No Indianapolis restaurant is more synonymous with sports than St. Elmo Steak House. It’s so frequented within the world of athletics that dining there has become a cliché. When there’s a major sports event in town, chances are you’ll find owners, coaches, players, administrators, and media members spending their expense account money by feasting on thefamous shrimp cocktail.

Recently, St. Elmo found itself back in the spotlight because of its relationship with the sports world. But in the most unusual way imaginable. Its parent company, Huse Culinary, has beenadded to a lawsuit involving Mark Sanchez and Fox. The suit claims that Sanchez was served alcohol at St. Elmo and its sister restaurant, the 1933 Lounge, which impaired him before he ended up confronting Perry Tole that evening. Sanchez had participated in an earlier event at St. Elmo.

Tole and his legal team assert that Huse Culinary is culpable of negligence for breaching the Indiana Dram Shop Act, which imposes an obligation on establishments to refrain from selling or serving alcohol to individuals who are visibly intoxicated or impaired.

If Mark Sanchez was indeed at St. Elmo, it would not come as a surprise given how deeply intertwined the steakhouse has become with sports.

St. Elmo is popular because it’s an Indy institution. As the sign says, “Famous since 1902.” The restaurant also benefits from its proximity to Lucas Oil Stadium and Gainbridge Fieldhouse, both of which are within a short distance, less than a mile away. Is it the best option in the city?That’s debatable. But for the combination of sheer convenience and high-quality food, you’d be hard-pressed to do better.

Are you planning on attending the Final Four in April? Good luck getting a table; reservations appear to be fully booked. As of this weekend, no availability was listed on OpenTable until April 7, the day after the championship game. During the annual NFL Scouting Combine in February, St. Elmo becomes crowded with coaches, general managers, scouts, and owners. There’s an amusing story aboutSean Payton pulling a prank on Jerry Jones at St. Elmo.

Jones had reserved a special bottle of wine, but Payton, then the coach of the reigning Super Bowl champion New Orleans, convinced the St. Elmo staff to let his party have the bottle instead. Payton left a hand-written note to the empty bottle for Jones that read: “WHO DAT! World Champions XLIV Sean Payton.”

Craig Huse, the CEO of Huse Culinary, told a wild story on theGet IN. Podcast with Nate Spangle. He said Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and other members of the Ryder Cup team had a meeting in St. Elmo on a rainy day that threatened to flood the restaurant. Huse alsotold WISH-TV that Peyton Manning made it a post-game tradition to dine at St. Elmo.

It’s also been spotlighted frequently through broadcasting. Fox’s Mark Ingrammade the mistake of eating too much cocktail sauce. And there was the timethe restaurant brought the shrimp cocktails to the pressbox for the media covering the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Of course, this is all positive for St. Elmo. Stories like these enhance its reputation and strengthen its brand. Being dragged into a lawsuit that resulted in a man being injured is negative attention.

In the civil case, Tole is seeking unspecified damages for what his attorneys call permanent disfigurement from the altercation. The criminal trial is set for December 11. Mike Florio, who is a lawyer by trade,wrote on Pro Football Talk: “The addition of another defendant will necessarily slow the process down, while also giving Tole another potential source of compensation for the injuries he suffered.”

Whatever ends up happening with the suit, it’s another chapter in the tale of arguably the most famous restaurant in sports.