by David Brierley
What’s a supper club to you? Whether it’s the historical building, the family-owned charm, the friendly atmosphere, or the extensive salad bar, supper clubs are unique and hard to define. After visiting 56 supper clubs since 2017 and interviewing numerous owners and managers, I’ve gathered a number of definitions from experts in the field: the supper club owners themselves.
The definition that I’ve seen most often is that if you make an old fashioned, you serve a relish tray with your dinner, or have a salad bar, you’re a supper club.
– Carey Simpson, former owner, Simpsons Restaurant, Waupaca
To me, a supper club is where you have dinner, drinks … you meet people. It’s kind of a community, in a way. When you walk into a supper club, there’s a camaraderie with people. It’s an evening out; you’re going out for dinner and drinks.
– Maggie Jagielo, owner, Two Lakes Supper Club, Almond
Supper club basically means [the restaurant is] open for supper only, and serves a cheese spread, old fashioneds, steaks, and prime rib.
– Robert J Prosser, owner, Ishnala Supper Club, Lake Delton
We’re only open for dinner – or supper. We offer a relish tray at the beginning of your meal. We have a haunting, or spirits, that are here. There was a fire at one time – you can see up in the attic where the wood is charred. We offer bigger portions than what you would have at a regular restaurant. Always some homestyle cooking. And we have our regulars – that’s the “club” part of it. Plus we’re family owned and run, and we have family that work here.
– Vicki Millis, owner, Edgewater Supper Club, Jefferson
It’s family–owned, and we cater to kids, families, adults. All of our sauces are made in–house, our steaks are cut by hand every day. It’s not like an Applebees where you go there and get the same thing every time. It’s family owned and family focused. The younger generation now, they think it’s fun when they go to a table and somebody waits on them. They’re so used to going to a drive–through or picking up their food in line. Younger people get a kick out of a waitress coming up to them and serving them, and it’s kind of unique, and that’s something a supper club does.
– James Heck, owner, Silvercryst Supper Club
The biggest thing is the atmosphere: when you walk in, you can just feel it. You feel that friendliness of the people that are there running it, owning it, and the people working it, and the customers themselves. And then of course having the salad bar, the relish tray, prime rib, the Friday fish fry, chicken, all those staples, comfort foods. The atmosphere, the Christmas lights, just the feeling of coming in and relaxing.
– Rebecca Maier–Frey, owner, Dorf Haus Supper Club, Roxbury
The true thing about a supper club is that, technically, back in the day, they only served dinner. To me, a supper club is the way the table is set with the relish tray and the rolls and the breadsticks and the butter, just the whole setting.
– Kelly Gill, owner, Toby’s Supper Club, Madison
We’re only open in the evenings, and everybody sort of knows everybody. You get your regulars, you know people by what they drink. We have the brandy old fashioned, the Friday night fish fry, the Saturday prime rib. It’s been here forever, and it has that real homey atmosphere. The majority of the faces that come through the door I see on a weekly basis. Everyone is like family, and that’s what makes it fun.
– Kyla Wilke, owner, Ding–A–Ling Supper Club, Hanover
You have to have a good old fashioned. It’s really a place where you go and feel comfortable, you have dinner. There’s a few menu things that you should have – a good fish fry, seafood, steak. I think it’s more of an overall feeling of the place. You wouldn’t have a supper club in a strip mall, for example. It’s about the feel and the history.
– Matt Carlyle, owner, Old 10 Bistro (permanently closed), Stevens Point
How do you describe it? It’s more of a laid-back atmosphere with hometown cooking. You can sit at the bar and talk to the guy next to you. You’re not going into a franchise place where you’re just a number – they get you in and get you out. We try to socialize with our customers. Supper clubs are where you get good home cooking, and you get good Wisconsin brandy old fashioneds. You have to experience it. If you’re a down-to-earth person who likes to go out and sit down and relax, you’ll enjoy supper clubs.
– Scott Schultz, owner, Casino Supper Club (permanently closed), Fall River
Simpsons Restaurant, Waupaca 
Pub N Prime Supper Club, St. Germain
A supper club is more laid back, and we separate the bar from the dining room. People first go into the bar and have a cocktail and entertain themselves with friends. After that, they go into the dining room, and they find the table already set with the tablecloth on, the [bread basket], the butter, the water.
Some people have appetizers [and] enjoy an old fashioned or a glass of wine or a vodka martini. They take it easy, they take their time. After they’re done with the appetizers they order soup or salad. Not all the food comes at the same time, so there’s plenty of time for [each course], and they can enjoy another cocktail or glass of wine if they want to.
After the meal, on the weekdays people don’t stay too long because they have to work [the next morning], they’re too tired, or they are on a tight schedule. A small percentage will go back to the bar and order after-dinner drinks. Some people will order after-dinner drinks or desserts at the table as well. On the weekends, people usually go back into the lounge for another drink or after-dinner drink, they’ll listen to the band.
