Category Archives: Tenderloining

Tenderloin Appreciation Society – Boone Field Work

August 12, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

One of the things that stunk about the end of 2017 was the closing of The Legal Limit. Despite having an absolutely terrible name, The Legal Limit had great food. I ate breakfast there with my Mom about every Saturday. Sometimes I would go up there on Thursday nights for $2 burgers. However, the main thing I loved about The Legal Limit was they had a great tenderloin. A tenderloin that was a direct descendant of BK’s great tenderloin.

With the closing of The Legal Limit, Boone was without a great tenderloin. Boone. The home base of the Tenderloin Appreciation Society. Doesn’t have a great tenderloin. The humanity!

Then in early 2018 rumors began to percolate that the building that The Legal Limit occupied was going to house a new restaurant. The first people that bought it, backed out and never opened their doors.

Then another person bought it and opened it back up under the name Roosters.

I was excited. As long as they had a great tenderloin.

Shortly after they opened up my Mom and I went there for breakfast. Since The Legal Limit’s closing we had begun breakfasting at The Whistle Stop. Nothing against The Whistle Stop. They have great service and great food. However, it is really small. Really small. Sometimes there isn’t any place to sit.

The first Saturday we tried Roosters, things were promising. Our old The Legal Limit waitress was there. The food was good and the service was good.

So we came back the next Saturday. Our old waitress was gone. She was replaced with what I’m guessing was a high school girl (I’m really bad at telling the ages of anybody under the age of let’s say 25) and this had to be either her first job or at least her first food service job. Anything you wanted, you had to ask her for 3 times. This is not an exaggeration. It was like on the 3rd time hearing something, something magically clicked and she would actually bring you the drinks you order 15 minutes ago. It just wasn’t drinks though. We had to ask 3 times for silverware. 3 times for sugar substitute for the coffee. 3 times for syrup for the pancakes.

I am pretty forgiving of bad service. If it occasional. Or if it a new restaurant just starting up. Or if there is some contrition.

So, we went back there again the following Saturday. It was the exact same story. The food was good enough. The service was still atrocious. Every time you needed something, (LIKE SILVERWARE), you had to ask 3 times. What made it frustrating was that it was an entirely different waitress. The entire staff (minus our old waitress) apparently is given zero training. Just a figurative ((hopefully) slap on the rump and told to get out there and do some waitressin’. Doesn’t matter if they have no clue what to do. Even the basics, like people need silverware to eat things like biscuits and gravy.

My Mom and I have returned to breakfasting at The Whistle Stop Cafe and haven’t looked back. A place where pretty much every Saturday the owner stops by our table and asks how everything was.

So it was under this shadow that Scottie D. and I decided to give them a try. Even before having atrocious service in back to back weeks I offered to Scottie D. that maybe we should give them 2 months before bringing our extremely high standards to their doorstep.

Scottie D. (who is still in the management field) offered, “They should be firing on all cylinders as soon as they open their doors for business.”

While I agree with Scottie D. in principle, I also live in the real world, where I know that just isn’t the case for most businesses. Especially restaurants/bars.

We picked a Thursday night and agreed to meet up there at about 7:30. I got there a little before 7:30. I sat down and ordered a Pepsi and their chicken wings for an appetizer. They talk up their chicken wings on their Facebook page. The place was virtually empty. There was a guy drinking at the bar. There were maybe a couple more people there.

Scottie D. was waiting to get done with Porter’s ball practice. Scottie D. brought Melissa, Austin, Porter, and a spare kid with them. They showed up about 8 PM. They arrived before the chicken wings.

Here are the pictures from the night:

Austin’s Chicken Tenders Meal. That is 1 Chicken Tender and 5 French Fries. Yep.

Here is what actually kind of sucks. The tenderloin was actually pretty good. The chicken wings were actually pretty good. Everything else was awful. Absolutely awful.

It took forever to get our food. I guess I will say this, the waitress was for the most part competent. She got our order right. She checked in on us now and again. It wasn’t her fault that it took forever to get our food.

That being said…

When we asked about the new owner, she pointed to the bar. The owner was sitting at the bar drinking. Not a good sign. What made it worse was every once in awhile our waitress would go over to the bar and have a shot with him.

