About Dick Clark's Family Restaurant
Dick Clark's Family Restaurant on N Prince Street in Princeton, Indiana has a tenderloin origin story told by someone who was there: Dick himself and his friend John Grubb, a professional meat cutter, developed the recipe together in a room the staff called the White Room. Grubb knew exactly how to slice the tenderloin to the right thickness and size. The sandwich became such a Princeton institution that locals developed their own ordering shorthand: Breaded Tenderloin and run it through the garden, meaning lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion. That phrase has been in use long enough that it feels like a regional inheritance rather than a menu instruction.
The tenderloin at Dick Clark's is hand-cut to the professional meat-cutter specification, generously sized, fried to a golden-brown crisp with a satisfying crunch and tender juicy pork throughout. Reviewers who grew up in Princeton come back specifically for it and report it is as good as they remember.
Princeton is the Gibson County seat in southwestern Indiana on US-41, about 20 miles north of Evansville. Open seven days a week from 10:30 AM.
For anyone in Gibson County or building a southwestern Indiana tenderloin circuit, Dick Clark's Family Restaurant at 702 N Prince St in Princeton is the one where you order the Breaded Tenderloin and run it through the garden. The White Room legacy earns that tradition.