*
[conversations in background]
>> I think that it's
just an experience
that is like no other.
>> Oh, I think it's awesome.
It's Midwest,
definitely Wisconsin.
You know, you go out of state
and-- I don't know-- you don't
find many Supper Clubs.
>> We moved out to Wisconsin
12 years ago,
and the Wisconsin supper clubs
were something that people
knew about in New England.
And it was something
we kind of sought out.
>> I always like to think "Wow!
You know, everybody in the state
is kind of sitting down with me
at the same table."
We are Wisconsinites.
We go to supper clubs.
>> They're a culinary tradition
in the upper-Midwest.
Hometown restaurants
that serve hearty helpings
and carry on Wisconsin heritage.
Spend enough time in Wisconsin's
300-plus supper clubs,
and you'll learn about
the state's history...
its culture...
and the cutting edge research
preparing its future.
>> There's a ton of science
behind what we eat,
especially at a supper club.
>> They're definitely
an experience.
[laughter]
A very unique experience.
*
[water bubbling and flowing]
>> For half a century,
the Hobnob restaurant has stood
near Lake Michigan between the
cities of Racine and Kenosha.
The original owner
designed the building itself
from a restaurant
that he saw in California.
It is kind of
off the beaten path.
Kind of remote with a beautiful
view and beautiful scenery.
>> It is an
independently-owned restaurant.
It's been around for 50 years.
A little over the top
in the style.
Somewhat retro,
a little Art Deco
here and there.
So that describes it.
That's a good word to call it.
*
>> Northwest, in the town
of Plover, is the Sky Club...
a family business
now run by brothers
Eric and Patrick Freund.
this is now it's 80th year,
but back in the '30s,
it was an old gas station.
>> It's been in our family
since 1961.
We're the third generation
to have it.
generations of customers.
So, not only our regular
customers, but also their kids,
their kids' kids.
I mean it just goes on.
>> Toast.
Cheers!
>> Oh God, it's like family!
There's still people
coming out here
that, when I was a kid,
thatsed to come out here.
>> Continuing north,
in the smaller community
of Minocqua, is the Red Steer,
a restaurant recently bought
by Brad and Alison Kusek.
for approximately 86 years.
>> It's been a supper club for
at least 50 years, if not more.
as a hunting shack.
So, it's pretty cool that
we get to tell that story
when customers come in.
>> The fireplace is
made of river stone.
There is a woman that came in
with her husband and her two
kids, and she had told me the
story of her grandfather
and three of his friends
had gone up to Superior
and hand-picked the river stone.
And they came back
and built the fireplace.
>> I would say at least once or
twice a week we get customers
that come in and say,
"I've been coming here
for 40 years, 30 years,
what have you.
Thank you so much
for taking over the place and
keeping the nostalgia going."
You know, they just love it.
*
>> Each place is unique...
but each is considered
a supper club.
Just what that means
depends on whom you ask.
>> Supper club, I believe,
is a family-run business
that's not a chain.
And you have unique family
recipes and unique regional
recipes to that area.
Obviously, it's not fast food.
You come here to relax.
You come here to visit with
your friends or your family.
>> But supper clubs mean
so much more than
just what is eaten there.
There's this sense of
specialness, togetherness.
Supper clubs are a place
where everybody's welcome.
Rich... poor...
young... old.
Everybody's welcome.
and you see a full bar,
a big bar in a supper club,
with a great bartender
behind the bar,
[liquid flows quickly from tap]
that's what supper clubs are,
I feel.
>> There are some traditional
things that go along with
most supper clubs:
several courses...
>> And that'll be a good start.
>> Nice comfortable atmosphere,
nothing rushed,
everything made from scratch.
Well, it's a club
that you can have supper in
but it's kind of like a
nice club that you can come in,
eat a nice meal,
there's live music
and it's just got
a very lively atmosphere.
rather than just going to get
something to eat.
It's a two-hour,
three-hour experience.
>> University of Wisconsin
folklorist Jim Leary
says the term "supper club"
was first used to describe
informal social groups.
before the Volstead Act of 1919
that barred drinking,
we know that there were actual
clubs where they would go
once a month or something,
they would go to
such and such place to eat.
things changed after that
all around food.
>> Food writer Terese Allen
says the term soon took on
a different meaning.
>> Supper clubs really started
showing up in the United States
as a name of
a dining establishment
sometime in the 1920s.
And they were sort of
destination places.
