The legend of St. Elmo helped sailors find their way through the stormy seas. Circle City steaklovers feel the same way about this downtown carnviore's cavern. Visiting celebs, beautiful people, atheletes and locals alike pack the mahogany-lined walls seeking its rich atmosphere and USDA prime cuts of beef every night.

For its part, the restaurant doesn't disappoint from the Tiffany room's paneled walls and tin ceiling, to the obscenely big shrimp cocktail and seemingly endless juicy porterhouse steaks and veal chops. Most of the waiters are veterans of three decades and know the menu like the back of their hands. However, their expertise rarely comes in to play given most regulars opt for the prime rib or filet mignon. On any given night, the room is filled with sounds of boisterous conversations and clinking steak knives. Just how St. Elmo would have wanted it. -- Kerstin Czarra