St. Elmo Steak House

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Legendary Since 1902

In 1902, a Navy man named Joe Stahr opened a modest saloon at 127 S Illinois Street in downtown Indianapolis, calling it Joe Stahr's Tavern and featuring something unusual for a landlocked Midwestern city: shrimp cocktail, priced at 10 cents. More than 120 years later, that same building — original brick walls and tiger-oak bar intact — still stands, and the shrimp cocktail is still on the menu. St. Elmo Steak House didn't become an institution by accident.

The Story Behind the Name

Joe named his establishment after the Patron Saint of Sailors, a nod to his own seafaring background. Locals simply called it St. Elmo, and the name stuck. Over the decades, the neighborhood saloon evolved into the city's most celebrated American steakhouse, passing through the hands of Harry Roth and Izzy Rosen — a famously mismatched but deeply effective duo who guided the restaurant for nearly four decades beginning in 1947 — before iconic Indiana restaurateur Steve Huse purchased it in 1986. Steve brought his son Craig into the business, and together the Huse family shaped not just the dining experience but a culture built, in their own words, on the belief that "when you take exceptional care of your stewards, they, in turn, will take exceptional care of your guests."

The Food

A meal at St. Elmo traditionally opens with the St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail — four jumbo shrimp served with a horseradish-laden sauce that has earned a national reputation for its unflinching heat. It is less an appetizer than a rite of passage. From there, the menu moves through the full range of a serious American steakhouse: USDA Prime dry-aged cuts sourced from Midwest Black Angus cattle, aged up to 60 days and hand-cut in-house. The 32 oz. Tom-A-Hawk Ribeye, dry-aged 60 days, sits at the top of the range; a 14 oz. Ribeye or an 8 oz. Filet Mignon offer more approachable entry points without sacrificing quality. Locally sourced ingredients appear throughout — rack of lamb from Viking Lamb, goat cheese from Indiana's Caprini Creamery — grounding the menu in the region even as the wine program reaches far beyond it.

Recognition and the Wine Cellar

Wine Spectator has recognized St. Elmo with its Best of Award of Excellence for 2025, a distinction that reflects the depth and breadth of a list curated to match the kitchen's ambitions. The James Beard Foundation has honored St. Elmo as an America's Classic; Forbes named it one of "10 Great Classic Restaurants Well Worth Visiting"; and OpenTable placed it among its Top 100 Restaurants in America — one of only two Indiana restaurants to earn that distinction.

An Atmosphere That Carries History

The room feels like somewhere things have happened — because they have. Celebrations, business deals, family milestones: the energy of countless evenings is woven into the walls. The adjacent 1933 Lounge, tucked above the dining room with a speakeasy sensibility, extends the experience for guests who want to linger over a Rhubarb Manhattan or a Pop's Old Fashioned. Private dining rooms are available for groups, and the steakhouse welcomes walk-ins alongside reservations, with valet parking on most evenings. St. Elmo's signature cocktail sauce is now sold in more than 3,000 stores nationwide — but the original is still best experienced exactly where it was invented.