Mid-Michigan Dining

• 2 N. Salisbury Street
• West Lafayette, IN 47906
• (765) 743-5373
• Website
• Menu

Triple XXX Family Restaurant on Salisbury Street in West Lafayette, IN

If you’ve figured out J and I, it should come as no surprise that we chose to take a honeymoon that revolves around food. After the wedding, we loaded up the car and headed to East Tennessee. It was too far to make in one night, so we decided to stop in Louisville for the night. Since we were in no hurry, the first stop on our culinary excursion was in West Lafayette, IN at a place we saw on Diner’s, Drive-In’s, and Dives.

The Triple XXX Family Restaurant is on the hill in West Lafayette just down the street from Purdue University. It’s a 24 hour place that serves good, cheap grub for those late “study breaks.” It’s been so long since I saw the segment on Triple D and the building we found was not what I was expecting for some reason.

Triple XXX (named after the Root Beer brand they serve) is an old drive in on the corner of State & Salisbury. The car stalls have turned into parking and the only business they do is inside. The building itself is not huge, but it’s bigger than you think. There are no tables, only lunch counters. They weave around the building so there are a lot more seats than I thought there would be.

When we walked in, there was a sign that said “Please Wait To Be Seated,” so we waited. I think it was a cook who pointed us to two seats near the door. The waitress brought us a couple menus and some water.

Triple XXX Family Restaurant just down the hill from Purdue University

No surprises on the menu. Classic diner fare. They serve breakfast all day and their specialties are chopped steak on pork tenderloin. I was considering a hamburger, but I can get a hamburger anywhere. If their specialty is pork tenderloin, then I’m going to get a pork tenderloin. I went with a grilled tenderloin and fries. The tenderloins are cut in the kitchen and pounded flat. It’s then seasoned and thrown on the flat top. It’s served on a white bread bun with your choice of toppings. A few of them are free. Some of them cost a little more. I didn’t want any of them anyway. The sandwich was good. It reminded me of pork chop sandwiches I used to get at my high school football games. It was a little small, but very tasty. The fries were restaurant fries, but they filled the gap the tenderloin left.

J went with breakfast. She ordered the Triple XXX Breakfast Special which consisted of two eggs, Oscar Mayer bacon, choice of potatoes, toast & jelly. She got her eggs scrambled and her potatoes hash browned. She loved the hash browns. I think that was the first thing she finished on the plate. She only went through about half the eggs, but she’s not a huge egg fan. She only left me a few pieces of fat off the bacon, so that went over pretty well too. To drink, she ordered a vanilla phosphate which was served in a beer mug with little cubed ice. I was lucky enough to get a few sips of that before it was gone and it was delicious.

Triple XXX was an awesome old school diner. Everyone else in the place looked to be Boilermakers, so I’m sure it’s a hot spot for the co-eds. Our bill was just over $15 before tip and we got some pretty good, classic food.

 I had been looking for a reason to go to Triple XXX. I was in West Lafayette a couple years ago for a football game, but didn’t realize it was 24 hour, so I ate at McDonald’s instead. I’m glad we decided to stop on our way to Louisville. It’s definitely worth an Interstate detour.  The food was good, but this place is really all about the atmosphere.