A Fisher's BBQ Flameout

A bbq flameout sounds like some sort of awful entree or app that comes on a Chili's menu.  In this case though I'm afraid I'm talking about the closing of Bender's BBQ Pit in Fishers on the corner of 96th and Masters.  You might have remember my posting of a favorable review of it's cuisine earlier this Summer.  After my post I started noticing that a lot of people didn't view their bbq from Bender's quite as favorably as I did.  I made a couple of revisits that I never got around to blogging about, but keeping in mind that the restaurant recently closed after less than 6 months in business it seems appropriate to do so now.

I stand by my original assessment of the flavor of the food at Bender's.  I enjoyed my pulled pork, and when I later had the brisket I found it even better than the pork.  The sauce was good.  The coleslaw ranked among my favorite of all time.  The problem comes from the fact that little issues that I wrote off in the beginning as growing pains never really went away.  Bender's seemed to want to do too much too soon (moving to a bigger space, serving breakfast) and the details got left behind.  For example, every time I got a pulled pork sandwich from there the bottom bun was completely soggy to the point of being inedible.  I kept hoping they would solve that problem, but they never did.  One time the top bun of my sandwich was forgotten entirely. 

I think it's a shame to see any local restaurant close, but I really wanted an awesome bbq restaurant in that part of town.  From where I live, as it stands now, the closest bbq restaurants are either in Westfield or off of Binford, South of 465.  Not really close at all.  Hopefully someone will take up the reigns and not really try to run before they walk.