An open-faced meat loaf sandwich made from ground beef and duck, wrapped in bacon, served on sourdough, doused in bourbon brown gravy, and topped with white American cheese, greens, and fried leeks a la Skyrim.
Of course there’s a chapter for the good foods we found. The gallery is a quickie that could’ve been squeezed into one of the other chapters, but then that chapter would’ve been too long, you wouldn’t have clicked on it, and you’d have missed more cute pics of my wife who’s perfectly happy being 52 now.
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:
In addition to our annual road trips, my wife Anne and I have a twice-yearly tradition of spending our respective birthdays together traveling to some new place or attraction as a short-term road trip — partly as an excuse to spend time together on those most wondrous days, partly to explore areas we’ve never experienced before. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.
In October 2022 Anne turned 52. Indiana offers no shortage of tourist attractions for history aficionados like her. We’ve visited quite a few of those over the years, but this year we felt it was time to check off one of the Hoosier State’s biggest trivia answers: Corydon, our original state capital before Indianapolis…
Downtown lunchtime at a building that dates back to the 1890s. It isn’t even the oldest one at that intersection.
After walking around Corydon for a couple hours’ worth of browsing, we stopped for lunch at the 1816 Modern Kitchen, opened in the summer of 2019 across the street from Butt Drugs with an angle of “southern comfort fusion”. We hadn’t made reservations, which were recommended but not mandatory. We walked in a few minutes before noon and were seated at the last unreserved table, a two-seater up against the front windows. Reaching the booth seat required me to clamber over the purse and jacket of an older lady at the next table. Over the next hour they turned away quite a few would-be patrons at the door with long wait estimates. I’ve no idea if all the foot traffic was a boost from Glasstoberfest or an ordinary Friday for them. Either way, through our meal we got the appeal.
The Openface Meatloaf Sammy in our lead photo was my main course. As for the rest:
Our appetizer: corn fritters served with a maple Thai chili glaze and garnished with arugula, green onions and crushed corn nuts.
Anne the dedicated Hoosier went for their panko-breaded Pork Tenderloin Sammy, which normally comes with greens, “CherryChurri”, and garlic aioli.
Anne returned the favor photo-wise and captures what it’s like to have the noonday sun turned on you like a magnifying glass so all you can feel is FLAMES! FLAMES ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE!
To be clear: the food was all 4-star, no complaints, would eat there again but possibly nail down a firmer itinerary so we could confidently choose a mealtime to reserve in advance.
Later in the afternoon came cheerfully obligatory birthday weekend snack time. We found our winning proposition at Lazy Cow Creamery & Sweets. Less than a year old but hopefully around for the long haul, the Lazy Cow is independently owned like the 1816 and located a mere block east of them. They sell sandwiches and merchandise, but those plainly weren’t our reasons for coming.
To any continuity nitpickers looking too closely at the details: yes, we did take this earlier in the morning. Thanks for asking!
Inside, their inflatable mascot was all decked out for Halloween.
The birthday gal with two scoops the size of her head — one black raspberry and one peach with actual peach chunks in it.
Offscreen, I enjoyed two scoops of sea salt caramel ice cream and resting a bit after another round of walking ‘n’ walking.
Also not pictured: our dinner, which was just takeout on the way home. No one cares about that. But we’ve miles to go before this ends yet.
Tangential bonus pic: we didn’t stop at this place (their wares are not our thing); I was just really curious about a Main Street housing two different businesses named for lazy cartoon animals. Coincidence?
To be continued! Other chapters in this very special miniseries:
Part 1: Unrelated Pastry Prologue
Part 2: Welcome to Corydon
Part 3: Halloween and the Hallowed Tree
Part 4: A Capital Pack of Markers
Part 5: Hooked on Butt Drugs
Part 7: William Henry Harrison Slept Here
Part 8: The Battle Cabin in the Woods
Part 9: Indiana Caverns on $0.00 a Day
Part 10: An Epilogue of Film, Fowl, and Facades
Midlife Crisis Crossover! 