The kids Chicken Tender Meal consisted of 1 chicken tender and 5 french fries.

Nowhere on the menu does it indicate that there are any dipping sauces for the chicken wings. Nor were any offered. But on the receipt it was marked with Ranch. Which I didn’t get, nor was I offered.

When Scottie D. went to the restroom he noted that nobody in the kitchen was wearing gloves. Also, there was nothing in the bathroom to wash your hands. Which makes the fact that they weren’t wearing gloves, worse.

Yet, the tenderloin was pretty good. Not 45 minute wait when there is nobody in the restaurant good, but pretty good.

THE GOOD

The tenderloin was a good thickness.
The breading was good.
The meat was juicy.
The bun to meat ratio was nearly dead on. The bun was toasted.
They serve Pepsi.

THE BAD

Their standard tenderloin comes with tomato and lettuce.
The fries were gross.
The food was served on paper plates.
The waitress dropped my fries on me.
While the breading was good, It wasn’t fairly bland.
Not given a boat for chicken wing bones.

THE UGLY

45 minutes. It shouldn’t take 45 minutes to get food out to the only table in the restaurant.
Waitress drinking on the job.
The kids meals were anemic, even grading for a kids meal.
Not offered sauce for the chicken wings.
Kitchen staff not wearing gloves.
No soap in the bathroom.

We had our experience the first week of June. We haven’t been back. If the tenderloin was say Nick’s or Cole’s quality, I might be willing to wait 45 minutes. It isn’t.

Next time I write about tenderloining, it will involve a special tenderloining guest. The location for the tenderloining will be Ames, Iowa.

Alexis, Baseball/Softball, Elainie, Event, Jason, Jaycees, Music, Night, Shannon, Tenderloining

06-22-08 & 06-23-08

August 11, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

There is a bit of variety in the folders 06-22-08 & 06-23-08.

There are pictures of Elainie playing softball.

There are pictures of an Ames on the Half Shell concert. Vivace I believe.

There are pictures of Scottie D. and I tenderloining.

Have a look:

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Photo Gallery, I was able to restore the following “An Artist’s Notebook” journal entries to their original glory:

Royals Win!

Tenderloin Quest: The Beginning

Vivace

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve more Ames on the Half Shell, tractors, the most accurate nickname I was ever given, and a wedding. The wedding if I’m feeling ambitious.

Becky, Commercial, FNSC, Jay, Monica, Nature, Scottie D., Tenderloining

06-10-08

July 21, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

There is a lot going on in the pictures from the folder 06-10-08!

There is a sunset.

There is FNSC.

There is the first official outing of The Tenderloin Appreciation Society.

There are pictures of the Ames Party Bus.

Let’s get to it!

The first tenderloining experience was at the Lake Shore Cafe. It was a restaurant-slash-bait shop on the banks of the Don Williams Lake. Monica worked there and recommended their tenderloin highly. It was on this day that we discovered that Monica doesn’t know anything about tenderloins.

The Ames Party Bus was the dream of Becky. She bought this bus and over months turned it into a party bus. However, the dream was short-lived. If I remember correctly, the Iowa Legislature took time out of their busy schedule of passing voter suppression legislation and regulations on women’s bodies to make the cost of insurance on a party bus prohibitive. Another example of politicians being in the pocket of Big Party Bus.

By adding these photos to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” to their original glory:

SUNSET

A NEW TENDERLOIN JOINT

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve flooding, Little League, and hot dog sauce!

Baby Got Rack, Contests, Jay, Movies, Road Trip, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Still Life, Tenderloining

Tenderloin Appreciation Society – Winterset Field Work – Solo Mission

July 21, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

Welcome to a bonus “An Artist’s Notebook” blog. A couple things before we get into the meat of this blog.

#1. Today Baby Got Rack will be competing at the Boone County Fair’s barbecue competition. They changed the rules from previous years. We are only allowed to enter to categories. We will be entering the Pork category with a tasty pork loin. We will also be entering the Specialty category with nachos. I believe the awards are announced around 4. Since you will already be there to watch the pig races, you might as well stop by Baby Got Rack’s area. There might be free samples.

