Downtown Devoured: Palomino

This post was written by a Butler University student about their experience at one of 40+ restaurants involved in Devour Downtown – a prix-fixe way to experience some of Indianapolis’ best downtown restaurants twice a year. Check out all the posts written about Devour Downtown on the Indiana Insider Blog

I love to eat. And if there’s one thing I love more than eating, it’s eating well. Being a college student, I usually have to wait for mom and dad to make a trip into town to get anything more upscale than Qdoba. But last week I hit the jackpot when my teacher handed me a gift certificate for Devour Downtown at Palomino and told me to have at it (yes, I do take the greatest classes ever.)

I chose my friend Lauren as my date, and we decided to go to dinner on Wednesday as a nice mid-week break from routine. Located in downtown Indy on the corner of Maryland and Illinois, Palomino is right across the street from the Circle Centre Mall parking garage, where you can park for up to three hours for only $1.50. I couldn’t have been more excited to try the restaurant, as it’s one that I’ve seen several times but never had the opportunity to experience.

The inside of the restaurant is beautiful. The decor is classy and artistic, and there’s even an open section of the kitchen where diners can watch the cooks. It’s definitely a fancier venue, but I didn’t feel out of place in my jeans, boots, and sweater.

I had hoped that we would get different dishes so that I would have more to report on, but neither of us could resist the pull of the prime rib and mashed potatoes, so we each got that, as well as a Caesar salad. Both were delicious and left us feeling full, with just enough room for dessert. My medium steak was just a little bit more red than I expected, so in the future I’ll err on the side of more well done, but it still tasted great.

Dessert was the one area we differed, as I selected the liquid chocolate cake and Lauren choose the cheesecake with raspberry sauce. We were both full from the dinner, but managed to power through (hard life, right?) After all, the dessert was too good not to eat!

I would definitely recommend Palomino to anyone who wants to try a new restaurant during Devour Downtown. They also have a $20 per person lunch menu, but it’s not near as extensive as their dinner offerings. To check out the menus for all restaurants participating in Devour Downtown, including Palomino, click here.