Pride of Perkinsville: Bonge’s Tavern

Tony Huelster, owner and chef at Bonge’s Tavern, converted an old watering hole into a true restaurant destination.

It took Bonge’s Tavern, in the Madison County hamlet of Perkinsville, about 150 years to become an overnight success, in its capacity as arguably Indiana’s premier destination restaurant. That argument is bolstered by its presumption as the only Indiana restaurant whose patrons routinely tailgate in the parking lot on summer weekend nights, complete with snacks and coolers of libations. They revel through a routine two-hour wait for immersion in chef/owner Tony Huelster’s culinary inspirations amidst the whimsical charms of an old-school roadhouse bar, with its cozy 68-person seating capacity and no reservation policy. Amidst the lawn chairs, styrofoam coolers, and good cheer, they look like they’re awaiting the opening kickoff in the showdown battle between Perkinsville A&M and the University of Lapel at Strawtown.

The two-story wooden structure that houses Bonge’s Tavern was built in 1847, ten years after Perkinsville was platted, serving as something of a 19th Century Walmart, under the auspices of A. J. Applegate, offering dry goods, farm ready apparel, hardware and groceries. In the mid-30’s, after Prohibition, it morphed into a bar-restaurant operation, with the affable Charles “Chuck” Bonge taking over in 1944. For the next 46 years, he presided over a classic and reliable watering hole that, in its latter stages, proved periodically popular with college students with a full appreciation of its historic legacy during their St. Patrick’s Day and Mardi Gras observances.

The menu is always on the chalkboard and features several favorites.

With Charles Bonge’s passing in 1989, the building stood fallow until the mid-90’s, when entrepreneur Don Kroger decided it would be an ideal forum for a dining experience (well worth a drive into the country to Perkinsville on State Road 13, a mile south from its junction with State Road 37). After an extensive renovation, employing salvaged wood paneling, church pews, and lighting fixtures from Hoosier businesses and churches of yore, Kroger opened the newly-minted Bonge’s Tavern in 1997. He soon recruited and partnered with Chef Huelster, who had a lengthy star turn as primary chef at Carmel’s revered Glass Chimney, under the expert and demanding tutelage of its legendary culinary impresario, Dieter Puska.

Huelster and his wife, Andrea, bought the restaurant in 1999, and saw it quickly prosper through enthusiastic word and taste of mouth, and rhapsodic reviews from the dining and travel media. Their strong reputation and following of loyal patrons enabled them to overcome a fire in August of 2000, courtesy of a lighting strike, that knocked them out of commission for four months.

My recent visit on a soggy spring mid-week day, at the stroke of its 4:30 p.m. daily opening (thus eschewing the need for lawn chair and cooler), unveiled to me what I remembered about Bonge’s prior to the lightning bolt assault. The premises was festooned with vintage photographs of Hoosier-blessed people and places, assorted athletic pennants, always in-season Christmas lights, winsome decorator gambling games like those you can find at topjackpotcasinos in a side room (possibly from the Charles Bonge administration), and my favorite artifact from its lofty perch above the bar: a trophy trout wearing horned rim glasses that resembles the legendary baseball announcer, Harry Caray. In the past, said trout had a Twinkie dangling from its lips. I couldn’t tell from my angle in the booth whether the Twinkie was still there, or whether it had been consumed, even in light of its reputed multi-millennium shelf life.

Noblesville resident Angie Fine works the original Bonge’s Tavern bar.

But Bonge’s menu is not about Twinkies, nor does it hark back to the pickled pig’s feet, Slim Jims, and hard-boiled eggs within reach of Charles Bonge’s clientele in a glass jar, seeking instant nourishment to go with the shot and the beer. It is Tony Huelster’s seasonally adjusted menu printed on a blackboard above the bar, offering seven to ten nightly selections that bring customers back again and again, even if it might entail a two-hour weekend wait, in an ensemble that might best be described as down home haute cuisine.

The best known signature dish is the Perkinsville Pork, with a lengthy slab of pork tenderloin coated and encrusted in a generous mix of flour, egg, and parmesan cheese – pan fried, with the exceptionally tender pork and parmesan cheese in remarkable flavor harmony. A spicier mix of flavors emanates from the “Harger Duck,” which is a duck breast stuffed with cream cheese and jalapeno pepper, wrapped in bacon, pan seared and judiciously topped in a plum barbecue sauce.

More than a few Bonge enthusiasts make a point to come back on the weekends for the applewood smoked prime rib, and the fried catfish crusted in hashbrown potatoes. On given nights, lamb chops and elk tenderloin will find themselves highlighted on the chalkboard, along with a wide array of fresh fish entrees, featuring red snapper, Asian tuna steak, swordsfish, Arctic char salmon, and many other inspirations, further accented with an impressive wine list.

Speaking of salmon, Huelster smokes his own for a particularly esteemed appetizer, in competition with his excellent crab cakes, rendered in a mayonnaise base, richened roué butter, with cayenne pepper providing a kick. A fetching preliminary is the tomato soup, well chunked with Hoosier-sanctioned Red Gold tomatoes, the official tomatoes of Bonge’s Tavern, if I am to believe the massive Red Gold advertisement painted on the side of the building, artistically in the spirit of the “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco” ads gracing many an Indiana barn. The wedge lettuce salad that comes with the meal can be adorned and accessorized with homemade dressing choices of bleu cheese or a tangy rosemary vinaigrette.

My main entrée choice was dubbed “Prime Cap with Shrimp,” featuring slices of roasted, then seared applewood smoked prime rib, topped with a thin wooden skewer of a dozen slender grilled shrimp, topped in an herb garlic butter. Chef Huelster enjoys pairing seemingly disparate entrees, and the fork tenderness and rich flavor of the beef, in tandem with the very pleasing flavor ambiance of the shrimp, make for a memorable repast.

Chef Tim Mally holds the popular Perkinsville Pork dish.

Also enhancing the meal in an unexpected way are Huelster’s addictive cornbread muffins, fetchingly sweet and moist and refreshingly crumble-free in texture, with flecks of jalapeno to provide a little zest. A couple of these cornbread muffins have the potential of undercutting a desire for Bonge’s dessert repertoire, the most dietarily imposing of which are the sugar cream cakes. This entails a foundation of dense chocolate or yellow cake, topped with the soft custard-like sugar cream pie filling, further accessorized with a strawberry glaze and homemade whipped cream. All of the elements are exceptionally sweet, deceptively rich, and after a big and varied meal of crab cakes, tomato soup, beef and shrimp, and two (or was it three?) cornbread muffins, coming close to being too much of a very good thing, best consumed later in the evening with coffee.

I can confidently reaffirm that Bonge’s Tavern, in its 15th year of culinary reincarnation, still reigns supreme as Indiana’s most alluring destination dining experience during any season, but especially so as it enters into its summer tailgate season. Its natural north Marion, Hamilton, and Madison County constituencies gather anxiously on its lengthy gravel parking lot, which is complete with a porta-potty relief station rented from portable toilet hire Melbourne and weekend security personnel to tone down excess noise and revelry in deference to Perkinsville citizenry – who prefer their Fridays and Saturdays to be well seasoned with serenity, while appreciating what Bonge’s Tavern has done for the local economy and their treasured place on the Indiana map.

BONGE’S TAVERN
9830 West 280 North (off State Road 13)
Perkinsville, IN
Phone: 765-734-1625
Hours: Dinner, Tuesday, 4:30-9 p.m.;
Friday-Saturday, 4:30-10 p.m.;
Closed Sunday-Monday
Entrée price range: $16-$25
Web: www.bongestavern.com

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