The Friendly Tavern

The Friendly Tavern
290 S. Main
Zionsville, In.



Tasked with finding a new place to dine last evening, I made a quick check of The Urban Spoon.  Some dude recommend The Friendly Tavern.  He gave a rave review of the fried foods there and as you may already know I am no stranger to fried food.

The Friendly Tavern is on the main drag in Zionsville.  Need directions to Zionsville?  Start out on Michigan in downtown Indy right in front of Crispus Attucks High School.  Drive north 100 blocks and hang a left at the light.  Be certain to take a good dose of Dramamine before leaving as your path will take you through a portion of Carmel.  Speed past the Lion's Club Little League Complex and turn right.

Zionsville is as close to Pleasantville as anything you will see in the Midwest.  Its downtown is simply too charming... it almost looks staged.  Independent retail outlets who don't find it necessary to call themselves "shoppes" and fine restaurants with side alley courtyard dining.  The retail blocks blend into the residential areas so seamlessly that you don't even notice the transition.

We arrive at The Friendly and were seated immediately.  "Paper placemat menus" gasped Tammy.  I shared her skepticism when I looked up and saw the walls adorned with Coors Light mirrors.  I was partially put at ease when our server dropped a Sun King WeeMac can in front of me.

Our fellow patrons were... well... they were old.  The place looked like the Jim Dandy on the day social security checks hit the mail.  Only these geezers weren't slugging down decaf and lamenting yesterday's bowel movements.  They were drinking white wine and gushing about the trouble with their investment advisors, the very best place to base camp K2, and the difficulty in deciding between marble and granite vanity tops. My small ears flared as I strained to learn more of Dario Franchitti's love life.

This was all so new and strange to me, not to mention the food.  We ordered the chicken wing appetizer as recommended by that spoon dude with hot buffalo sauce and ranch on the side.  The wings come naked and best of all hot! out of the broaster.  $11.99 for a dinner plate stacked high.  They were probably the meatiest and best tasting wings I've ever eaten.  The Tammy and I shared them and were still too full for a burger or any of their other offerings (except an apple dumpling with cinnamon ice cream and chocolate French silk pie).  The dessert was ok.

I’m awarding The Friendly Tavern 3 Tee Shirts for great wings, placemat menus and the Pleasantville location.

Have I ever told you about my genius idea for selling no-kill chicken wings to organic restaurants?  I would suggest pairing the wings with a stack of ampu-taters and a72 oz. soda to make it a basket.