A very enjoyable sandwich to eat.”
Each tenderloin is hand-breaded in the restaurant’s small kitchen using a recipe the team keeps under wraps. For the Wasted Grain team, getting it right comes down to care and consistency, whether it’s the tenderloin or anything else they serve.
“We’d rather put out a good product and cook it the right way,” said Jordan Hunter, general manager. “If we hear something isn’t right on any item on our menu, we keep working on it until it is. That’s what we did with the tenderloin, and we had no idea it would lead to this.”
How the contest works
The contest begins each spring when Iowans nominate restaurants that serve a hand-breaded or hand-battered pork tenderloin on their regular menu. Eligible restaurants must keep regular, year-round hours. Food trucks, concession stands, seasonal businesses, and caterers can’t compete. This year, Iowans submitted nearly 6,000 nominations for 464 restaurants across the state.
After nominations closed June 1, IPPA’s tenderloin committee selected the top 40 restaurants, including the top five from each of IPPA’s eight districts. Pork producers then visited each one undercover, scoring pork quality, flavor, appearance, and overall experience. The five highest-scoring restaurants became finalists, and a final panel of judges, including a pork producer, a chef, an industry representative, and a food influencer, visited each one to choose the winner and runner-up.
Wasted Grain’s owners didn’t campaign for the title. They shared the nomination link once on Facebook and say they had no idea they’d made the top five until the phone started ringing.
One fan is celebrating, too. Sienna Becker of Carroll nominated Wasted Grain last spring and was randomly selected from those who nominated the winning restaurant. She won IPPA’s $100 nomination prize.
Customers have already driven up to three hours to try the sandwich. If last year is any guide, the attention will keep growing: 2025 winner Hometown Heroes in Grinnell saw its tenderloin sales increase 20 times after winning.
This year’s other restaurant finalists were:
- Landmark Grill & Grind — Williamsburg
- Sasquatch Jacks Hideaway Barroom & Grill — Waverly
- Tin Roost — North Liberty
https://www.iowapork.org/newsroom/news/wasted-grain-named-iowas-best-breaded-pork-tenderloin
Here are some cell phone pictures from Wasted Grain:
Hanging this banner is greater than any Beard Award or Michelin star in this guy’s book. (Also technically Iowa restaurants aren’t eligible for Michelin stars so you know where Michelin can stick it… sideways.)
I am confused why a bull skull is their logo and the name is Wasted Grain. Maybe a better logo would be a piece of grain with a bunch of expired red Solo cups on the floor next to it. While it lays passed out leaning against a keg. Or change the name to Wasted Bull Skull. Both are great options.
Everything is served a la carte. So the tenderloin does not come with a side. Which partially explains some of the pictures you are about to see.
We all ordered a tenderloin and one appetizer to share. I added a side because I was side curious.
I should have gotten a salad to balance the tremendous amount of fried food I ate, but I got the loaded wedges.
They had all sorts of great Halloween decorations out!
Fried pickles. I prefer the spears over coins, but these were spot on.
Onion rings! I prefer big fatty onion rings over onion straws, but these were still spot on!
Spicy curds! These were also fantastic! Especially with the spicy chili sauce that our server brought us!
The final app was boneless chicken wings. Don’t judge us on the boneless part. Garlic parmesan and their house-made dry rub! Both solid!
The reigning champion!
Loaded potato wedges.
Toasted brioche bun.
The Supper of Champions!
Scott’s 1st bite.
Would you look at the thickness of that tenderloin!
If I’m ever wanted for a crime. This is the picture I want them to put on the news.
That is a lot of pork people.
This task done… and he would go free.
Tim thinking about tenderloins and combining.
Flavorsmith has been making quality fancy ketchup since 1885. You’d have to be a hard man not to respect that.
A hard man.
The Tenderloin Crew.
Quality artwork in the men’s restroom!
I was surprised how nice it was inside…
Since the outside has pretty much zero curb appeal.
- THE VERDICT
- As you know, my ultimate rating system isn’t complicated. It is would I eat here again? The answer is yes, I would definitely eat here again. Would I drive out of my way to eat here again? Probably not. But if I was in the Carroll area it would be my first choice. However, I know that there are other people outside of The Tenderloin Crew that would enjoy trying this tenderloin. If you are in that boat, I will gladly go with you. A very good tenderloin. But it isn’t going on the Pantheon.
- THE GOOD
- The appetizers were all dynamite! I could pick out small things about them (and I already have), but those are all personal preference things. Not actual legitimate critiques.
- The size of them appetizers! I don’t think we were physically, emotionally, or psychologically prepared for the serving size of the appetizers. I’m ashamed to say we didn’t finish all of them off. A badge of shame we will carry until the end of our days.
- Toasted bun. You’d be surprised how many “restaurants” out there try to pass off a tenderloin with an untoasted bun.
- I think they came pretty close to nailing the bun to meat ratio. It might have favored the size of the bun a bit too much, but that is a compromise you can make because of the next one on the list.
- Pork for days. This is probably the thickest tenderloin I’ve ever seen. And I’m not mad about it. Some might even argue that it is too much meat. That the breading to meat ratio was tilted too far to meat. And I hear that. But when the pork was as moist and tasty as it was in this tenderloin I’ll accept it.
- The loaded potato wedgers were a solid side.
- Served Pepsi products.
- Nailed the ambiance. I loved all the Halloween decorations. Plus everything was clean. It appeared to be a great place to watch a game.
- Our server was fantastic. It was her idea for the extra dipping sauce with them spicy curds. She nailed it!
- THE BAD
- Brioche bun. I’m not a fan. Brioche is for tenderloin eaters who eat their tenderloin with one pinky in the air. You know that isn’t me. I’m blue collar. Damn near no collar.
- Red onions. See my thoughts on brioche buns. I’ll add lettuce and tomato don’t belong on tenderloins. But we here at the Tenderloin Crew eat at least the first few bites as they serve them. Such is our commitment to excellence.
- THE UGLY
- The breading was on the bland side.
- THE OTHERS (SCOTT ASKED EVERYONE TO RATE IT ON A SCALE OF 1-10)
- Scott gave it a 7.6
- Yours Truly gave it a 7.5.
- Tim gave it an 8.0
- Hammer gave it a 7.0
- Steve graciously scouted it out a couple days before us and gave it a 7.5
- That gives it an aggregate score of: 7.52.
- THE DAMAGE
- The cost was more than if you went and got a normal meal. But everything is a la carte. So I bought a tenderloin, added the most expensive side, the onion rings appetizer, and a Pepsi. Adding in a tip… The Damage was $43.21.
- HOW DO YOU EAT THERE
- Located: 1235 Plaza Drive – Carrol, Iowa
- Hours: Monday-Saturday, 11 AM – 10 PM. Sunday, 9 AM to 8 PM
In case you have forgotten. This is the current Tenderloin Pantheon:
- TENDERLOIN PANTHEON
- Darrell’s Place – Hamlin, Iowa
- BK’s – Ogden, Iowa (RIP)
- The Country House – Colo, Iowa (RIP)
- Nick’s – Des Moines, Iowa (RIP)
- Cole’s Ice Cream – Slater, Iowa (Unsure of the status of this place)
- Stumble Inn – Bradford, Iowa
- Prairie Moon on Main – Prairieburg, Iowa
- Dairy Sweet – Dunlap, Iowa
- Dexfield Diner & Pub – Redfield, Iowa
Next Sunday’s food adventure will involve nachos I ate at a corn festival. For reals this time.