#2. You can also duck into the Community Building to see the photos I entered in the photography contest. I think those usually go on display around 12 pm or so.

#3. Tomorrow night is The Union Street Movie Club’s monthly movie night. This month will be a triple feature. The B movie will be CHOSEN SURVIVORS. The feature will be AMERICAN MOVIE. Then we will conclude with the bonus of watching COVEN. Due to showing 3 movies, the projector will roll right at 6 PM. Don’t be late! We will be having pizza to celebrate Jay’s birth and Jay will be bringing a cake to celebrate America’s birth. It is going to get a little crazy.

+++++++

Later today I will be releasing a blog that will include pictures from the first time The Tenderloin Appreciation Society sat in judgment upon somebody’s tenderloin offering. Because of that, I can’t sit any longer on when I made a solo trip down to Winterset to evaluate a tenderloin.

I had been trying for months to get Scottie D. to commit to go down to Winterset to the Northside Cafe to evaluate their tenderloin. It placed second to the Webster City tenderloin in Iowa Pork Producers Tenderloin Contest in 2017. Only, I couldn’t get Scottie D. to commit. It was almost as if his love for the tenderloin was waning. I became concerned.

Back in May I took my birthday off from work. Nobody was around, so I decided to make a solo trip down to Winterset for lunch, even though I don’t actually like lunching alone.

Here are some pictures from the experience:

The Afton Bridge Pork Tenderloin

Lightly toasted bun.

Chomp. Chomp.

A flattering angle.

Last couple of bites.

For starters, let me say that Northside Cafe is cool, old and historic restaurant. It is probably a bit too fancy of a restaurant for a tenderloin to fill at home, but not too fancy to feel completely out of place on the menu.

My biggest complaint by far would be the service. I arrived at the restaurant a hair before noon and it took at least five minutes before I got seated. Even though I was the only person waiting to be seated.

Then after I ordered it took well over an hour before I got my food. They had forgot to make it.

My waitress, who was very nice and friendly. Stopped by at about the 65 minute mark of waiting and said, “You haven’t got your food yet, have you?”

That would be a negatory, Ghost Rider.

She apologized profusely and I got my food about 15 minutes later.

They were kind enough to give me my meal for free. So it wasn’t all bad.

THE VERDICT

THE GOOD

The meat to bun ratio was nearly dead on. Could have used a touch more meat, but awful close to the golden ratio.
A good thick cut of meat. Not one of those flat pork fritters masquerading as a tenderloin.
A good thick breading.
The bun was toasted. Clearly a homemade bun. Not something that came frozen off a truck.
It is a clean restaurant with friendly service.
You can get old-fashioned sodas there.
The standard tenderloin does not include a tomato.
They made up for poor service by comping the meal.
They serve Picket Fence Ice Cream.

THE BAD

The standard tenderloin does have lettuce.
While juicy, the tenderloin did not have all that much flavor.
The breading on the onion rings was very floury tasting.

THE UGLY

Having to wait almost 90 minutes for food is awful. Especially when the restaurant is not busy and the food item you order takes 10 minutes to fix.
While they served a limited selection of old fashioned sodas, they served Coke products. Mill Stream Root Beer, which isn’t a great root beer.

THE FINAL WORD

The Northside Cafe serves a good, but not great tenderloin. I would gladly eat it again, but I would not pursue it. It does not belong in the Tenderloin Pantheon with Nick’s or Cole’s or The Country House. However, it certainly isn’t a garbage tenderloin like The Lucky Pig or Gramma’s Kitchen or Thunderhead Sports Bar & Grill.

The Northside Cafe is a cool historic restaurant though. I would definitely like to eat there again at some point. They acknowledged their mistake with the poor service and they made amends.

NEXT UP

About a month after I went to The Northside Cafe, Scottie D. emerged from his hiatus and we supped at Roosters in Boone. That review will be published in about 2 weeks, give or take.

Basketball, Derrick, Football, Holidays, Jay, Jesse, Michelle, Mom, Nader, Photoshop, Road Trip, Russell, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, Shannon, Tenderloining, Teresa, Video, Willy

The Selfie Project – Denouement

January 5, 2018 Christopher D. Bennett

It is over! The Selfie Project is over! But we should have a couple last looks at all that was “accomplished”!