And then they really got popular
in the 1950s and '60s and
that's the time frame we tend
to think of supper clubs.
This was the time when supper
clubs were really a little bit
fancier, when it was not a place
to go just for the meal;
it was a place to go for a
whole evening of entertainment.
*
>> Those evenings of
entertainment often began
with a trip to the bar...
and a drink that's become
a supper club staple.
>> It's the
Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet.
>> The Old Fashioneds.
Yep.
It's a Wisconsin thing,
I believe.
>> Oh yeah, you got to have
an Old Fashioned here.
Yep, Brandy Old Fashioned Sweets
are very popular.
>> A large part of the
19-century immigration
to this state was from Europe,
especially Northern Europe.
And those countries have sort of
a sense of drinking spirits,
especially on the sweeter side,
and so they brought
that tradition here.
>> Voilą.
All done.
>> Lately, another drink
has been gaining ground
at the bar.
>> Draft beer
is definitely increasing,
especially with the boom
with all the crafts
and small brewers.
We actually have
four brewers in the county.
>> Supper clubs are seeing
and playing into
the local foods movement,
and the local foods movement
is about being proud
of what is grown and produced
and sold and made locally.
>> The number of beers
made in Wisconsin is growing...
and so are the opportunities
for budding brewers.
it's a growth industry,
and as you begin to see
all those new breweries show up,
whether it's brewpubs or
whether it's really people who
are going to be manufacturing
beer for packaging,
that requires staff.
of food science at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
>> One of the things that we're
trying to do is train brewers
to go out into that industry.
We get these students in
the brewing program as seniors.
And really, we're integrating
the entomology, the chemistry,
the microbiology and
the engineering principles
that they've learned as they
come through the program.
>> University researchers
are also providing key insights
to those working
in the beer industry.
They're even investigating
one of the key building blocks
of beer: yeast.
>> What we'd like to be able
to provide, of course,
is a yeast strain
to the industry that provides
new and unique flavors.
There is a strain that
we've isolated from Wisconsin
that is one of the two parents
of the lager strain.
And that strain
we've made beer with now
a couple of different times.
It's a different,
very unique flavor.
Kind of reminds you of a lambic
or something similar.
It's not quite like a lambic,
but it's more like a lambic than
would be a traditional lager,
and a very interesting beer.
[beer pouring into glass]
>> Back at the bar,
new brews are only
part of the picture.
And for supper club regulars,
the company they keep
is even more interesting
than the beers they drink.
>> It comes with the atmosphere
of a supper club.
It invites you just
to sit down and relax
and just have a cocktail
at your leisure.
>> You enjoy family time.
Enjoy the people you're around.
>> Don't be in a rush.
>> Yeah, don't be in a rush.
Just do it how it's done.
Just eat, I guess.
>> Make an evening of it. Yep.
[conversation in background]
>> It's the experience.
It's just come in and relax,
and have a good time.
Still to come...
>> Medium rare.
Medium rare.
>> Sizzling steaks and
flaky fish take center stage
in supper clubs.
But before the main course,
we'll take a look at
two Wisconsin traditions
that make eating your vegetables
oh-so easy.
*
>> After soaking in
the character of the place,
catching up
with a few old friends,
and enjoying a trip to the bar,
the meal can finally begin.
Supper clubs traditionally
follow a core menu of
a relish tray, salad bar
or other appetizers,
a hearty main course,
and a sweet dessert
if you still have room.
But they all share
one key ingredient...
*
>> If you're going to
come to a supper club
and you're going to have a
two- to three-hour experience,
I think the food
should be fresh.
>> We cook everything fresh
from raw, scratch
in a supper club.
>> We can't just pull something
out of the freezer quickly
and prepare it
or zap it in a microwave.
It's all made right here.
>> Majority of the foods
that we do bring in
are made here in Wisconsin.
>> We are a farming state
so we draw from all kinds
of different traditions
around food.
*
Lots of places still have
the quintessential relish tray.
Just some cut vegetables.
>> You've got root vegetables,
or hearty ones that will keep
like carrots, radishes,
and celery.
>> Not even a dip.
Just a little salt, you know,
to dip the vegetables in.
Very simple,
and really good to begin a meal.
vegetables that you see,
for example, the relish tray,
those have been an integral part
of Wisconsin's Ag industry
since the very beginning.
grew in Wisconsin, so did
the size of those relish trays.
But how do you show off
all of those veggies
and keep them fresh?
