St. Elmo Steak House in downtown Indianapolis is an expense account buster from the word go. And in my opinion, it's vastly overrated.
I've been to St. Elmo's on three occasions. The first time was on a busy Saturday night and I went with a couple co-workers while we were in town for a trade show. The place is elegant, tuxedoed waiters, a great wine list and a lot of good imported beers to choose from. Even though we had 7:30 reservations, we didn't get seated unti a quarter to nine - which I thought was a little ridiculous.
The first thing they do is push their signature - and, no doubt, big profit maker - shrimp cocktail on you. The cocktail sauce is very spicy. They say the grind their own horseradish into the sauce, but they will never tell me where they get their horseradish roots. The sauce IS spicy - almost Atomic Brand spicy.
They have a very extensive wine list, too. And they're pretty proud of their prices. A bottle of Whitehall Lane Cabernet that I'd paid something like $30 for in a restaurant earlier in the year was around $85 at St. Elmo's.
The first night I was there I ordered the large filet (14 oz) and the creamed spinach. Our food took forever to get to our table. It finally got there a little after 10 p.m. The steak was good, not the best I'd ever had, and certainly not worth the $39.95 they charged for it. I'd had filet's much larger and a lot less in price than what St. Elmo offered and they were much better tasting.
With a bottle of wine, a couple of beers and after dinner coffe/expresso, the bill for four people came to just under $400 with tip. My boss at that time just about shit a brick sideways when I presented THAT bill to him on my expense account.
I went back to St. Elmo's with my boss at the time, a couple colleagues and a dealer and his wife the next year we went back to Indianapolis for the trade show. That night, I had the 32 oz. bone-in prime rib and came no where close to finishing it all. However, the dealer, who made ME look small, had the same thing and he was literally gnawing on the bone trying to get the last morsel of meat off the thing. It was very good, but it was too big and stupidly expensive (about $40 again).
I will have to say that night St. Elmo was not busy, it wasn't crowded. Our party of six was seated promptly. The distaste for the place left after that night. Only to return earlier this year.
I've worked for my present company for over three years and these guys like to have a couple nice meals when we all get together. On the first night (a Tuesday) we were in Indianapolis for the trade show, my boss wanted to go to Dunaway's - a wonderful restaurant on the east side of the downtown area of Indianapolis. But Dunlavy's was sort of a tradition for our end of show meal and we were going there on the following Sunday night. So I suggested St. Elmo's, since no one else had ever been there.
And I'm sort of sorry I did.
There were 10 of us in the party and we were seated promptly in the basement at our reserved time of 7:30. But the basement is so friggin' loud, a lot of walnut paneling on the walls just reverberates the noise down there.
We had drinks, shrimp cocktails, a couple three bottles of wine (Jordan Sonoma Cab 1999), and steaks all around. This time I had the 16 oz New York strip for $35 bucks. Ouch! Glad I wasn't paying for the meal. It was - OK. I can't say it was the best I ever had, but it certainly wasn't the worst.
I know our meal had to be over $1200 with tip. And I actually apologized to some of the guys because they were complaining that they thought everything was too high priced for what it was.
Would I go again? Yeah, sure, why not? As long as someone else is paying and there isn't a convention in town.
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