St. Elmo Steak House gets shout out in Manning retirement speech

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — During his retirement speech, Peyton Manning talked about things he’d miss most about playing football.

One of those he mentioned was a steak at St. Elmo’s after a Colts victory.

Manning has a long history with the downtown steakhouse.

Starting with negotiations for his first Colts contract, Peyton Manning chose St. Elmo for many major football and life events.

During his time in Indy, Peyton Manning could often be found at St. Elmo’s steakhouse.

“He could come in, sit at the bar, and be glad to sign an autograph, but game day’s a totally different day,” St. Elmo server Will Shipley said.

Shipley said on those days, for safety purposes, Manning took a back entrance into a private room.

“He’d watch the late game with probably some teammates or family members,” he said, “We actually put a plasma TV in this one room for him particularly.”

His relationship with the restaurant goes back to his first days in Indy.

He quickly became friends with the restaurant’s owner and kept returning for a post-victory meal.

“Whether it’s our servers or our owner, there’s been a lot of pretty close relationships there and just a friendship there that is genuine,” St. Elmo VP of Marketing Bryn Jones said.

Even though Peyton’s not in the Circle City often anymore, his presence is felt in the half dozen signed pictures hung up around the bar.

And there are also the public mentions of his love of St. Elmo, like in his retirement speech Monday.

“He’s been a true professional and a class act so we’re honored that he’s named us a few times in publications or mentions like this,” Jones said.

“He’ll always be one of our favorite customers,” Shipley said.

And if you want to hit up St. Elmo and eat like Manning, Shipley dished about his favorite item on the menu.

“He’s usually a New York Strip guy,” he said, “He’d usually have a beer and a New York Strip, that was his turn-to steak.”