1933 Lounge by St. Elmo – Fishers

Popular St. Elmo Speakeasy Opens at Fishers District

Photographer / Michael Durr

Northside fans of 1933 Lounge at St. Elmo Steak House no longer have to trek all the way to downtown Indy to enjoy the food, drinks and unique atmosphere it offers.

1933 Lounge by St. Elmo opened on December 3 at The Yard at Fishers District, offering a lunch and dinner menu for guests 21 and older.

“It’s great to be in Fishers, which is such a big growth area,” says Craig Huse, president and co-owner of St. Elmo, and co-owner of Huse Culinary.

Three years ago, Huse and his team began searching for a location to launch a new and expanded 1933 Lounge concept and signed a lease to secure their location at The Yard a year later. Construction began in the winter of 2019 on the 5,000-square-foot eatery, which seats about 180 patrons and also features a patio and a private, 16-seat dining room inside.

“With the growth and development of Fishers, we knew there was potential for us,” Huse says. “People always think of all the residential growth, but I was really thinking of the business growth as well. I think 1933 and HC Tavern + Kitchen, which is the other restaurant we’re doing at The Yard, pair very well with the business clientele and the residential clientele in Fishers.”

1933’s lunch and dinner menu includes the small plates and apps that St. Elmo has become known for, like spicy shrimp cocktail, wagyu beef meatballs and a seafood tower. Entrees like the South African lobster tails, bone-in ribeye, grilled salmon and filet mignon round out the food selection.

“Our three sushi rolls are going over well so far, and people have been raving about our heirloom tomato salad with burrata and pickled onion,” Huse adds. “When we put this concept together, we knew we wanted to expand the menu beyond the 1933 downtown concept, which is small plates and is very much in support of the St. Elmo restaurant. We brought some of those small plates to Fishers, but we needed an expansive menu here with some of the core steak cuts from St. Elmo and baked potatoes and things like that.”

The drink menu offers a sizable wine selection and house cocktails like the Agave Margarita, Pop’s Old Fashioned, the Journeyman Manhattan and the Elmo Cola, a house favorite that mixes Coke or Diet Coke with an infusion of bourbon, maraschino cherries and vanilla beans.

Huse figured an adult, upscale cocktail lounge and restaurant concept would be a fitting counterpart to the family-oriented establishments around the Fishers.

“We wanted upscale and sophisticated,” he says. “Some people thought that a 21-and-over place would be risky for the suburbs, but we felt like there were enough family places to go to and that people want to escape to an adult experience that isn’t a bar or sports bar – really a place to have a conversation and have a cocktail.”

Several additional concepts have already opened at The Yard with more to come, including Pier 48 Fish House & Oyster Bar, Rize restaurant, Sun King Brewery and more.

“Since we’ve been open in Fishers our sales have exceeded our expectations,” Huse says. “Anybody can open a restaurant, but keeping one open is the difficult part. Ten years from now I hope we’ll be as successful as day one, and I think we have the right recipe of location and concept to do that.”

The original, 3,000-square-foot 1933 Lounge above St. Elmo opened back in 2011 as a speakeasy-style concept with a small food menu as well as classic and house cocktails.

“What has stuck out in my mind is the amount of thank you’s we’ve received in Fishers,” House says. “Usually, right when you open a restaurant, you get a bunch of people congratulating you, but the amount of thank you’s we’ve gotten from people has been surprising.”

Huse adds that HC Tavern + Kitchen will be an all-ages, classic American grill concept open for lunch and dinner. The restaurant is slated to open in February.

“Fishers officials have done a great job attracting businesses, and they make it easy and streamlined for outside investors to come in for projects,” Huse says. “It’s a great community to work with. The different agencies work well together here to make things happen.”

1933 Lounge by St. Elmo is located at 9707 District North Drive, Suite 1120 in Fishers. Call 317-758-1933 or visit 1933lounge.com for more information.