Eater has a new cookbook. Eaterland, recipes and stories from across America; Debut on April 28th. To celebrate launch week, we’re giving you a sneak peek at the book, which focuses on the Wisconsin Supper Club tradition, written by Amy Cavanaugh, author of the book’s Midwest chapter. Learn more about the project here.
To really get to know Wisconsin, eat at a supper club.
Go to any Friday night supper club in Wisconsin and you’ll see people sipping brandy old fashioneds with snacks on relish trays, followed by fried fish and ending the night with minty grasshoppers. It’s the same scene on Saturday, except rosy prime rib takes the place of walleye. The same scene unfolds across the state, including Benedetti’s Supper Club in Beloit, Buckhorn Supper Club in Milton and Ishnala Supper Club in Lake Delton.
Supper clubs have been a staple of Wisconsin life since the 1930s. “Many began as dance halls, taverns, roadhouses and recreational areas,” wrote Ron Faiola, author of Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old-Fashioned Experience. “By the late 1940s and early 1950s, Americans enjoyed a higher standard of living, and former dance halls and taverns were reborn as supper clubs. They became destinations for drinks, food, and entertainment. Supper clubs welcomed everyone without membership.”
Their ubiquity across the state (now more than 250, according to Faiola’s website, wisconsinsupperclubs.com) means Wisconsinites are never too far from a club. So it’s easy to see how these restaurants, which offer plenty of good food and friendly service, have become woven into Wisconsin’s identity.
Illustration by Yoko Baum
To be clear, a supper club is not a stereotypical restaurant. Every location offers something unique, whether it’s a gizzard-lined tray of relishes at Kropp’s Supper Club in Green Bay or German specialties on Wednesdays at Donny’s Glidden Lodge in Sturgeon Bay.
Sometimes what sets a supper club apart is its location or design. Hobnob in Racine is located right next to Lake Michigan, so you can sip an old-fashioned drink while taking in the lake view through the windows behind the bar. Ishnala Supper Club in Lake Delton is located in Mirror Lake State Park. That means if you need to wait for a table, you can sit in an Adirondack chair on the beach and wait (or do a bar crawl through any of the three different bars on the property).
Go old-school with the Relish Tray, a snack platter filled with cheese spread, crackers, olives, raw vegetables, pickles, and more. You can still get it for free in some places. Another club classic is the roasted chicken, a purely Wisconsin invention that uses locally manufactured machines to quickly fry and pressure cook the bird at the same time (the largest broaster can cook 22 pounds/9.9 kg of chicken in 10 minutes). In addition to chicken, you can find Broasters making pressure-fried potato wedges and battered cheese curds at gas stations and convenience stores throughout the Midwest.
Desserts take the form of ice cream drinks such as the minty Grasshopper (with crème de mint), Brandy Alexander (combining cognac and crème de cacao) or the Pink Squirrel, which gets its signature color from crème de noir made from stone fruit seeds. There’s no better way to end an evening of boozy club celebration and whipped cream.
Eaterland It was released on April 28th. Order here. Use code EATERBOOKS40 for 40% off.
