That's a very broad question Nate. Of the 5000+ varieties I can think of at least 500 that fit that bill, probably more.

So will you be growing from seed or buying a transplant? That will narrow the choices down a little since only a few of the many heirloom/OP varieties are available as transplants.

And taste is a such a personal thing. What I may rave about you may hate and vice versa.

I guess I'd say look at the following indeterminate varieties:

Big Beef for sure - very popular.

Druzba

Andrew Raharts Jumbo Red

Brandywine OTV - better production than other Brandywines.

For starters if growing from seed yourself. If buying transplants then it all depends on what is available to you locally.

Dave

Here's a few more from my database. Heirloom, red, medium.

Abe Lincoln
Arkansas Traveler

Big Beef OP
Box Car Willie
Brandywine Red
Brandywine Red, Landis Valley
Break O'Day
Bulgarian 7
Cole
Cosmonaut Volkov
Costoluto Fiorentino
Costoluto Genovese
Creole
Guido
Hellfrucht
Lida Ukrainian
Marglobe
Mark Twain
Matchless (Austin)
Matina
Milka's Red Bulgarian
Moneymaker
Mule Team
Nepal
Palmira's Northern Italian
Rutgers
Sioux
Sophie's Choice
Tarasenko 6
Thessaloniki
Wisconsin 55

Bulgarian #7 --- best tasting tomato we've had in over 40 years !!!

This medium-sized-nothing-special-to-look-at red heirloom tomato beats the pants off the most vaunted beefsteaks in FLAVOR complexity, crisp texture, juiciness, and TASTE --- 10's all around !!!

It is even fighting off Septoria well (yes, the thrips finally descended bringing in the dreaded Leaf Spot) --- it is doing much better than Rose and the highly disease resistant Celebrity which look like skeletons now!

Tony

p.s. got the seeds for this most scrumptious tomato here:

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/BULGARIAN-7/productinfo/6123/

Good point about flavor being personal. I like the good old-timey tomato tast--balanced between sweet and tangy. The only supermarket tomato I can stomach is Kumato.

I know that there are a lot of varieties that fit my specs--just wondering which varieties people have grown that they would recommend.

Thank you for the excellent suggestions. I love a good Brandywine tomato but was not planning on growing any because the yield (for me) has always been low. I'll have to give Brandywine OTV a chance. Druzba also. I've never heard of Bulgarian #7 but now I'm curious. Anyone grow Marion?

I usually grow from seed--that may allow for some more unusual suggestions.

I liked this one.

http://www.rareseeds.com/bonny-best-tomato/

Nate --- we grew 4 Druzba (Bulgarian-French commercial variety that sellers claim to be an heirloom) 2 years ago, and were very disappointed. All were bland tasting and disease prone.

Brandywine Sudduth is one of the best tasting tomatoes, but, you are correct --- these large pink beefsteaks have low production, and also are disease prone here.

Tony

14tomatoes--thanks for the recommendations. There's nothing like local gardening knowledge!

I don't usually post here, but can I chime in?

Like Sherry, I sometimes grow Bonny Best, I'm in zone 5a. They were my Dad's favorite. For the past several years, though, I've grown Rutgers as my "canning tomato", and I'm happy with them. Right now my picnic table looks like this, a mix of Great White, Golden Jubilee, Pineapple, Mortgage Lifter and Rutgers. About 80% of my plant mix is Rutgers although you can see that I have a glut of Great White right now:

They are usually about an 8 ounce tomato, but this year they were crazy prolific and huge, like this one:

Anyway, I find that Rutgers is reliable, prolific, doesn't crack easily and is sturdy and doesn't seem to succumb easily to some of the problems my other heirlooms cave in to.

Annie

Bulgarian #7 is a work horse. I've been very impressed with it. I'm also loving Russian #117 - very productive for a heart - large tomatoes and it has a decent shelf life and amazing taste!

Brandy Boy!

Brandy Boy is a huge pink beefsteak tasty hybrid.

Nate is looking for a red medium-sized delicious heirloom....

Bulgarian #7 is that.

Tony

They are on the pink side but since Nate likes the Brandywine flavor but lacks productivity, Brandy Boy is the perfect solution because it is earlier and very prolific. The reason I'm suggesting Brandy Boy as a heirloom is because I grow it true from seed. I'm certain he would not be dissapointed. I know on average they are bigger than medium but so what. Rutgers is a smaller red tasty heirloom that I like but would not recommend it over Brandy Boy.

" The reason I'm suggesting Brandy Boy as a heirloom is because I grow it true from seed."

You can't grow it "true" from seed. And you can't call it an "heirloom" as it isn't old enough. It is open pollinated vs. heirloom.

F2, F3 etc. may be very close, may be almost identical, but it can't be called Brandy Boy. You can only call it a stabilized strain - if it is stabilized - of Brandy Boy ie. Brandy Boy OP or a number like Brandy Boy 4037.

Dave

If you get plenty of water, I may suggest Thessaloniki and Matina. Otherwise, I like Sasha's Altai, Sub Arctic Plenty, Tatura, Marmande, and Early Girl F1.

I'm not 100% sure on how prolific Tatura and Marmande are (they may not have been in the best soil), nor how they do in wet conditions, but they tasted awesome, although Tatura was my favorite for flavor between the two.

@goodground, I've got a couple versions of stabilized Brandy Boys (I didn't stabilize them). Interesting how many versions of it there are. Do you have a lot of seeds?