Super Bowl parties ...

I realize many of you might be working on Sunday, but what are people attending or hosting parties on Sunday having to eat and drink?

What are some things exclusive to Chicago or Indianapolis that someone should have at a party? What beers define each city?

 

I can't imagine there is a beer that defines Indianapolis. I can't imagine there's anything that defines Indianapolis.

 

If there is, you probably shouldn't eat it.

Last year for SB in Detroit, I ordered coney dogs, Better Made's, bought Vernors and had Awrey's brownies...
I would think deep dish pizza or Chicago Dogs would be in order this year... Old Style !!!

 

If they came out with Bandwagon Beer, that would DEFINATELY define Indianapolis. Really, who in the state of Indiana actually acknowledged they had a team before they started making the playoffs? Now, around here, they bleed blue from their veins?

 

Old Style = Chicago, but that may be more of a Cubs thing.

As far as food, it seems pizza is what the Second City is known for.

Indy? Probably something pork, with corn on the side.

 

love me some pork tenderloins. haven't had a good one since i graduated from college (in iowa) almost 12 years ago.

 

I tend to find Super Bowl parties annoying.

This has been my experience, results may vary:

Guys are forced to bring significant others. So instead of a normal Week 1-17 Sunday, the women are there to cackle during the actual game. When commercials hit, they shut up to watch these lame 30-second spots, that, guess what, will be all over the TV over the next few weeks.

Maybe I take my football too seriously (OK, I do), but this game has been blown WAY out of proportion and it seems as if the actual game is placed a far second in importance behind the halftime show, commercials and celebrity sightings.

 

And when he says giant, that means a regular-sized hamburger bun, and a pork tenderloin flattened to the size of a manhole cover. If you happen to cover Purdue football on Pork Day (yes, they call it that), you can get some incredible tenderloin sandwiches there.

Other things you will need to define the Indianapolis side:

-- A "Welcome Race Fans" banner

-- If you can't make pork tenderloins, catering by Steak 'n' Shake

-- Mike-Sells potato chips

-- fried biscuits with apple butter, Amish-style fried chicken, or any Amish-derived food. Bonus if you churn your own butter

-- loads of popcorn

-- beer options: it's probably to late to order something from Broad Ripple Brewery. Although if it's available in your area, I would recommend Three Floyds out of Munster, Ind., which I know is nearer to Chicago, but it's damn good beer.

-- get a ceramic goose, and dress it up (note: I also see this in Chicago, but Indiana is where this trend started)

-- back to food -- for Hoosier style, tell your guests the party is a "pitch in." That's what Hoosiers call a potluck dinner. In my mother-in-law's condo complex in Florida, retirees from Indiana were leading a potluck, and they had to repost their sign with a long explanation of what the hell a "pitch in" was.

Also, here is a list of web sites for Indiana wines:
http://www.vintageindiana.com/foodwine.cfm

Oliver is probably the best-known, but a lot of them are very good. I have a soft spot for Brown County Winery, mainly because on a visit there, the guy leading the tasting had obviously been sampling heavy all day. He pulled some strawberry-flavored wine, which I said I'm sure I would like, so he slammed it down himself.