Owned and operated by Linda Ripperger and Tad DeLay of Bloomington.

We have 60 years combined experience in the restaurant business, primarily in the Indianapolis area.

The Limestone Grille employs about 25 people. The focus of our entire staff is maintaining professional service and creating quality cuisine.

Scroll down to see photos, reviews of our restaurant and an article with a recipe.

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Photos

We added a Limestone Patio to the left of our building that is open when weather permits. Wendel Field, the artist who designed and built the interior Limestone mosaic wall, also built the patio.
We feature live jazz with the II-V-I band on the patio every Wednesday evening during the warm months. Call to check availability.

The Limestone Wall

Article by the Bloomington Herald Times

Goal at Limestone Grille is to produce food that delights -- and enjoy doing it

By Christine Barbour, Herald Times. Published February 11, 2004.

Ponce de Leon searched for the fountain of youth in the wilds of Florida, foolish man. Apparently he should have been looking right here in the restaurant business.
At least, that's what Tad DeLay and Linda Ripperger, owners of the Limestone Grille, would have you believe. After listening to them recount the grueling hours it takes to keep their restaurant running, I asked "why do you do it?" "Because I'm nuts and I love it," Tad, the chef of the operation, told me. "I don't want to grow up and it keeps me young."
Come to think of it, there is a touch of Peter Pan in the roguish light in Tad's eye and his gleeful cackle of a laugh. But it wasn't at all clear to me why working yourself into a frazzle every day should be a rejuvenating experience.
The way Tad and Linda explain it, they are invigorated by "the synergy of being busy, doing what we love, and watching it work" -- a continual adrenalin rush, fed by the high energy young people who work for them. Linda says it is "surrogate parenthood" to these kids who form their close, wonderful staff that keeps restaurant life rewarding and prevents it from wearing them out.
It's a life they have long called their own. They were both in the food service business in Indianapolis for years before deciding that it was time to start working for themselves. Bloomington's diversity and small town atmosphere captured their fancy, and in 1992 they bought Opie Taylor's, on Walnut St. Tad moved down to cook and run the place and Linda kept her Indy job, doing the books on her weekend trips to Bloomington. In 1998 she quit and began planning the restaurant of their dreams -- the Limestone Grille, which they finally opened a year later.
The same sharp business mind that researched the possibilities for the restaurant is evident in the running of the Limestone Grille today -- in Linda's smooth organization of the front of the house and their many catering activities. In conversation, she bounces with creative energy — playing with ideas, moving easily from possibilities to practical details to consideration of a finished product.
In the case of the Limestone Grille, the finished product is a gorgeous sight to behold. Crisp white linens, green plants, and pale natural woods give the place a serene and elegant air. But capturing your eye from the moment you walk in is the masterpiece of the dining room, a wall-sized mosaic by artist Wendell Field made of 120 pieces of scrap Indiana limestone. It draws you across the room to run your hands over the stone, feeling the texture of rough against smooth. Field's work also appears on the patio where diners can eat outside in the warmer months.
Luckily for the food obsessed among us, the art on the plate is as serious as the art on the walls. Tad has a sure touch in the kitchen, aiming for a new American cuisine that is simple, but that uses bold flavors to give common foods a new twist. The incredible wheat berry salad on the lunch menu is among my favorite things in the world. For dinner, I love Tad's house smoked fish on parsnip pancakes and his pan seared scallops in a citrusy fennel cream sauce with truffle oil drizzled over the top. I am always partial to bread pudding, and Tad's maple-pecan-apple version is very, very fine.
It is scarcely reassuring to know that we came perilously close to missing all this good eating. Tad came to cooking almost by accident, having studied biology and fine arts in college. Once he stumbled into restaurant work, however, he fell in love with what was happening in the kitchen, finding in food a new medium for his artistic talents.
He was immediately fascinated by the interplay of flavor and texture, with the ability of food to appeal to all the senses. He says "People eat with their eyes first. If food looks good, they want to smell it. If it smells good, they want to taste it. If it tastes good, you've got them hooked." One newly devised February special illustrates the point. The salad -- leafy greens, baby pears and toasted almonds nestled in a crisp shell of Grano Padano cheese, dressed with an aged balsamic vinegar and truffle oil -- looks and smells so good you want to climb right into the bowl.
Knowing that there is no better place to get a feel for the creative soul of a chef than in his kitchen, I beg my way in on a busy Friday night. It is unexpectedly big and cool in there, echoing with the clatter of dishes and the roar of exhaust fans. I am fascinated by the relaxed but incredibly efficient pace set by Tad, expediting orders, and his merry band of cooks at the charcoal grill, the stove and the cold station. They banter among themselves -- chef's humor I don't always follow -- and with the servers and with Linda stationed in the dining room. Everyone is having fun, I realize after a while, including me.
The food they produce with so much good humor looks luscious, and fantastic aromas waft my way. I am starving within seconds, and no wonder. Fried coconut shrimp, with a colorful tangle of pineapple salsa on top, salmon rubbed with fragrant ground chiles, grilled and served with a black bean and corn salsa; grilled pork tenderloin with pear chutney, and mashed potatoes piped alongside. This is first class fare, and they produce plate after plate of it without a hitch.
When I get ready to go home, I look carefully at Tad. He seems tired, but content, happy in his work and proud of the kids in his kitchen, constantly giving them credit for the work they do. Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, they seem to be proud of him too. I'm not sure he really looks any more youthful at the end of this long and busy night, but joking around with the cheerful kids in the kitchen would make anyone feel younger. Maybe Ponce de Leon should have settled for that.

