Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old Fashioned Experience

Supper club guru Ron Faiola is back with updated chronicles and beautiful new photographs from the clubs that captured the attention of readers in Wisconsin Supper Clubs, and also features several new venues shaking up this midwestern tradition.

Wisconsin Supper Clubs, Second Edition is a resource for and about supper clubs throughout Wisconsin that includes charming photographs of the unique supper club interiors, proprietors, and customers, as well as fascinating archival materials. Also recorded in this book are the regional specialties served at these clubs, ranging from popovers and fried pickles in the northern part of the state to Shrimp de Jonghe in the south. One Northwoods supper club even features fry bread, a traditional Native American dish uncommon to most restaurants.

In this updated second edition, Faiola revisits many of the clubs across the Dairy State that starred in his first edition, recording their struggles and triumphs in the years following widespread pandemic shutdowns. New to this edition are fifteen extra clubs that have entered the scene in the past decade, striving to be a part of this custom that is hugely popular with Wisconsin locals and regularly frequented by all midwestern foodies in the know.

The ＂supper club experience＂ is a tradition embodied by many long-standing restaurants scattered throughout the small towns of Wisconsin. It is based around a bygone idea that going out to dinner should be an experience that lasts an entire evening, emphasizing food made from scratch, slow-paced dining, and family-run businesses. Combine this with stately dark-panel decor, complimentary relish trays, and the best brandy old-fashioned sweet you’ll ever have, and you have barely scratched the surface of the Wisconsin supper club’s appeal.

Ron Faiola is an author and filmmaker who has produced and directed numerous critically acclaimed documentaries. He is the president and founder of Push Button Gadget Inc., which has been specializing in audio visual and business theater production for nearly 20 years. He is the author of Wisconsin Supper Clubs, Wisconsin Supper Clubs: Another Round, and The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story all published by Agate. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.