Here are my favorite pictures from December:

December 2

December 4

December 6

December 7

December 9

December 11

December 12

December 13

December 16

December 17

December 18

December 20

December 21

December 22

December 23

December 24

December 28

December 29

December 30

January 1

Here is a photomosaic of the December 31 selfie:

This photomosaic consists of 3000 tiles. 1 images is used a maximum of 10 times. If you would like to see the image at full resolution, click on the link below to download:

FULL RESOLUTION PHOTO MOSAIC

I also made a video featuring all 367 images. You can watch it below:

Of course, if you subscribe to this blog via email or RSS Feed, you will have to physically go to this blog entry to view the video!

It was a good project and while at least Michelle is sad to see it go, it is time to put it to bed. Maybe I’ll bring it back in 2019.

Event, Road Trip, Scottie D., Tenderloining

Tenderloin Appreciation Society – Webster City Field Work

December 28, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett

On Saturday, the Tenderloin Appreciation Society hopped in one of Scottie D.’s many vehicles and headed north on 17 to Webster City. Home of the Grid Iron Grill and Sports Lounge. The current reigning Best Tenderloin in Iowa according to the Iowa Pork Producer’s Association.

Scott and Porter had their game faces on. Although Porter actually ordered chicken strips. He is still in training.

They have one of those pin your location maps.

Boone! Represent!

They also have coloring contests.

The official plaque!

Our waittress delivering our tenderloins.

The tenderloin.

Austin. About to become a man.

Scottie D.’s first bite.

Austin with a “tenderloin bomb”.

Austin makes it official.

Side view.

Are you taking the picture?

My first bite.

The aftermath.

Christopher D. Bennett was here.

His work done. He retired for the day.

They have a mailbox for Santa.

They’ve won some awards. Dilly dilly!

Their nightly specials.

The Tenderloin Appreciation Society

THE VERDICT

THE GOOD

The meat to bun ration was nearly dead on. Could have used a touch more meat, but awful close to the golden ratio.
A good thick cut of meat. Not one of those flat pork fritters masquerading as a tenderloin.
A light breading, which worried me, but the breading had a good flavor.
The bun was toasted.
It is a clean restaurant with good service.
They serve Pepsi products.

THE BAD

Red onions. Not a complete miss, but not the preferred tenderloin onion.
Kaiser bun. Seemed to distract from the tenderloin. But at least it wasn’t as terrible as a panini bun.
Standard tenderloin came with onion, pickles, lettuce, and tomato. The standard tenderloin SHOULD come with onion and pickles. You should put the mustard and ketchup on yourself. Get rid of the lettuce and tomato.

THE UGLY

Sweet pickles. This was the biggest miss by far. Sweet pickles don’t belong on a tenderloin.
Very greasy. I know. A tenderloin. But so greasy that the bottom bun was very soggy and made it a challenge to finish the sandwich and keep my glorious beard relatively clean. I’m not sure if this sogginess was a result of the kaiser bun OR because the tenderloin wasn’t properly drained after it was pulled from the fryer. My gut reaction is that it is a conglomeration of both.

THE FINAL WORD

The Grid Iron Grill serves a good, but not great tenderloin. I would gladly eat it again, but I would not pursue it. It is does not belong in the Pantheon with Nick’s or Cole’s or The Legal Limit (may she rest in peace), but it is certainly several notches above garbage tenderloins like you see at The Lucky Pig or Gramma’s Kitchen or Thunderhead Sports Bar & Grill.

Next Up

Sometime in January the Tenderloin Appreciation Society will be visiting the 2017 runner-up in Winterset. If you would like to apply for a spot on our next field work trip, you know how to contact me.

Alexis, Alisa, Anders, Animals, Baier, Becca, Bethany, Bill, Brandon, Carla, Derrick, Elainie, Evie, Flat Earth Joe, Holidays, House, Iowa State, Jason, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Jorge, Logan, Mom, Movies, Nader, Naima, Nate, Pastor Sarah, Sara, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Shannon, Shorty, Tenderloining, Teresa, Tim, Willy, Youth Group

Won’t Take that Credit; I know Where We Get It; Them Blessings Be Comin’ from God Above

November 23, 2017 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Rather than my standard picture of an inflatable turkey, thought (with apologies to Lecrae, I’d give thanks for some of the many blessings in my life.