Barbecued Shrimp
24- medium shrimp; peeled and deveined
(Dry ingredients for seasoning)
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary leaves
1/8 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 lb. of butter
5 tablespoons of butter
1-1/2 teaspoon fresh minced garlic
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 beer (room temperature)
1/2 cup shrimp stock (you can use bottled clam juice)
Rinse shrimp in cold water and drain well and set aside.
In a small bowl combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Combine 1/4 lb. of butter, garlic, Worcestershire and dry seasoning mix in a large skillet over high heat. Watch carefully so as not to burn butter.
When butter is melted, add the shrimp.
Cook for two minutes, shaking the pan (versus stirring) in a back and forth motion.
Add remaining 5 tbsp. of butter and the stock; cook and shake pan for two minutes.
Then add beer and cook and shake the pan for one minute longer. Remove from heat.
Serve immediately in bowls with lots of French bread on the side for sopping.


Grilled Chili-rubbed Salmon with Black Bean Salsa
Black Bean Salsa
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large clove of garlic; minced
1/2 medium red onion; finely chopped
1 15.5oz. can of black beans
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 jalapeño pepper; seeded, deveined and finely minced
1-cup of fresh corn kernels (you can use frozen)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons of chopped parsley
1/4 cup of red bell pepper; diced finely
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Add all ingredients in large bowl and toss gently. Set aside.
Serves four.

Grilled Chili-rubbed Salmon 4-6oz. pieces of filleted fresh salmon
1 tablespoons Ancho Chili powder
Salt and pepper
Scallions and papaya spears to garnish
Sprinkle seasonings on one side of each fillet and gently pat.
Start your open flame grill and bring to a medium high heat.
Place fillets on grill chili side down and cook for three minutes.
Turn fillets over and grill until the inside of the fillets are opaque and just cooked through (about four minutes).
Remove from grill and plate with Black Bean Salsa to one end of fish.
Garnish fillets with julienne of scallions and papaya spears.
Serves four.

Review by the Indianapolis Star Food Editor

College town offers variety of cuisines

Patti Denton, Indianapolis Star. Published Wednesday, March 26, 2003.

Bloomington is a college town that has more to offer than just beer and beer. Tim Hanson says he enjoys the Limestone Grille's wealth of soup choices and fish specials. Edible flowers on artfully composed plates and dishes with diverse ethnic ingredients are a signature of Chef Tad DeLay.

Article by the Bloomington Herald Times

Chef’s Favorites: Holiday specials that some of the area’s best-known chefs serve at home

Christine Barbour, Herald Times. Published December 17, 2003

Linda: My husband Tad’s favorite family recipe is the Butterscotch Pie made by his great-great grandmother, Wanetta Seitz. Born in 1863, Seitz traveled extensively, smoked a pipe and wore knickers — truly a woman ahead of her time!
She and her husband opened Seitz’s Restaurant in Greensburg, around 1885. Ma and Pa Seitz (as they were known) lived above the restaurant and raised six children there. The Seitz family owned and operated the restaurant for 69 years. After her husband’s death, Ma Seitz ran the restaurant herself, eventually with the help of one of her sons. In her later years (she lived to be 95) she could be seen sitting at the cash register collecting the money.
Customers would come from all over for a piece of Ma Seitz’s Butterscotch Pie. Tad’s mother, Joy DeLay, remembers going to the restaurant with her mother, Grandma Richey, and in turn she brought her son Tad. Lunch or dinner always ended with a rich slice of butterscotch pie.

Ma Seitz’s Butterscotch Pie
1 cup old fashioned dark brown sugar
½ cup butter or margarine
2 egg yolks (beaten)
¼ cup milk
Baked pastry shell
6 large egg whites
1½ cups super fine sugar

Melt butter and sugar in heavy (iron) skillet. Mix thoroughly and cool. Add egg yolks and milk. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Pour mixture into baked pastry shell.
Make meringue. Whip the egg whites by hand or mixer adding a small dash of salt or a few drops of lemon juice before you whip. Whip on medium to high speed. When the white are holding a nice shape gradually add 1 cup of the sugar and keep beating for one minute. The mixture should be stiff and shiny. Fold in the remaining half cup of sugar at the end to make a tender meringue. Top pie with meringue, put in oven and brown.