{"id":868857,"date":"2026-10-03T01:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T01:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/868857\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T01:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T01:14:10","slug":"list-finalists-announced-for-2026-iowas-best-breaded-pork-tenderloin-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/868857\/","title":{"rendered":"LIST: Finalists announced for 2026 Iowa’s Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top tenderloins: 5 finalists named in Iowa’s Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin contest<\/p>\n

The Iowa Pork Producers Association has revealed the five finalists for this year’s Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin Contest.<\/p>\n

The Iowa Pork Producers Association has named the five finalists for its annual Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin Contest.<\/p>\n

Finalists include: <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery restaurant on this list has earned its place, but judging a great tenderloin comes down to more than size,\u201d Greg Carlson, a contest judge and retired pork producer, said in a news release. \u201cWe look for pork that\u2019s tender and flavorful, with breading that complements it. As a former producer, it\u2019s rewarding to see restaurants put so much care into a sandwich Iowans love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hometown Heroes in Grinnell won last year’s contest<\/a>. The tenderloin on its menu is cut thick and breaded lightly, served on a brioche bun with all the toppings. <\/p>\n

The sandwich has been a staple at Hometown Heroes since the restaurant opened in 2019, but its recent recognition has brought a surge of customers eager to try the award-winning dish. “It’s as big as your hand,” executive chef Paul Durr said, describing the generous portion size. <\/p>\n

Now, a panel of three judges will visit each finalist to determine the winner, which will be announced in mid-October.<\/p>\n

The winner will receive $500, a plaque, a banner, statewide publicity, and bragging rights that often send tenderloin sales soaring. The runner-up will receive $250 and a plaque, while others in the top five will receive a commemorative plaque. Nominators of the winning restaurant will be entered into a random drawing for $100. <\/p>\n

Iowa’s Best Tenderloin Contest winners2003: Darrell’s Place, Hamlin2004: Suburban Restaurant, Ames (permanently closed)2005: Dairy Sweet, Dunlap2006: The Town House Supper Club, Wellsburg (permanently closed)2007: Larsen’s Pub, Elk Horn2008: Augusta Restaurant, Oxford (permanently closed)2009: Goldie’s Ice Cream Shoppe, Prairie City2010: Buck’s Bar & Grill, Mitchellville (permanently closed)2011: Gramma’s Kitchen, Walcott2012: Breitbach\u2019s Country Dining, Balltown2013: River Rock Caf\u00e9, Mt. Pleasant (permanently closed)2014: The Lucky Pig Pub & Grill, Ogden2015: Belmond Drive-In, Belmond2016: Nick\u2019s, Des Moines (permanently closed)2017: Grid Iron Sports Bar and Grill, Webster City2018: Three C\u2019s Diner, Corning2019: The Pub at the Pinicon, New Hampton2020: PrairieMoon On Main, Prairieburg2021: Victoria Station, Harlan (permanently closed)2022: Lid\u2019s Bar & Grill, Waukon2023: Cliff’s Place, Manning2024: Dairy Sweet, Dunlap2025: Hometown Heroes, Grinnell <\/p>\n

Source: Iowa Pork Producers Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top tenderloins: 5 finalists named in Iowa’s Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin contest The Iowa Pork Producers Association has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[8463,28,1128,366344,366351,174584,366345,366349,27088,366350,13014,366353,366346,15605,3,14861,80889,366348,27112,366347,71064,36389,19447,291164,366352,2394],"class_list":["post-868857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bar","tag-business","tag-contest","tag-dairy-sweet","tag-dunlap","tag-finalist","tag-gilbertvilledexfield-diner","tag-good-tenderloin-hometown-heroes","tag-grill","tag-grinnell-restaurant","tag-iowa","tag-iowa-pork-producers-association","tag-ippa","tag-judge","tag-news","tag-place","tag-plaque","tag-point-system","tag-pork","tag-pork-taste","tag-pub","tag-quality","tag-restaurant","tag-tenderloin","tag-top-tenderloin","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}