Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [150]
Shapiro’s
808 S. Meridian St.
317–631–4041
Indianapolis, IN
BLD | $
For a century, this “granddaddy of delis” in Indianapolis has been a source of excellent, authentic Jewish food, ranging from lox and onion omelets in the morning to gefilte fish and matzoh ball soup. Not a typical urban delicatessen, Shapiro’s serves meals cafeteria-style. In addition to a full repertoire of traditional kosher-style fare, its menu includes such Midwestern specialties as buttered perch plates (Friday) and Hoosier sugar-cream pie.
The corned beef sandwich is as good as any corned beef sandwich from the best delis of New York, Chicago, and L.A. The meat itself is lean but not too much so; each slice is rimmed with a thin halo of smudgy spice and is so moist that it glistens. The slices are mounded between slabs of Shapiro’s own rye bread, which has a shiny, hard, sour crust. Slather on the mustard, crunch into a dill pickle to set your taste buds tingling, and this sandwich will take you straight to deli heaven.
Get some latkes (potato pancakes), too. They are double-thick, moist, and starchy—great companions to a hot lunch of short ribs or stuffed peppers. Shapiro’s supplements ordinary latkes with cinnamon-scented ones—wonderful when heaped with sour cream. And soup: bean, lentil, split pea, and chowder are daily specials; you can always order chicken soup or red beet borscht.
Shapiro’s does big take-out business: sandwiches, salads, whole loaves of bread, and cakes. We try never to leave without a babka.
Teibel’s
1775 Route
41 219–865–2000
Schererville, IN
LD | $$
Teibel’s is one of a handful of restaurants that continue to serve the favorite big-eats Sunday-supper sort of meal so beloved in northern Indiana, buttered lake perch. When it opened in 1930, it was a mom-and-pop café, and today it is a giant-size dining establishment (run by the same family), but the culinary values that made it famous still prevail.
The ritual feast starts with a relish tray—scallions, olives, celery, and carrots—followed by a salad (superfluous), then a plate piled high with tender fillets of perch glistening with butter. It is a big portion, and this fish is full-flavored; by the time our plate was empty, we were more than satisfied. Our extreme satisfaction was due also to the fact that we had to have an order of Teibel’s fried chicken, too. Perhaps even more famous than the perch, this chicken is prepared from a recipe that Grandma Teibel brought from Austria many years ago. It is chicken with a crumbly red-gold crust and juicy insides, in a whole other league from the stuff that comes in a bucket from fast-food franchises. Some other interesting items from Teibel’s menu: frog legs (another local passion) and walleye pike. For fish-and frog-frowners, there is a turkey dinner.
After a family-style feed like this, what could be nicer than a hot apple dumpling? Teibel’s flake-crusted, cinnamon-scented dumpling is served à la mode with caramel sauce on top.
Village Inn
107 S. Main St.
574–825–2043
Middlebury, IN
BL | $
The traffic patterns in Middlebury are frequently determined by the comings and goings of the somber black buggies driven by all the Amish people who live around here and visit town for trading and livestock auctions. If you are looking for a meal fitted to the mighty caloric needs of such hardworking people, we recommend a booth at the Village Inn.
Of course, you can have eggs and potatoes and toast, just as in any regular town café, but here you can also plow into a vast plate of cornmeal mush, accompanied by head cheese. Lunches are huge, too: chicken and noodles or meat loaf or beef stew and mashed potatoes, smothered steaks and stuffed peppers, all served with plenty of richly dressed slaws and salads and well-cooked vegetables enriched with bread crumbs, butter, and cheese.
You cannot say you have truly partaken of this monumental heart-land cuisine unless you