*
The Sky Club claims
they found the answer.
>> The first ever salad bar
was created, invented
here in Plover
at the Sky Club in 1950.
Louie and Evelyn Schnittger,
the previous owners, had asked
Russell Swanson from Swanson
Bars to manufacture something
that could keep their relish
trays and their vegetables cold
because they were spoiling.
He created this little
salad bar.
It's nothing like
the one we have right now.
It kept your carrots and your
relishes and your potato salads
and coleslaws cold in,
I guess, what you would call
an "ice bath."
So, that's one thing that
our family is extremely proud of
is being the first-ever
salad bar in the United States.
>> Today, the salad bar
is rooted in abundance
and can often resemble an
entire meal, in and of itself.
*
>> We have romaine lettuce,
regular chopped lettuce.
>> We've got
different pasta salads.
Giblet mold,
and that's an oldie.
>> Cheese spreads, carrots,
cauliflower, creamy cucumbers.
>> Shredded cheese, onions,
bacon bits.
>> Jell-O.
>> Only in Wisconsin
will you see Jell-O
on a salad bar.
[laughter]
>> Oh, yeah,
we've got beets, too.
Pickled beets.
>> We have the best
pickled beets around.
>> Lots of good stuff.
>> All of those things
have been mainstays and
you'll see those in abundance.
And a lot of that
is locally-produced material.
>> We've also seen this
big trend from farm-to-table.
We actually have our own garden
in the back.
We do grow
some of our vegetables here.
We'll be like
a little test market, too.
We've got some of the farmers
and distributors,
they're dropping off
new styles of potatoes.
And they'll say,
"Try these out".
And we'd be happy to do that.
We'll do something, and then,
we'll give our information
back to them.
>> Sharing field research
is at the heart
of the University of Wisconsin.
Horticulture Department Chair
Irwin Goldman
develops that research
into real-world applications.
>> We breed new cucumbers
for pickling.
We breed new carrots
for processing
and we also breed beets.
We're studying aspects
of those crops that relate to
something the consumer
can benefit from and, also,
the farmer can benefit from.
So, for the consumer side, we
might be interested in breeding
for flavor, or breeding for
color, or breeding for shape.
Something that people can
interact with directly.
In the case of the farmer,
we're interested in developing
something that has more yield
or disease resistance.
>> We can buy it fresh
from them.
And it's nice that we can bring
that experience to the customer.
>> There's a really nice
connection between
the supper club and
the Wisconsin Ag history.
[cows mooing]
>> A state whose Ag history
is no stranger to the dairy
industry and leads the nation
in cheese production.
John Lucey is Professor
of Food Science and Director
of the Center for Dairy Research
at the University of Wisconsin.
that we've done here
has led to improvements
in cheese flavor.
One of the actual cultures
that was discovered here and
used for cheese making is now
probably used in almost every
cheese plant across the U.S.
in new varieties of cheeses and
flavors, often making their way
into different appetizers
at supper clubs.
>> Dairy has been around
forever, but it's always
kind of reinventing itself
with slightly different flavors,
slightly different textures,
different diversities,
and that's what you see
in the supper clubs as it
slowly percolates into menus
and items that people have.
>> Steak carpaccio.
I make a bleu cheese mousse,
which is bleu cheese
and cream cheese mixed in.
It's got shallots and garlic.
I made a smoked Gouda
and Gorgonzola mousse.
little pots of cheese mixtures
and so forth.
It can be interesting
if they have wine
or strange stuff in them.
Well, it's good Wisconsin cheese
mixed up into a spreadable...
for crackers and stuff.
I'm not going to tell you
exactly how it's made
because it's, you know,
it's our, kind of, secret.
*
>> What's no secret
is the access supper clubs have
to fresh cheese.
>> Our cheese curds
are from a cheese factory
right down the road.
>> Since we are in Wisconsin
and we have so much
dairy products made here,
it doesn't have to
be shipped very far.
So, we have an advantage
in our supper clubs
being able to source
high quality, great tasting,
fresh products.
>> It's nice to make
everything on the menu homemade.
And to be able to have
the fresh ingredients,
it just makes it better.
>> Fresh, regional ingredients
make up the supper club menu,
but what's on the plate
for the main course
comes down to history and
which night you decide to dine.
*
>> While drinks, relishes,
bread and butter
may be supper club traditions,
it's the main course
that steals the show.
Each night has its own star,
and on Friday
the spotlight falls on fish.
