A Tale of Two Hinkle's

...is what Charles Dickens would've written if he was searching for hamburgers in central and southern Indiana. And he probably would've gone by "Chuck", too.

Winfred Hinkle opened Hinkle's Hamburgers in Bloomington, IN in 1930 and followed it up with Hinkle's Sandwich Shop in Madison, IN in 1933. At some point the restaurants split in 2 different directions and are today completely separate, unrelated entities. Or so the Internet tells me.

My first visit was to the Madison location in 2013 and it didn't go well.

No, the sign didn't fall on me.

Unbeknownst to me, it was the week after the Madison Regatta - Wednesday, July 10 to be exact.

Despite the setback, I was not about to be deterred! Granted, it took 5 years for my next opportunity but in August, 2018 I stopped in for breakfast after spending the night at nearby Clifty Falls State Park.

Looks like the neon wasn't feeling too good that day.

The view from the counter. I wonder how many burgers have come off that flattop.

A bit bigger than a slider but not quite the size of a lot of "normal" burgers these days. This is a double, and you know there's gonna be cheese on mine! But no onions except for maybe a few strays from the griddle.

Medium-rare, cooked to order.

Hella good burger. That's all that really needs to be said. Juicy, tasty, well-seasoned...yeah, I had another one after this. And I even returned in 2022.

This time I believe I had a couple of singles. For starters, anyway. And still no onions.

OK, so Madison was covered, but what about Bloomington? The first time I tried to stop was in 2021 but they were closed because of staffing issues, so I had to wait until August, 2024 to give it another go.

It was a hot, hazy day. In other words, business as usual for south central Indiana in August.

No interior photo this time. There's a long, narrow counter where orders are placed and then waited for, but no stools. And the dining room was surprisingly full for 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon, so I didn't think the locals would be too appreciative of any camera work. Therefore, outside dining was in my future.

I want to say that I ordered a single but am not 100% sure.

If I'd been better prepared I would've been carry a plastic knife for the inside shot. But it was hot and I was hangry, so this is what you get. Deal with it.

Pork tenderloin? Yes, please!

Like the Madison location, the Bloomington Hinkle's serves up a quality, tasty burger. And as well they should, with "Hamburgers" being in their name. But that BPT...well, unfortunately I was disappointed as the breading didn't stick very well and the pork itself needed more seasoning. And it probably didn't help that I'd finished the burger and was therefore not quite as hungry.

So there you have it: a totally amateur comparison of burgers eaten years apart. It'd be fun to eat them side by side but that's not likely to happen until I get my own personal Concorde (the airplane, not the AMC), and my wife won't let me do that unless I expand the garage.