Hilltop Inn is a historic restaurant and tavern located at 1100 Harmony Way on the West Side of Evansville, Indiana. The restaurant is one of Evansville’s oldest continuously recognized dining establishments and is particularly known for its fried brain sandwiches, fried chicken, fish, burgoo, and traditional comfort food.

The building’s history dates to the nineteenth century, when the site served travelers entering and leaving Evansville. Over generations, the property evolved from a stagecoach stop, saloon, general store, and lodging house into one of the city’s best-known neighborhood restaurants.

Hilltop Inn has become especially associated with Evansville’s West Side and with the city’s unusual tradition of fried brain sandwiches.

Early History

Most accounts of Hilltop Inn trace the building’s history to 1839, when it operated as a stagecoach stop for travelers moving between the Wabash River and New Harmony area and Evansville on the Ohio River.

The early establishment served several purposes. A saloon and dining room occupied one portion of the building, while a general store and feed store operated from another. Travelers could spend the night in sleeping rooms located on the upper floors.

The building’s original central entrance opened onto a stairway that allowed overnight guests to reach the sleeping rooms without passing through either the saloon or general store.

Some historical sources give a later date of 1857 for the establishment of the stagecoach stop, although 1839 has traditionally been cited as the beginning of the Hilltop property.

Its location on elevated ground eventually helped give the restaurant its familiar name, Hilltop Inn.

Marx Family

The Marx family purchased the property in 1905.

Under the family, the business became known as Geo. J. Marx Saloon and later Marx Tavern. The Marx name became closely associated with food and hospitality on Evansville’s West Side.

During the 1950s, members of the Marx family began leasing the bar and restaurant to other operators. When Wilbert Robinson operated the business, it became known as Robby’s Hilltop Inn, helping establish the Hilltop name that survives today.

The Marx family’s connection to the property would eventually become significant again more than a century after its original purchase.

Hilltop Inn

As automobile travel replaced stagecoaches and Evansville expanded around the property, Hilltop evolved into a neighborhood restaurant and tavern.

The building retained elements of its long history. An old wooden bar and other interior features contributed to the restaurant’s traditional tavern atmosphere.

Over time, Hilltop became a gathering place for generations of West Side residents. Rather than being known primarily as a destination for travelers, it became a local restaurant where families and regular customers returned for traditional meals.

The restaurant developed a menu centered around Midwestern comfort food, including fried chicken, fish, sandwiches, soups, and other dishes.

Snyder Family

Don and Lanette Snyder purchased Hilltop Inn in 1999.

Don Snyder had spent more than two decades working in the restaurant industry, including positions with national restaurant companies. Purchasing Hilltop allowed the Snyders to return to the Evansville area and operate a restaurant they had long hoped to own.

Under the Snyder family, Hilltop maintained many of the traditions that had made it a West Side institution.

Their daughter, Marta Hollen, grew up around Hilltop and later became an owner of the restaurant. Her family connection to the business extended back to her grandfather Earl “Bud” Hudson, who had tended bar at Hilltop.

Brain Sandwich

Hilltop Inn is perhaps best known outside Evansville for its fried brain sandwich.

Brain sandwiches have a long history in Evansville and southwestern Indiana, where they became a regional specialty associated with the area’s German-American heritage.

Hilltop traditionally served beef brain sandwiches. Following concerns and regulatory changes surrounding bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, the restaurant transitioned from beef brains to pork brains.

The Hilltop version is prepared by combining cleaned pork brains with ingredients including egg and flour before battering and frying them. The sandwich is traditionally served with onions and pickles.

Hilltop has offered both its large brain sandwich and smaller brain sliders.

The unusual dish has attracted visitors specifically interested in trying one of Evansville’s most distinctive foods.

National Attention

Hilltop’s brain sandwiches eventually brought the West Side restaurant national attention.

Food Network personality Alton Brown visited Hilltop while traveling through the region for his television series Feasting on Asphalt. Brown sampled Hilltop’s brain sandwich and burgoo, introducing the restaurant and Evansville’s brain sandwich tradition to a national television audience.

The television exposure generated increased interest in Hilltop, including visitors who came specifically to try the restaurant’s unusual specialty.

Hilltop’s brain sandwich has subsequently continued to appear in national and regional discussions of unusual American foods.

Other Food

Despite the attention surrounding its brain sandwiches, Hilltop has long been known locally for a much broader menu.

Fried chicken has remained one of its traditional specialties, along with fish including Icelandic cod and catfish fiddlers.

The restaurant has also served burgoo, a thick regional stew with a long tradition in southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky.

Other offerings over the years have included burgers, tenderloin, chicken livers and gizzards, German-style dishes, sandwiches, soups, appetizers, and a salad bar.

For many longtime customers, Hilltop’s significance has been less about any single unusual menu item and more about its role as a traditional neighborhood restaurant.

Return to Marx Ownership

A major change occurred in 2019, when the owners of nearby Marx Barbecue purchased Hilltop Inn.

The acquisition brought Hilltop back into the orbit of the Marx family more than a century after the family had originally purchased the property in 1905.

The restaurant temporarily closed while the new ownership completed renovations and improvements to the building.

Hilltop reopened in February 2019.

The new owners retained many of the restaurant’s established traditions, including its brain sandwiches and salad bar, while also introducing items connected to Marx Barbecue.

The return of the Marx name created an unusual historical circle: a family associated with the property in the early twentieth century once again became connected to its operation more than 100 years later.

Location

Hilltop Inn is located at:

1100 Harmony Way
Evansville, Indiana 47720

The restaurant sits near the intersection of Harmony Way and Maryland Street on Evansville’s West Side.

Its elevated location and long presence in the neighborhood have made the building a recognizable West Side landmark.

Legacy

Hilltop Inn occupies an unusual place in Evansville history because the property reflects several different eras of the city’s development.

Its history stretches from the period when travelers crossed southern Indiana by stagecoach through the growth of Evansville’s West Side and into the modern era of locally owned restaurants.

The property has served at various times as lodging, a general store, feed store, saloon, tavern, and restaurant.

Its association with the Marx family dates to 1905, while generations of subsequent owners and customers helped establish Hilltop as a West Side institution.

Hilltop also played an important role in preserving and popularizing Evansville’s fried brain sandwich tradition. National media exposure turned the unusual local food into one of the city’s better-known culinary specialties.

More than a century after its earliest years, Hilltop Inn continues to operate from its longtime Harmony Way location as one of Evansville’s most recognizable historic restaurants.