I Ate Garbage for the Second Time in Six Months: Cindy’s Diner, Ft Wayne IN

Connie Food & Drink, Indiana April 28, 2014May 1, 2014Cindy's Diner, downtown Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne Indiana, Ft Wayne Restaurants 0 Comment

Last fall I had breakfast at Frank’s Diner in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and dined on Garbage. Recently I ate Garbage again, this time at Cindy’s Diner in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It’s hard to resist ordering a dish with such an unappetizing but fun name, especially when it’s the diner specialty.

The exact Garbage ingredients differ between the two diners, but the concept is the same. At Cindy’s Diner, Garbage is a combination of hash browns, eggs, cheese, onions and ham, all combined on the grill and cooked until golden brown.

Cindy’s Diner is a nostalgic trip back to the 1950s when these ready-made diners were all the rage. The diner cost in 1952 was $6,000. Over the years it was sold and moved a few times. The current owners purchased it in 1990, moved it to its downtown Fort Wayne location, restored it to its original condition, and renamed it. Owner John quipped, “I was working construction and bought it for my wife. Now she’s at home, and I’m here.”

The small diner seats only 15, on stools around the counter, so plan your timing accordingly. We went on a weekday for a late breakfast. Whether it was good timing or luck that our group of eight was able to be seated together, I’m not sure.

Cindy’s Diner is open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., serving breakfast and lunch. I suggest saving room for a donut, made on the premises.

Cindy’s Diner is due to be picked up off the foundation and moved once again, making way for a 15-story office building on the current site. So if you visit Fort Wayne and the diner no longer at 830 South Harrison, go one block north and one block west to Webster and Berry Streets. Be ready for a dose of nostalgia and a satisfying meal of Garbage.

Disclosure: My visit to Cindy’s Diner was hosted by Visit Fort Wayne, but any opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author.

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Learn to be a Glassblower at The Glass Park, Fort Wayne IN

Connie Attractions & Events, Indiana April 24, 2014March 24, 2024Attractions in Indiana, Fort Wayne, Glassblowing in fort wayne, Glassblowing lessons, The Glass Park 2 Comments

What’s more intriguing than watching a glassblower? Trying glassblowing out for yourself, like I did at The Glass Park in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Restaurant Hopping in Fort Wayne

Connie Food & Drink, Indiana April 23, 2014May 5, 2014DeBrand Chocolate, Don Hall's restaurants, downtown Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, Ft Wayne Restaurants, J K O'Donnell's Fort Wayne, Old Gas House, Restaurants in Indiana 0 Comment

What to do when there are more restaurants to try than there are meal times? A progressive dinner is what we did one evening in Fort Wayne, with appetizers and cocktails at an Irish pub, salads and entrees at a local iconic steak house, and dessert at a chocolate shop.

J K O’Donnell’s

We were greeted at our first stop, J K O’Donnell’s in downtown Fort Wayne, with Guinness and an Irish cocktail. I’m not much of a beer drinker, so one sip of the Guinness is all I had, but I drank every drop of the cocktail that combined Irish whiskey and Baileys.

J K O’Donnell’s prepares 98% of their food in-house, including the breadsticks, little fingers of golden crispness on the outside and tender on the inside. Fried pickles, becoming ubiquitous in pubs, were on the evening’s menu, as were Scotch eggs, something I’ve always wanted to try, hard boiled eggs coated in pork sausage, then breaded and deep-fried. A cholesterol feast but tasty.

Families are more than welcome at J K O’Donnell’s, but since Indiana law doesn’t allow children in a bar area, a separate room is available for families

Don Hall’s Old Gas House

Don Hall opened his first restaurant in 1946. Today the family owns a dozen restaurants in and near Fort Wayne, all unique, ranging from a drive-in to fine dining. The Old Gas House, in business since 1958, is exactly as the name implies—it’s in a 19^th century gas plant. At this steak house we started with warm bread with a choice butters, one savory and one sweetened with honey, and salads. My favorite salad was the Spring Greens with strawberries, dried cherries, walnuts, and goat cheese, served with black currant vinaigrette.

Next came the entrees, including Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin served with Dijon-caper cream, sautéed mushroom, and caramelized shallots, and Dan-O’s Ribeye Steak, blackened and served with mashed potatoes, fried onions, and Andouille hash.

In the summer you can dine outdoors, if you wish, on the banks of the St. Mary’s River.

DeBrand Fine Chocolates

Dessert was a chocolate tasting splurge at DeBrand Fine Chocolates, Fort Wayne’s own gourmet chocolate company, where they make all their own creative centers and pair them with fine dark, milk and white chocolate.

