The New York Times on Sconnie Supper Clubs: pure gemütlichkeit
A while back, Eau Claire Wis,-based magazine Volume One ran a fun little piece on area supper clubs – their importance, their mystique, their ... giant slabs of delicious medium rare cow meat. Not to be outdone, New York, New York-based newspaper The New York Times ran their own article, dumping heaps of love upon the Wisconsin supper club scene like drawn butter sauce onto a pile of poor man’s lobster. Such as:
... That is how a Saturday night gets started at a proper Wisconsin supper club, a curious genre of old-fashioned fine-dining establishment that is particular to the state and had its heyday in the middle decades of the 20th century. Growing up in Chicago, I spent my summers in Wisconsin, weaned on the iceberg salads, cold relish trays, char-broiled steaks and Friday-night perch dinners that constitute the bill of fare at a typical supper club. I fell in love with these restaurants long before I’d ordered my first cocktail, and for good reason: the food was always tasty — supper clubs were doing custom-cut dry-aged steaks long before the practice became an urban fetish – and the vibe was always pure Wisconsin gemütlichkeit, leavened by a lively mix of locals and vacationing families.
“Pure Wisconsin gemütlichkeit,” huh? Yeah, that’s, um, how I’d put it, too. You nailed it, New York Times.
Supper clubs will always have a special place in my heart, as well. My grandparents both worked at a supper club up near Webster, Wis. for many years. My grandpa – who was equal parts dairy farmer, woodworker, and carpet layer (among other things) – was a bartender at a place called Perry's (and later, The Narrows) as long as he was physically able, and he’d always make us Grasshoppers and Brandy Alexanders and Pink Cadillacs for dessert. I also grew up going to Wally's Chalet in town up on Clairemont (now Tailgate’s sports bar) with my parents. Those little red candle holders will always make me fell like a kid.
There are, of course, a number of good supper clubs in the area, one of which was immortalized in a 2011 WIsconsin-made documentary (or sconumentary, if you will) called Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old Fashioned Experience. Trailer:
