Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [151]
Walls’ Drive-In
Hwy. 66
812–547–8501
Cannelton, IN
LD | $
A sign above Walls’ Drive-In along the Ohio River in southernmost Indiana announces that it is “Home of the Big Square Burger,” a promise that drew our car into the parking lot like a magnet. Even without the sign, we would have wanted to eat at Walls’. It is a pretty little place by the side of the road, painted red, white, and blue outside, with picnic tables out back and order windows in the front.
The Big Square Burger turned out to be a patty of meat that is squared off at the edges, similar to Wendy’s, but it isn’t really all that big. It is a quarter-pound patty, available in the Big Square Box configuration, which means fully dressed with French fries and baked beans on the side. If you do arrive with an appetite for a really big one, we suggest you order a double or, better yet, a Wall Banger Special, which is a Big Square topped with melted cheese and a round of Canadian bacon.
Beyond hamburgers, Walls’ has an exemplary fast-food menu featuring crisp-fried tenderloins (those are pounded-thin rounds of pork on a bun that are a passion in these parts), hot dogs, and plump Polish sausages. Good ice cream, too, either hard-packed or soft-serve.
Welliver’s
40 E. Main St.
765–489–4131
Hagerstown, IN
LD | $$
Guy Welliver bought a restaurant on this location in 1946, hoping to realize his life’s dream of becoming a haberdasher. The plan was to run the eatery for a while and when he made enough money, transform it into a hat store. But one night after an especially satisfying dinner at his mother-in-law’s house, Guy changed plans and decided to serve meals like the ones she had served him: big and bountiful, with multiple main courses, lots of side dishes, and a choice of desserts.
So began Welliver’s smorgasbord, which over the last six decades has become a well-loved bonanza for anyone the least bit hungry traveling along I-70 near the Indiana-Ohio border. Today’s Welliver’s is huge in every way. It has nine dining rooms—which can get so crowded on weekends that you will wait for a table—and the selection of food is awe-inspiring. Outstanding entrees include Hoosier chicken with cream gravy, fried chicken livers that connoisseurs believe to be the best in the Midwest, and heaps of succulent peel-and-eat shrimp. The selection of side dishes includes warm cinnamon bread that drips with sweet icing, “grandma’s turnips,” which are the best-tasting good-for-you vegetable imaginable, and world-class macaroni and cheese.
Iowa
Archie’s Waeside
224 4th Ave. NE
712–546–7011
Le Mars, IA
D | $$$
A steak-eaters’ magnet since Archie Jackson started it in 1949, Archie’s is now run by grandson Bob Rand, who is a fanatic for excellence. He loves to describe details of the dry-aging process—how the meat sheds moisture but absorbs the flavors of the marbling. But, technical details aside, your taste buds will tell you that the steaks served here are among the best in the Midwest, some of the best anywhere in America. They arrive a little crusty on the outside, overwhelmingly juicy and bursting with the full, resonating flavor of corn-fed beef. Even the filet mignon, usually a tender cut that is less flavorful, sings with the succulent authority of blue-ribbon protein. Bone-in rib eye is extravagantly succulent. And an off-the-menu item called the Benny Weiker (named for a good customer of years ago who used to be a cattle buyer in the Sioux City stockyards) is simply the most handsome piece of meat we have ever seen presented on a plate: an eighteen-ounce, center-cut, twenty-one-day dry-aged filet mignon.
Jack L. Holmes,