The dark chocolate truffle was delicious, but my favorites were the dark chocolates in the Connoisseur Collection, like the Mayan Gold, intense dark chocolate ganache encased in dark chocolate with a bit of edible gold leaf on top. Talk about rich! Another of my favorites was Rosemary, dark chocolate filled with a citrus blend and rosemary. The Espresso was decadent, too, dark chocolate filled with intense dark chocolate-espresso ganache. Do you see a pattern here? Yes, I love dark chocolate, and being spoiled with rich gourmet chocolates like DeBrand, I am becoming quite a chocolate snob.

Our chocolate tasting was at one of the DeBrand stores, but you can also see how the chocolates are made on a tour of the kitchens at the Auburn Park Drive location.

The progressive dinner was sponsored by Visit Fort Wayne, but it’s an idea that I may borrow. What a great way to spend an evening—sampling foods from several great places, creating your own “taste of” a city.

Disclosure: My visit to Fort Wayne was hosted by the Visit Fort Wayne, but any opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author.

5 Cool Things to do in Downtown Fort Wayne

Connie Attractions & Events, Indiana April 21, 2014April 2, 2018Attractions in Indiana, Embassy Theatre Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne attractions, Fort Wayne Botanical Conservatory, Fort Wayne IN, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne TinCaps 4 Comments

It isn’t often that you can walk from attraction to attraction in a city, but that’s exactly what I did in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Our group of travel writers explored the arts campus, a botanical conservatory, the nation’s top-rated minor league ballpark, and the nation’s largest public genealogy center all by foot in downtown Fort Wayne.

1. See the art.
The contemporary Fort Wayne Museum of Art features exhibits from their own collection, as well as temporary exhibitions. Following a $7 million expansion a few years ago, adding 10,000 square feet, the museum can now showcase up to nine exhibits at a time. Our guide, Amanda, pointed out that her “favorite visitor is the person who thinks they don’t like or can’t benefit from art.” These are the people who change their tune after exploring the museum.

Browse the gift shop before you leave. Museum gift shops are a great place to find unique items.

Across the street, the Auer Center for Arts & Culture is home to Artlink, where local artists showcase their work in two galleries, the local ballet has taken up residence, and a black box theater venue is available for community performing arts groups.

Also on the arts campus, the Arts United Center is venue to the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Fort Wayne Ballet and other performing arts groups.

2. See a show in a magnificent historic theater.
Bob Hope’s first emcee job was at the Emboyd Theatre. Built in 1928 to host Vaudeville shows and silent movies, the theater was saved from the wrecking ball in the mid-1970s within three day of razing, restored to its former magnificence, and renamed the Embassy Theatre.

The restored Grande Page Pipe Organ on the stage, used as the sound track for silent movies, is one of only four in the world.

Today the Embassy Theatre features plays from Broadway and big-name concerts, as well as community events like the Festival of Trees. Around Halloween you can take a haunted tour and learn about Bud Berger, the resident ghost.

3. Enjoy the tropics year-round.
A talking tree greets you in the family-friendly Foelinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory, where kids can explore exhibits created especially for them.

As for adults, the rush of a waterfall and green ferns and palm trees make you feel like you are in a Caribbean island paradise as you stroll through the Tropical Garden.

The cacti in the Desert Garden take you to the greens and browns of the southwest, while the colorful flowers in the Showcase Garden, which changes seasonally, puts you in the mood for whatever the season may be.

4. Take me out to the ballgame.
Parkview Field, home to San Diego Padres minor league affiliate TinCaps, was rated the top minor league ballpark experience in the country two years in a row by Stadium Journey magazine. Unfortunately, the TinCaps (named for Johnny Appleseed who wore a tin pot on his head and is buried in Fort Wayne) weren’t playing while I was in town, so I didn’t get to experience a game or the delicious food they are said to serve. Since the ballpark is city owned and considered a park, it’s open every day, whether there is a game scheduled or not, so you can at least stop to see and walk around the park. I definitely want to make a return trip to see a ballgame.

5. Find your ancestors.
The 42,000 square foot Genealogy Center in the Allen County Public Library, second in size only to Salt Lake City, and with the largest hands-on research area, contains over a million items in the library, including 70,000 compiled family histories, 73,000 city directories, and 10,000 rolls of microfilmed records from the mid-19^th century to the mid-20^th century. If you are interested in tracing your family tree, this is the place to come. You can access free databases on the genealogy center’s web site, but for databases that you normally have to pay for, you must visit the genealogy center to gain free access. If you visit, you also can seek the assistance of the staff, whose combined research experience equals 210 years, and you can download information directly to your computer, tablet, or thumb drive.

