"You are a Stranger Here but Once."

That's the motto of The Friendly Tavern in Zionsville, Indiana. A place that does everything it can to live up to it's name. If you ask, they'll do their best to see you get it. In my case, it was a baseball game on the big screen. Not a big request but I had only been there 5 minutes and was a stranger.

Zionsville is a small suburb of Indianapolis, north west of the city. A quaint little town with the tavern and some boutiques on a nicely bricked South Main Street. Arriving at 8 PM on a Thursday found it rather quiet. Most people out were seemingly were at The Friendly Tavern.

From my endless hours of Internet surfing and various postings on Chowhound I was to learn that the fried pork tenderloin sandwich was a local Indy specialty. Knowing this and that The Friendly Tavern had a terrific specimen is how we found ourselves there.

So without further adieu, let's get on with the food. Mrs. Sippi and I split the sandwich and an order of wings. The sandwich (pictured is only half) is huge. We had the standard condiments which as you could see were lettuce, tomato and mayo. It was the perfect trio to compliment the excellent star, the breaded pork tenderloin. Served with a side of house made potato chips.

I had also heard great things about their wings and being a wing guy, figured I had to give those a try too. They came breaded and unsauced. Some suicide sauce with ranch mixed together made for a perfect dip for these crispy appendages. What makes the wings so special, according to the waitress is that they are broasted. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's deep fried in a pressure cooker. The same process that the Colonel uses. They were excellent too.

The overall feel of this place is, well, friendly. The waitress would always spend an extra second or two chatting when she stopped by. The owner came by and asked where we were from and we ended up in a conversation with the table next to us.

The Friendly Tavern is located at 290 S. Main St. Zionsville, In. 46077

Thanks to the Indy Chowhounds for helping us find this place.

Davwud

website hit counters