Steer-In Restaurant: Fifty years of east side Indy cooking
Decade after decade, hungry folks have been flocking to the corner of Tenth Street and Emerson Avenue in Indianapolis to fill their grumbling tummies at the Steer-In, one of the city’s most storied affordable eateries over the past 50 years.
The east-side Indy restaurant began as home to the Northway Drive-In, a restaurant primarily selling sandwiches, fountain drinks and ice cream. In the late 1950s, the Laughner family, longtime Indianapolis restaurant owners and operator of the famous Laughner's Cafeterias (now gone), made it a goal to tap into the booming drive-in business. They purchased the location, constructed a modern structure and opened Laughner’s Steer-In.
Despite the family’s notable food-service expertise, the business wasn’t particularly successful, and they sold the business to businessman Harold Phillips in 1964. Renamed Harold’s Steer-In, the restaurant’s fare was adapted to include the Twin Steer burger. Curb service continued, and the Steer-In became a popular site for weekend teenage cruising. In 1985, Harold expanded the restaurant to its current size. With the expansion, however, he lost a good portion of his parking space, so he discontinued the restaurant’s curb service.
Harold operated the restaurant for 37 years. It shut down for three years before Charlie and Barbara Kehrer leased the building and re-opened the restaurant in 2007. In 2008, they purchased the business from Harold and slightly altered the name to the Historic Steer-In. It’s historic just not because of the facility and location, but also because Harold’s recipes for the coleslaw and coconut cream pie are still used.
The Steer-In is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week but shuts down briefly on Monday evenings. Drive thru service, business lunch delivery and home delivery are now available. Newer menu offerings include pizza, beer and wine and famous daily blue plate specials, including some recipes from Barbara’s home kitchen, are offered.
Check out the Steer-In web site for daily specials as well as seasonal menu offerings.
- by Jim Brown , Indianapolis Reporter for HelloMetro
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Jim Brown Jim Brown is a longtime freelance aviation, travel and destination writer and communications professional. A former reporter for Aviation Daily, Air Safety Week and World Airline News, Jim served for more than 15 years as a senior public relations executive for American Airlines, TWA and AirTran Airways.