– Mike Sala, owner, The Butterfly Club, Beloit
I would have to mention a family-friendly atmosphere, and a place where clubs and community groups like to gather for dinner and meetings. It definitely has to include that Friday fish fry, and prime rib. Having a crudités, a little dish of celery and carrots, with a little basket of bread, that’s pretty standard in a supper club. That at-home-but-fancy feel.
– Brynn DeHay, owner, Simpsons Restaurant, Waupaca
A supper club is a place to socialize. It’s a place you come where you’re not hurried. You come with your friends, you relax, you expect great food, great service, maybe even knowing the people behind the bar or your waitstaff. It should be very comfortable. It’s just a place where the community gathers.
– Joan Allen, owner, Pinewood Supper Club, Mosinee
I always think of mainly dinners – and a small and quaint place, usually family-owned. The atmosphere – everybody knows everybody and is friendly. There really is no exact answer, but I always think of smaller and kind of unique places.
– Tammy Probst, owner, Elias Inn, Watertown
We think a Supper Club is an experience. Great dining and cocktails – especially prime rib, fish fry and old fashioneds – in a place that has history and tradition. It’s fine dining, but also a place to relax. A place where families and the community gather to celebrate.
– Dan and Kris Cunningham, owners, Green Acres, Sauk City
Lake Aire Supper Club, Wisconsin Rapids 
Black Otter Supper Club, Hortonville
One thing you have to have is a historical building to fit that era, after prohibition. I think it’s hard to make a newer building into a supper club, though you do see it occasionally. A couple of things that are tradition in Wisconsin is your Friday night fish fry, usually a Saturday night prime rib special… it’s usually where things aren’t all a la carte; your potato choice is included, your salad or soup is included with the entrée. Another thing that makes a supper club, we put cheese and crackers on the table complimentary. A lot of places have salad bars. For us, we used to have a relish tray that was on the table complimentary, but as times went on you’d find that there was so much waste. Now we keep the relish tray on [the menu].
This is one of the stories I’ve heard on it – and it makes sense if you look back at the prohibition era. When they did legalize alcohol [after prohibition], there was still a lot of protest towards it. What I’ve heard [is that] in a lot of areas in Wisconsin, the main municipalities, such as Whitewater or Delavan, didn’t allow liquor licenses in the city, but outside the city they were okay. But [in order to get a liquor license], one of the conditions was that you had to serve food. So these people would buy [places] like The Duck Inn and thought, okay we’ve got a tavern, we’re opening at 11:00 every day; at 4:00 to 8:00 we’re having a chicken dinner on Monday nights, we’re having prime rib on Wednesdays, [et cetera]. As it progressed along they realized they were getting such large crowds for that, and they were still selling alcohol, so they figured they would increase the food menu, and that’s how supper clubs were born.
– Jeff Karbash, owner, The Duck Inn Supper Club, Delevan
Supper clubs are just a nice place for people to get together and just have an enjoyable dinner. And we actually cook. We actually roast the prime rib and we actually make the au jus ourselves. We’re a German restaurant and we make our own sauerbraten, we pickle our own beef, we use Strauss veal, which is a Wisconsin farm. We like to take care of Wisconsin businesses.
Supper clubs are generally family businesses. You can talk to a hundred or more supper clubs anywhere, and chances are they’re in a small town or they’re out in the country like ours is, and they’re a family business where every single person in the family at some point worked there. And some, like ours, are in the second generation. We’ve been in business for over 51 years.
– Terry Feil, owner, Feil’s Supper Club, Randolph
Primarily to me it’s a relish tray. To me, a supper club should have a relish tray, if not a salad bar. Also, the fact that you do soup and a salad. Nobody else does a choice of tomato juice, that’s definitely a supper club thing. We like to describe it as fine food in a casual atmosphere, and I think supper clubs are kind of known for that. I tell people all the time when they ask if we have a dress code, “You can come dressed up and not feel out of place, but you can also come in your jeans and not feel out of place, it’s whatever you are comfortable with.”
– Dan Patterson, owner, Dreamland Supper Club, South Range
Well, the history is a big thing. And we try to make our establishment as reasonable as possible for families to be able to enjoy an evening out. We have customers that join us sometimes more than once a week. They sit on a specific stool, everybody knows their name, they have a specific waitress, they have a specific bar seat, they have a specific dining room seat, and that has gone on for generations with us. I know people in their 40s who started coming to the restaurant with their grandparents when they were little kids.
Our staff … we’re like a family. I have waitresses that have been with us for 25 years. Bartenders that have been with us for over 20 years. To work in our supper club, it’s not just, a waitress does a waitress job and a bartender does a bartender job – we have to work together as a team to make what happens there on a Friday or Saturday night when we’re serving hundreds of people. At this point in time, I think we’re back up to 85 seats. The most that we can see at any time with all the tables back is like 108, and we will serve up to 500 guests.