Trivia fact: The #1 piece of family lore is that an ancestor was an Cherokee princess.

Plan to spend at least an hour if you have surnames and geography. To do extensive history, plan to stay a full day.

There is plenty more to do downtown that we didn’t have time to visit, like the Firefighters Museum and the Cathedral Museum, as well as a plethora of restaurants and nightlife spots. The places that we did visit, we just touched since our time was limited. You can plan an entire day or even a full weekend in downtown Fort Wayne.

If you stay downtown, you won’t even have to move your car until it’s time to leave. We stayed at the Hilton Fort Wayne at the Grand Wayne Center, and as with all of my Hilton experiences, had a great stay.

For more information on Fort Wayne, go to the Visit Fort Wayne web site.

Disclosure: My visit to Fort Wayne was hosted by the Visit Fort Wayne and, but any opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author.

Baker Street, Fort Wayne IN: It’s all about the Customer

Connie Food & Drink, Indiana April 17, 2014May 10, 2014Baker Street Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne Restaurants, Indiana Restaurants 0 Comment

“We’d have nothing to do if it wasn’t for the people,” James Khan, manager at Baker Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana, tells his staff. “Don’t focus on easy.” Rather, Baker Street’s focus is on creating a memorable experience for guests.

Khan explained the company’s “humble approach” philosophy to our group of travel writers as we dined on appetizers like Shamini Tuna and Smoked Gouda & Crab Dip.

Baker Street offers fine dining, often costing more than customers normally pay for a meal, so guests expect the best, and Baker Street does everything they can to ensure guests receive both food and service beyond their expectations, according to Khan. Servers don’t work alone until they have been trained for six to eight weeks. In that time they learn that if it’s possible to fulfill a customer request, they do it. For instance, they typically serve one cola brand. However, realizing that some guests will drink only another brand, they keep some on hand for those occasions. Khan related a story in which a designated driver with a group of guests only drank Diet Mountain Dew, which they didn’t have, so staff ran to a local store to buy some for him rather than disappoint.

In another story, Khan told of a couple who came in to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. The woman had her heart set on tilapia prepared the way it had been on her last visit. However, Baker Street’s menu changes occasionally, and when the customer saw that the tilapia was now prepared differently, she expressed her disappointment. After confirming she would be okay to wait twenty minutes, the staff made some of the sauce used in the previous tilapia version and prepared the fish the way the customer remembered it.

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As for food quality, if the appetizers our group was served is typical, it’s top notch. The chicken wings are baked first before frying for an extra crispiness beneath the sticky Asian sauce.

The scallops, served on a bed of sweet-and-sour sauce and garnished with walnuts and blue cheese, practically melted in my mouth, and the Cuban rolls, Cuban spiced braised pork, white cheddar and Ossian ham stuffed into a short, hollowed soft bread stick, were deliciously flavorful.

While Baker Street food isn’t all farm-to-table, they do source many of their products locally, including linens, coffee, and meat. Occasionally, they offer specials that promote locally sourced foods, like their patio dinner series, held every other Sunday from Memorial Day through Labor Day, in which the entire dinner is cooked outdoors where diners can watch the meal come together.

How does Baker Street stay consistent with their meal quality and service? All staff members are stakeholders in the company. Everyone shares a percentage of the profits each quarter, and they know that customer satisfaction is the key to turning that profit.

Baker Street, open for lunch at dinner, is located at 4820 N Clinton Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Check the web site for exact hours, the menu, and to make reservations.

Disclosure: My visit to Baker’s Street was hosted by the Visit Fort Wayne and Baker’s Street, but any opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author.

The Shrine of Christ’s Passion, St. John IN: Take the Journey

Connie Attractions & Events, Indiana April 15, 2014March 20, 2016christian shrines, Shrine in St John Indiana, shrine of christ passion, Shrine of Christ's Passion, st john store, the shrine of christs passion 0 Comment

The most popular time to visit is during Holy Week, with 8,000 to 10,000 visitors on Good Friday alone. Some arrive by the busload, others on a family outing. All experience the serenity of the half-mile path that follows the last hours of Christ’s time on Earth, as the non-denominational Shrine of Christ’s Passion takes them on Christ’s journey from the Last Supper through the Stations of the Cross to the Ascension. Read more