In 1924 John R. Murray and his wife, Elsie, opened a restaurant on the southwest corner of 38th Street and North Keystone Avenue in Indianapolis, just east of the Indiana State Fairgrounds, that they christened “Ye Log Cabin Barbecue.” John, who was born in 1886 in the seaside town of Weymouth, England, had come to the United States when he was just 14 years old and found his way to Indianapolis a few years later, where he met and married Elsie. The Murrays advertised their new place as “a delightfully cool, clean, first-class inn” specializing in steaks, chicken dinners, and, of course, “all kinds of barbecues.”
The “Ye,” which may have been a nod to Murray’s English roots, soon fell by the wayside. By 1926 the restaurant was being listed simply as Log Cabin Barbecue, and by 1934 it was appearing in advertisements as the Log Cabin Inn. Ads promised dining, dancing, and entertainment, including a singer from Louisville billed only as “Sadie” and The Three Sparks, a popular Indianapolis trio.
When John died in 1935 just before his 50th birthday, Elsie took over as the Log Cabin’s proprietor. She began booking local dance bands—and even a blues singer—to give the restaurant more of a nightclub or supper-club feel, and business was apparently so good that in 1938 she decided to have the parking lot enlarged. Not long after that Elsie decided to open another restaurant, which she dubbed the “Chicken Coop,” some three and a half miles north on Keystone Avenue. But just a few days it was set to open, a fire, thought to have been triggered by a stove explosion, destroyed the building that was to be its home. Elsie eventually managed to open the Chicken Coop in different quarters at 71st and Keystone, but in 1941 she was charged with violating local liquor laws and advertising a lottery.
In 1942 Elsie sold the Log Cabin to Abraham “Abe” Silver (in later years he was also known by the nickname “Art”) and his wife, Alice. Almost immediately the Silvers launched a remodeling and expansion program that never quite seemed to stop. By the mid-1960s the Log Cabin’s upstairs dining rooms could serve about 200 patrons, and the lower-level “Silver Room” could accommodate about 100 people for banquets and other private functions.
In 1957 an African American officer at Fort Benjamin Harrison, a U.S. Army post in Indianapolis, sued the restaurant, alleging that he had been refused service because of his race. Abe Silver’s public response did little to soften the charge. “If he was refused service my help must have had good reason,” Silver told a reporter for the Indianapolis News, brushing aside the complaint. “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”
The Log Cabin’s longtime chef, Harold Carmack, was a Tennessee native who’d previously worked as the chef at the Anderson Country Club in Anderson, Indiana. Carmack, an avid angler who loved to tell jokes, was well-known for his barbecued ribs (the Log Cabin’s baby back ribs were imported from Canada). Among the restaurant’s dinner specials: Chateaubriand steak for two, prime ribs of beef au jus, baked sugar-cured ham with fruit sauce, stuffed veal birds with natural gravy, steamed knockwurst with sauerkraut, kosher-style corned beef with steamed cabbage, and Italian ravioli. Then there was the house spectacle: “Shish Kebab on a Flaming Dagger”—melt-in-your mouth cubes of beef tenderloin marinated in a wine sauce, broiled on skewers with mushrooms and other vegetables, and flambéed tableside before serving.
By the late 1960s the Log Cabin was being run by Abe and Alice’s son, Bernard. Contemporary accounts put Bernie Silver and his wife, Bernice (“Bunny”), in almost constant attendance at the restaurant, overseeing the continuity of an establishment whose loyal customers had watched it evolve from a roadside barbecue joint into a large, full-service restaurant.
Abe Silver died in Miami Beach in 1971 at age 76. The following year Alice sold the Log Cabin to Thomas A. “Tommy” Caito (whose father, Indianapolis wholesale-produce magnate August F. Caito, was known as the city’s “banana king”). Soon after that, however, the Log Cabin ran into trouble with the Indiana Alcoholic Beverage Commission for “failure to maintain a high and fine reputation, to wit, gambling on the permit premise,” which the Indianapolis News characterized as “a high stakes craps game.” Before the year was out the restaurant had been rebranded “The New Log Cabin” and, before long, “The End Zone.”
Alice Silver died in 1985 at age 81.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...Ingredients
- 12 beef tenderloin tips, about 2 1/2 ounces each, or about 1 3/4 to 2 pounds beef tenderloin, cut into 12 cubes
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1 small garlic clove, grated or minced, optional
- 4 medium tomatoes, sliced crosswise into thick rounds, about 3 slices per tomato
- 4 medium onions, sliced crosswise into thick rounds, about 3 slices per onion
- 2 green bell peppers, quartered
- Grated Parmesan cheese, for dusting
- 4 pineapple rings
- 8 breaded onion rings, fried until crisp
- 8 breaded mushrooms, fried until crisp
- 1/2 ounce 151-proof rum, for the flambé, optional
Instructions
Place the beef in a shallow dish. Add the red wine and, if using, the garlic. Turn the meat to coat, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Drain the beef and pat it lightly dry.
Heat the broiler or prepare a hot grill. For each kebab, thread the skewer in this order: 1 beef cube, 1 tomato slice, 1 onion slice, 1 pepper quarter, 1 piece of beef, 1 tomato slice, 1 onion slice, 1 pepper quarter, and 1 final piece of beef. Reserve the center slices of tomato and onion for the platter. Repeat 3 times to make 4 skewers in all
Sprinkle the reserved tomato slices lightly with Parmesan. Grill or broil the reserved tomato and onion slices until softened and lightly browned. Grill the pineapple slices until marked and warmed through.
Broil or grill the kebabs, turning occasionally, until the beef is cooked to the desired doneness, about 6 to 8 minutes for medium-rare, depending on the thickness of the meat and the heat of the broiler.
Arrange the grilled tomato, onion, and pineapple on a warm platter. Add the onion rings and breaded mushrooms. Set the kebabs on top.
To flambé, pour the rum into a small heatproof ladle or metal measuring cup. Keep the rum bottle far from the heat. Carefully ignite the rum with a long match, then spoon or pour the flaming rum over the kebabs at the table. Let the flame burn out completely before serving.
Notes
Although the original recipe did not call for seasoning the meat, you may season the tenderloin tips with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, if desired.
No Comments