– Tracy Cimaroli, owner, Cimaroli’s Supper Club, Portage
We try to be a family friendly place, we offer good food at a reasonable price, and you can come as you are, you don’t have to be dressed up. Yet, you can still get lobster on occasions like New Year’s Eve. It’s kind of a philosophy; we make a very hardy old fashioned, but the kids can come in here in their bathing suits if they want. We also have a Friday fish fry, we have prime rib on Saturday night, and nightly specials.
– Laura Rowley, owner, Springers of Lake Kegonsa, Stoughton
Dorf Haus Supper Club, Sauk City 
Dreamland Supper Club, South Range 
Lox Club, Combined Locks
The warm, non–rushed dining experience along with personal touches, non-intrusive music, scratch-made bakery and desserts, and the feeling that you are treated special in a special setting by an extremely experienced staff.
– Anna Anderson, general manager and partner, The Palms Supper Club, Weston
[Serving] a brandy old fashioned; some of our famous locals that come in every week for drinks and dining; the friendliness of our guests; getting to meet new people. Having guests enjoy drinks at the bar or out on the patio, and then coming into the dining room for dinner.
– Cheri Powell, owner, Branding Iron Supper Club, Wisconsin Rapids
To a lot of people, the short easy answer is: it’s a steakhouse with a bar [laughs]. My definition of a supper club is it’s more of a leisurely dining experience, and it’s all about the local fellowship and camaraderie, and a feeling of welcome. It’s not just an “in-and-out, grab something to eat, and hit the road” kind of a deal.
It’s coming in, having a drink at the bar, waiting for your table to be ready, coming in and having a nice leisurely dinner, and perhaps heading back into the bar for an after-dinner drink or some more chat. It’s more of a night out.
– Blane Charles, owner, Old Towne Inn Supper Club, Westby
There are five things to me that make a supper club:
- Old fashioneds are your main drink – a traditional Wisconsin old fashioned.
- The bar and dining room are separate.
- You get a side, and it also comes with your choice of soup or salad.
- We have different daily sides.
- We used to offer free cheese and crackers [in the lounge], but that kind of went away with COVID. Now we’re trying to decide how to bring that back but not have it be the same as it used to be.
– Farrah Tafacory, owner, Nightingale Supper Club, Sturgeon Bay
I always feel that it’s also about the experience. Coming in, sitting at the bar and having a couple drinks, enjoying the company of other people, moving into the dining room for a filling meal that’s usually fairly priced, and going back out to the bar to finish the night with an ice cream drink or a white russian or something along those lines. It’s more of a social affair rather than a traditional, “I’m coming in at my reservation time, I’m eating, and I’m getting out.” It’s more of a full-on experience.
– John Heikkila, owner, Nightingale Supper Club, Sturgeon Bay
“Supper club,” as defined by a true, old school restaurateur
“I’ve owned a lot of restaurants,” says John Rimarcik, owner of Minneapolis restaurants The Monte Carlo and Runyon’s. “Not so many now, but I had them in Stevens Point, Marshfield, La Crosse, Rochester…”
If anyone knows what a supper club is, it’s probably Rimarcik.
“I love the restaurant business, I’ve loved it from the time I was 10,” he explains.
Now in his 80s, Rimarcik has been around high class restaurants for most of his life, and knows a thing or two about service.
“You use the word supper club, but nobody really knows what a supper club is or was,” he says. “They just see iterations of it. People try to [imitate] what something was, like somebody trying to build a diner today instead of a real dining car.”
Wisconsin influence
“With supper clubs, the thing that Wisconsin did that no one else did was fish fries,” Rimarcik says. “Anybody that came from Wisconsin presumed everybody knew what a fish fry was. A fish fry was a battered, cheap fish deep fried along with french fries and coleslaw. It was on a Friday because that’s when people ate fish, and in your grandparents’ days, it was probably 25 cents. So Wisconsin has things that are unique, and they always get plugged with the supper club thing: ‘Wisconsin supper clubs.’ But those kinds of places were all over the country.”
Picturing the perfect supper club
“When I hear the words ‘supper club,’ I think you and I are picturing more or less the same thing,” Rimarcik says. “A fireplace somewhere with some stones, leather upholstered seating areas, carpeted, a rather big bar, maybe even a horseshoe bar or a long one with a couple of bartenders with a white shirts and ties. A back bar of bottles, somebody greeting you when you come in, a host or hostess.
“We have the same feeling of what it would be. We can picture the menu: it would have surf and turf on the menu later on, it would have a lobster tail and a variety of a few steaks, baked potato, probably something with a mashed potato. I don’t even have to go in one to tell you what the menu would look like. They would have a club sandwich and a hamburger, and a little relish tray with spiced apples and maybe some celery and carrots.”
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.