St. Elmo Steak House (127 South Illinois Street, Indianapolis, Indiana; 317-635-0636; stelmos.com) sits in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, near Lucas Oil Stadium. It’s the snazziest America’s Classic that we’ve encountered. “Famous Since 1902,” the dining room turned out to be a bit more formal, fancy, and (frankly) expensive, than we were bargaining for.

Fortunately, St. Elmo also boasts a “Chicago saloon-style” bar, built around an actual wooden bar made by the Brunswick family of bowling alley fame for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. There are a few tables in the bar area, but grabbed a couple of barstools to watch the action while we ate and drank. St. Elmo’s was busy enough to be lively, but not so busy that the bartenders didn’t have time to stop and chat.

Since the restaurant is celebrated for its beef, we split an appetizer of two sliders (Wagyu and filet) accompanied by mac and cheese to enjoy with a local rye whiskey distilled for the restaurant, Rare Saint Rye. (FYI, the bar uses it in Old Fashioneds, in case you don’t care for your whiskey neat.) The sliders were so good and we wanted to linger longer in the bar, so we promptly placed another order.

Bartender David Miles allowed that famous people come in St. Elmo all the time. The hands-down staff favorite, even long after his defection to Denver, is retired QB Peyton Manning. You might spot him with a Mich Ultra in his hand.