Count it up, count it up, count it up.
Line ’em up, line ’em up, line ’em up.

Blessed with a tremendous biological family. Blessed to share DNA and a life with these people.

Blessed to be a part of Olivia’s family. Blessed to learn a new definition of the word “family” from Shorty and Doris.

Blessed to be a part of an incredible church family. From Youth Group to Methodist Men to the people I see in the pews on Sundays.

Blessed to have a job and double blessed to have a great work family. 7 AM comes pretty early, but so many of the people I work with make the struggle worth the effort.

Blessed to share a life with this band of brothers. Not one of us has any fashion sense, but I’d still take a bullet for any of them.

Blessed to fit in with this band of sisters as well.

Blessed to be able to share my love of weird cinema with like minded individuals once a month.

Blessed to be a Cyclone and double blessed to have somebody to share so many trips to Jack Trice (a spiritual place for me) with.

Blessed to have a roof over my head that belongs to me. Blessed that I can extend that roof over friends and family when their life needs it. Blessed that when I say, “Want to help paint by house?” 20+ people show up.

Blessed that friends from past jobs are still important pillars of my current life.

Blessed that people that aren’t related to me consider me an uncle to them.

Blessed to have a car that I can drive out of town and not worry about the tire falling off.

Blessed to have so many people in my life that when I say, “I’m coming to your city”, they say, “You’re staying with us right?”

Blessed to have so many people in my life that fill gaps.

Blessed that even though I’m aged, I still healthy enough to still ball. Although pretty poorly these days.

Blessed that even though I’m aged, I still have people in my life that keep me young.

Blessed to have people in my life that want to change the world for the better, when I get cynical.

Blessed to have art in my life.

Blessed to have a beautiful beard. Even if the old guys at my church hate it.

Blessed to have people who will help with projects like this, no questions asked.

Blessed to share a life and a domicile with this crazy beast. Teaches me about selfless love every single day.

Blessed to have a chance to spread my blessings to others, sometimes, with some of my favorite people.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of my blessings. But I don’t want it to start to sound like I’m bragging.

Scottie D., Tenderloining

Tenderloin Appreciation Society – Nick’s

October 25, 2016 Christopher D. Bennett

Last week’s The Iowa Pork Producers announcer their annual winner for the best tenderloin in the state of Iowa. Unfortunately, they always get it wrong. Wrong!

I can point to the year The Lucky Pig won. A disaster of a tenderloin. Or even worse is the year that Gramma’s Ktichen in Walcott won. I wouldn’t wish that tenderloin on my worst enemy.

Yet somehow the tenderloin at Cole’s in Slater keeps getting ignored.

It was with the soft bigotry of lowered expectation that Scottie D. and I hopped into his truck and headed towards Army Post Road to Nick’s this year’s winner.

Here are a few pictures:

But what is the verdict?

We were blown away! For once, the Pork Producers got it right. The tenderloin is a good thickness. The breading had a good flavor. The bun to meat ratio was right on. The bun was toasted. The waiter (Tyler) that served us was passionate about the product. The only things I would take points away for are really minor things. The bun could’ve been toasted a little more. That being said, the bun was excellent and comes from the South Union Bakery. The only other thing is that it could come with more onions. But these are both things that can be remedied in the ordering process. The more you know.

Bonus

They also served some of the best onion rings I’ve ever had. I’d put them right in the same league as Dublin Bay’s Black and Tan Onion Rings and Jethro’s Buttermilk Soaked Onion Rings.

So where does it rank?

This is where it gets really hard. It definitely belongs in the pantheon.

Once you are talking about this level of greatness it really is getting overly picky. Cause my favorite can change from week to week. For now, I will rank it second.

1. Cole’s – Slater
2. Nick’s – Des Moines
3. Legal Limit – Boone
4. Country House – Colo
5. Darrell’s Place – Hamlin

I’ll probably be heading back sometime soon. I can save you a seat in the Camry if you want. Book early. Tickets sell fast.