The Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich – State Street Bar & Grill, Quincy, IL
Part 1 is here | Part 2 is here
It’s April and my kids are on Spring Break from school, so like any good parent, I have shipped them off to their grandparents for a week.
I kid, a little. We visited Mom over the holiday weekend for a delicious Easter dinner, including some amazing strawberry cheesecakes my stepfather Ronnie made.
The man does good work
We spent some time reconnecting with Mom, Ronnie, and my sister Ali. We even got dressed up so we could pretend to have gone to church together.
Church, Porch… they kind of sound alike
And of course, if some nice family time and a delicious home-cooked feast weren’t enough to get us there, the prospect of a kid-free week is a nice value-add for anyone with teenagers, right?
I took the opportunity while we were in town to recalibrate my taste for the Midwestern breaded pork tenderloin sandwich by trying my current favorite version again, at State Street Bar & Grill. State Street is a sleepy little place on an otherwise residential stretch of Quincy’s south side, right in our old neighborhood, though I never knew the place had a decent kitchen until after we moved to Chicago.
Mindy and I spent a bit of time there on Saturday afternoon. It’s a neighborhood joint, and at that time of the day has more of a restaurant vibe than a bar vibe (though I understand some old friends of mine tear the place up on karaoke nights). It seemed like nearly all of the 20 or so other people in the bar were part of the same large extended family, spread across several tables and 5 or 6 spots at the rail. Either that or the young lady seated next to us was comfortable enough there not to care who picked up her baby. Like I said, a neighborhood place.
I of course ordered the tenderloin, pickles & mustard on the side so the breading wouldn’t get all mushy and gross in the time it took the waitress to realize our food was done, hand the baby off to somebody else and bring our sandwiches to our table.
Pickles on the side is the pro move even in bars without babies to be honest
I split the sandwich with Mindy, who ordered a chicken sandwich to share with me. We’re covering chicken sandwiches this month in The List, but this wasn’t really a good enough version for a writeup.
It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t move me
I skipped the seasoned curlies with my sandwich and went old-school Quincy with some cheddar cheese balls. These things are on the menu at several local taverns and I love them, though you don’t want to eat an entire order by yourself. They’re deliciously lowbrow, cubes of (probably processed) cheddar cheese coated with breadcrumbs and deep-fried. Perfection, marred only by the sad fact that most places insist on serving them with a side of Ranch dressing.
Waitress, there’s a nasty white tub of shit at my table. Please stop pointing at me and laughing.
I’m guessing the St. Louis connection is behind this. Quincy is only about a 2 hour drive from St. Louis, and way more within that town’s sphere of influence than any other, larger midwestern cities I could name. Quincy is a Cardinals town, a Budweiser town. Toasted ravs are on a lot of the tavern menus there (but not St. Paul sandwiches or pizzas with provel, thankfully). St. Louis has its share of food foibles, and a fondness for Ranch dressing is notoriously among them.
Even the menu at State Street screams St. Louis
I’m glad I went back to this favorite, as I had misremembered some details. It was really good, pounded nice and flat, but not so thin that it dries out when cooking. However, it does not use the cracker crumb breading I thought it did–or maybe things have changed since my last visit. Some of my favorite tenderloins of the past used crushed saltines for the breading, but sadly none of those places (a bar that changed owners, a bowling alley that was torn down) serve them anymore. I’m sure I’ll find one again but for the moment, State Street’s tenderloin–fresh-tasting and moist, porky but mild, with just enough seasoning to accentuate those flavors–is still my standard.
Bread crumbs will do for now
There are a lot of places serving tenderloin sandwiches in Quincy, and this may or may not be the best, but it’s a place where I know I can always get a good one. The quest continues!
State Street Bar & Grill
1638 State St
Quincy, IL 62301
(217) 224-5971
I like sandwiches.
I like a lot of other things too but sandwiches are pretty great
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