By Peter Lindblad
Just outside of Wisconsin Dells, nestled in a thicket of trees, sits one of the area’s ‘best-kept secrets.’ That’s what owner-proprietor Nikki Ripp calls it.
Warm and cozy, Club 23 is a family affair, where tried-and-true recipes – heirlooms passed down through the generations – are savored by regulars. The atmosphere is Old World Wisconsin, with vintage angling equipment and trophy fish lining the walls of its popular bar, where patrons often bide their time, patiently waiting for a table.
“And people eat at the bar all the time,” said Ripp, whose family owns the venerable supper club. “They’ll sit there and eat their dinner and talk to my mom.”
The name of the place is up for debate, though. Many know it as something else.
“So, my boyfriend works in Madison, and he’ll talk to his co-workers. People will come up to him, and they don’t call it Club 23,” said Ripp. “They call it Toni’s Place.”
As in Toni Ripp, Nikki’s charismatic mom. Toni still bartends at Club 23. She’s done some waitressing over the years and even cooks when called on, according to Nikki. She’s been doing it all since she started working as a teenager for her father, when he owned The Thunderbird in DeForest. Her presence is part of Club 23’s allure.
“When my mother is gone on a trip, we lose customers,” said Nikki. “So, I have to make sure not to tell people if she’s going to be gone for a week because they’re not here.”
They love her stories. And she makes a mean old fashioned.
“My mom has said she’s probably made a million old fashioneds in her lifetime,” said Nikki. “She’s bartended her whole life … so, she’s done an uncountable amount of old-fashioneds, and it’s the same old-fashioned recipe as they had at The Thunderbird. And the other thing is, they’re heavier. I mean, that’s not really a secret, but you get your money’s worth with the amount of booze.”
That goes for the food, too. Nikki Ripp said the portion sizes for everything are “very large.” Ribs and slow-roasted prime rib are customer favorites. And, in true supper club fashion, every entrée comes with soup or salad, a tradition that’s fading away.
“Is that what defines (a supper club)?” asked Nikki. “I don’t know, but I feel people are going away from that, and we are not.”
The soups are homemade, and so are the dressings. There’s also a dessert of the day. The fish fry is also a draw, and in addition to fried fish, there’s a broiled option that can be ordered with a unique topping – cream cheese or parmesan.
“They’re really popular,” said Nikki. “It just screams Wisconsin to put cream cheese on fish. I don’t know that anybody else that puts cream cheese on their fish.”
While the look of Club 23 receives regular updates, the food hasn’t changed from when Nikki’s grandparents bought the place in 1974. At the same time, they owned The Thunderbird Club in DeForest, which remained in the family from 1965 to 2000.
“We have some of the same recipes that we had at The Thunderbird, including our fish fries, which are lightly breaded,” said Nikki. “We still have our same recipe for our prime rib, like our prime rib seasoning, our rib seasoning, and we cook everything the same as our grandparents did at The Thunderbird.”
As for Club 23, the building has stood in the same spot since the early 1900s, when it was a brothel known as The Green Lantern.
“So, the building has history,” said Nikki. “The Green Lantern was the first business that started in here. And the story behind it is really funny, because any time we do any remodeling, if you tear out a wall, the wall is still green under there.”
It was transformed into a restaurant in the ‘70s by the Clausen-Ripp family. Meanwhile, down at The Thunderbird Club, the Ripps were feeding packed houses all the time.
“My grandma and grandpa, they were very good business owners … that business was booming,” said Nikki. “You could serve 400-600 people a night, because at that time, everything wasn’t super intricate. You could have a fish fry, which takes two minutes to cook, and people would spend more time drinking beforehand.”
When Nikki’s grandparents retired, her parents took over in 1993, starting out running The Thunderbird side by side with them and buying Club 23 that year.
“My parents were pregnant with my older sister, and they had to decide either to keep running The Thunderbird or take over Club 23 itself,” said Nikki. “So, they bought Club 23 in ’93. And it was still Club 23 at that point.”
Briefly, though, Marshall Coon owned Club 23 before Nikki’s parents acquired it. When Nikki’s dad died in a bicycle accident in 2016, Club 23 closed for a short period. Nikki graduated college in Minnesota early and returned to help run the place with her mom. And her aunt moved from DeForest to assist, as well. After two months, Club 23 reopened.
Club 23 still has a following from the DeForest-Waunakee area.
“They continue to come up here weekly,” said Nikki. “They always say, ‘Oh yeah, there’s nothing that comes closer to reminding them of The Thunderbird.’”
Nikki described Club 23 as “definitely a local establishment.” Outside of Facebook, the supper club doesn’t do any advertising. If they did, the quality of the time-tested menu wouldn’t be the only attraction.
“You come for the socialization. You don’t just come for the food,” said Nikki.
Club 23 doesn’t take reservations. Nevertheless, customers are happy to talk to one another until being seated in the dining area, according to Nikki. In an age when people are glued to their phones, the environment at Club 23 is a welcome trip back in time. And in the summer, when hordes of tourists invade the Dells, Club 23 offers a respite from the insanity.
No matter what, though, a pilgrimage to Club 23 is worth it for the faithful and newcomers alike, who appreciate patronizing a family-run joint.
“Just the fact that it’s the owners working it, I think that’s what makes it really special,” said Nikki. “And we’re personable with our customers I think, and they turn to family. If you come here once, you’ll probably come here a second time [and] make an annual trip to leave the Dells and come to Club 23. There are probably way more options to having to travel for restaurants, but if you’re coming from the Dells, we have people that come here year after year and make it a tradition.”
If you haven’t already, don’t forget to join our Supper Club VIP group; you’ll be entered in our monthly drawing for a $50 gift card to an area supper club. You can also check out our past articles, as well as an interactive map that shows the supper clubs we’ve visited to find one near you. And, as always, there will be plenty more supper club fun to come.
Where in Wisconsin is this supper club?
Address: 465 State Road 23, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965
Nearby landmarks: Located 4.5 miles east of Wisconsin Dells, a vacation wonderland of waterparks and entertainment venues.
Website: https://club-23.com/
Three can’t-miss features:
1. Tried-and-true family recipes, featuring ribs and slow-roasted prime rib
2. Old World Wisconsin atmosphere
3. Socializing with bartender Toni Ripp