They often come to the restaurant weekly, sometimes twice, Wednesday and Saturday for example. According to Faiola, Wisconsin Supper Clubs welcome everyone, but they do count on their regulars. Ron Faiola, author of Wisconsin Supper Clubs, An Old Fashioned Experience may be the nations’ leading expert on the subject. It’s called a club, but there is no membership. Set your expectation for an era without e-mail, social media or cable news when people lingered over conversation and cocktails. The traditional supper club is like an experience in time travel. Today, though scores of clubs have closed their doors, the ones that remain have not changed much since their peak in the min-20 th century. Supper clubs enjoyed a heyday in the 1950’s and 60’s when the state boasted hundreds of these establishments. During this time one of the mainstays of the supper club experience first appeared – the Friday night fish fry – developed to attract the region’s Catholics and their large families to enjoy a night out while staying faithful to their religious tenets.

The prohibition era challenged fine dining establishments to create and experience worth an evening out with great food and entertainment and Wisconsin Supper Clubs rose to the challenge. Their history goes back to the early 20th century and many have been owned and operated by the same family for generations. The notion of a supper club may not be unique to Wisconsin, but the supper club as a part of the cultural landscape of a region certainly is. They are, in fact, a destination and an experience of a simpler time when dining out meant a whole evening of classic cocktails, real food, and great company. They are often found in a wooded area, along the shore of one of Wisconsin’s many picturesque lakes. Many clubs are located on the outskirts of towns, away from the highways with its chain restaurants and big box retailers that tend to make every stretch of highway look the same. Most share similar menus focused on steak and seafood, enormous portions, and multiple courses. For the uninitiated, a definition: A Wisconsin supper club, loosely defined, is a family owned restaurant offering fine dining in the most traditional sense. More than 200 of them, in fact, in the form of a classic throwback of a dining experience called the Wisconsin Supper Club. I thought I knew Wisconsin pretty well, but it still has a few secrets.

Wisconsin supper clubs book