This evening Grant and I had dinner with Bob and Patty, his dad and stepmother, at St. Elmo's steakhouse. If you are not familiar St. Elmo's is a historic old restaurant in downtown Indianapolis. They have been around since 1902. I find it funny that they are known for their shrimp cocktail. Maybe shrimp cocktail goes hand-in-hand with steak, I would not know.
Looking at the menu I wasn't sure what I was going to eat. Steak houses normally have wonderful salads so that was my 1st stop on the menu.
What is our obsession with bacon on our salads?
My only real option here was the sliced tomato and onion salad. I just wasn't feeling it so I asked for the spinach salad. Asking for a different salad dressing the waiter told me he just could not imagine that salad with any other salad dressing. So I said ok but what are my options? "No really, that's the dressing it comes with" alright he might not of exactly said that but it was really close. So I said tell me what salad dressings you offer that do not have the meat in them. After he looked at me like I was crazy I had to tell him that I do not eat meat. Sheesh!! So then he said "Well we have a vinaigrette." That was the only option he gave me and I took it.
St. Elmo's spinach salad minus the bacon.
The salad was fabulous. I was very happy with it and as you can tell it was quite large.
For my main course I pretty much only had sides to choose from as there were no pasta options without meat. Grant is lucky, he can eat fish. He is able to walk into any restaurant and eat like a normal person. Not I!
Grant did try to research the farm these animals came from to see how they were treated. He was not able to find adequate information.
After much deliberation I decided to go with the green beans and redskin mashed potatoes. The green beans were OK but the mashed potatoes were to die for!
I did not ask what was in the mashed potatoes.... I didn't want to know. They were so creamy. They probably contain some sort of dairy ... Sigh...
Of course dessert was a necessity.
I realize that none of these options are vegan but it's desert sooooooo....
I really don't understand why anybody would order anything other then chocolate when it's an option. Grant and I decided to split dessert and he did not want the chocolate cake. I never said he was perfect. He wanted the butter cake.
What is better cake? I have no idea but it taste like a cookie.
The cherries were wonderful. The icing was on the plate instead of the cake. It was good. I cannot speak to the icecream as I did not eat any of it. Next time I will veto Grant and we will get chocolate :)
To sum up our visit to St. Elmo's it is a fine dining establishment if you like meat, obviously. If you are vegetarian there is plenty of seafood to choose from. If you are vegan, not so much. But I was happy with my meal. I believe everybody else at the table was satisfied. The company was the most important part of the evening. It was nice to visit with Bob and Patty before they headed back to Florida.