>> Friday at a supper club
generally means fish fry.
one of my favorite customs,
or culinary customs,
if you will, in this state.
It's one of these unusual
situations where all kinds
of things have come together to
create the fish fry tradition.
If you look at this state,
geographically
you see water everywhere.
>> Wisconsin has
about 15,000 lakes.
We've got the Mississippi River.
We've got two Great Lakes
that we border on.
>> Our history
is really about fishing.
Then, of course,
we have a historically-large
Catholic population.
Catholics for many, many decades
did not eat meat on Fridays.
And then Prohibition
also had an effect.
*
the Friday night fish fry
began to really take off.
could no longer serve alcohol
during Prohibition,
they needed to get people
into the doors in some way.
So, they would offer free
or very cheap meals of fish
on a Friday or a Friday night.
And whole Catholic families
would come in.
So, then, of course,
by the time Prohibition ended,
we had kind of already gotten
used to eating these fish fries.
>> Typically, you would be
eating yellow perch, bluegill,
walleye, a lot of local fish
that people are familiar with.
But, when you go to your typical
fish fry these days, you're
probably going to be eating fish
from outside of Wisconsin.
>> Kathy Kline is an
Education Outreach Specialist
with the University of Wisconsin
Sea Grant Institute.
started to dwindle because of
problems like overfishing,
but also environmental problems
in the Great Lakes and
changes in the food web.
A lot of invasive species
moved in and they've changed,
basically, what's eating what.
is helping restore and maintain
the health of Lake Michigan
and the other Great Lakes.
>> The research that we're
supporting is looking at
what's going on in Lake Michigan
and Lake Superior
to our commercial fisheries.
Then, we're also supporting
research to find out
how to raise some of these
typical fish that
Wisconsin people like to eat.
A good example is yellow perch.
Yellow perch used to be
a very common fish
in Lake Michigan, especially.
So, we've been working on this
for several decades
and it's paying off.
We've been partnering with
Growing Power in Milwaukee.
They've been raising yellow
perch in aquaponics systems.
Aquaponics is fish and plants
living together
in a closed system.
Growing Power has been raising
yellow perch with their plants.
They sell their plants
to local restaurants.
They've also now been
selling their fish
to a local restaurant.
So, you can go now
to a restaurant in Milwaukee
on a Friday night and
eat yellow perch that was grown
right there in Milwaukee.
>> Fish may be
a Friday tradition,
but on Saturday nights
beef rules supreme.
>> Beef is king and
U.S. is king at beef.
or their prime rib.
That's what defines them.
the steak in a skillet.
>> Big steaks.
Our New York strips,
our bone-in rib eye.
Prime rib.
We have a phenomenal prime rib.
>> We brought back
a 20-ounce cut prime rib.
>> The Emperor Cut.
>> It's hard to go wrong.
It's hard to go wrong
with anything here.
>> Making the best steak
possible means starting with
the best meat possible.
>> If you don't have
a nice piece of meat, then
you're not getting a nice steak.
>> The higher quality,
obviously, more tender,
more flavor.
>> Marbling is very important.
More marble the better,
definitely, more flavor.
The white specs of fat
that's in the meat.
Fat is really, really important
for meat products because it
provides flavor and juiciness.
>> Jeff Sindelar is an associate
professor of animal science
at UW's Meat and Muscle Lab.
that's being conducted
at a very molecular level
to understand how to improve
the quality of meat products.
degrading of meat and trying to
extend its life, so that
we can utilize it the best
before it spoils and goes bad.
[hum of machinery,conveyer belt]
[grill sizzles]
If you order a piece of meat,
steak, or a sausage
there's a very high likelihood
that those products
are coming from Wisconsin.
There's some supper clubs
that will purchase never-frozen,
only fresh beef products.
>> We have marvelous steaks.
They're all trimmed and cut
in-house.
>> We're starting from
a big chunk of meat,
cutting it up, trimming it up,
and putting it on the grill.
Love it.
You get hands-on, you know.
>> When you go to a supper club
and you order a meat product,
you know first and foremost
that that product represents,
really, the fabric
of the state of Wisconsin.
>> At the University,
researching food and drink
is serious science.
>> The University of Wisconsin
has been involved in
helping people produce food
ever since the university began.
That's been a big part of what
the university is all about.
>> At supper clubs though,
food and drink are responsible
for something else...
not so serious,
but just as important:
bringing people together.