is a co-production of Wisconsin Public Television
and University Communications
at the University of Wisconsin- Madison.
? ? [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. ? ?
crowded race where [water bubbling and flowing]
>> For half a century,
the Hobnob restaurant has stood near Lake Michigan between the
cities of Racine and Kenosha.
designed the building itself The original owner
that he saw in California. from a restaurant
off the beaten path. It is kind of
view and beautiful scenery. Kind of remote with a beautiful
independently-owned restaurant. >> It is an
A little over the top It's been around for 50 years.
Somewhat retro, in the style.
here and there. a little Art Deco
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.
but back in the '30s, this is now it's 80th year,
>> It's been in our family it was an old gas station.
We're the third generation since 1961.
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.
>> It's been a supper club for for approximately 86 years.
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.
You come here to relax. Obviously, it's not fast food.
your friends or your family. You come here to visit with
>> But supper clubs mean staff, two lieutenant
just what is eaten there. so much more than
specialness, togetherness. There's this sense of
where everybody's welcome. Supper clubs are a place
young... old. Rich... poor...
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 doesn't it?
but it's kind of like a that you can have supper in
eat a nice meal, nice club that you can come in,
and it's just got there's live music
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.
that barred drinking, before the Volstead Act of 1919
clubs where they would go we know that there were actual
they would go to once a month or something,
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
remarkable economic for budding brewers.
and as you begin to see it's a growth industry,
all those new breweries show up, and as you begin to see
whether it's really people who whether it's brewpubs or
beer for packaging, are going to be manufacturing
that requires staff.
of food science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
>> One of the things that we're Republicans who voted
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 these proposals, including
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
really strange. 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.
for example, the relish tray, vegetables that you see,
of Wisconsin's Ag industry those have been an integral part
since the very beginning.
grew in Wisconsin, so did especially in divided
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
get immediately trashed, 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, media.
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.
has led to improvements that we've done here
in cheese flavor. has led to improvements
that was discovered here and One of the actual cultures
probably used in almost every used for cheese making is now
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 attention to something
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.
and Gorgonzola mousse. 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. that's probably deceiving
Well, it's good Wisconsin cheese legally called special
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
regular session. It's 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.
or culinary customs, one of my favorite customs,
if you will, in this state.
situations where all kinds It's one of these unusual
create the fish fry tradition. of things have come together to
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.
? ?
began to really take off. the Friday night fish fry
concerned. 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. motivate his Republican
And whole Catholic families would come in.
moderate voters and 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.
problems like overfishing, started to dwindle because of
in the Great Lakes and but also environmental problems
A lot of invasive species changes in the food web.
basically, what's eating what. moved in and they've changed,
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.
That's what defines them. or their prime rib.
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.
at a very molecular level that's being conducted
the quality of meat products. to understand how to improve
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. ? ?
>> We've gotten to know people over the years and
you keep seeing the same people over and over again
on Friday nights, which is, I think,
part of the Wisconsin tradition. >> It's like "Cheers."
It's where everybody knows your name.
>> It's going back in the time of hobnobbing and
getting to know your neighbor. >> It really has been
70 years, 80 years of growing up with these folks.
>> It's community. It's pretty cool.
>> In short, supper clubs serve much more than supper.
Which could be why so many see so much hope for the future
of this Wisconsin tradition. >> I think they're going to
be here for a very long time. I think for as long as
Wisconsinites are calling themselves Wisconsinites.
>> You definitely go in there for the experience, from
the minute you walk in the door to the minute that you leave.
>> Between the ambience, the view, the customers
that come in, nothing's better. >> And when you combine that
and you look at our history, and you see how many different
crops, products, meats, fish are grown here, are produced
here, are gathered here... You have a state that has
an incredible history of, and an incredible culinary culture
around our foodways. >> And that really
sets the stage for discovery. And that goes on everyday here
at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, and I expect that
to continue for years and years and years to come.
>> Look at what's local and what's regional, and ask
what it says about that place. Any kind of understanding
of that, I think, connects you a little bit more
to the geography of the place; it connects you to the people.
>> Hopefully, we can create a lot of special memories for
everyone, now and in the future. >> It is truly
a Wisconsin experience.
? ?
>> I enjoy the history and the memories.
My mother and dad brought me here for the first time
with my brother. I was eight-years-old and
I still remember our suits and our bow ties.
When I come in here, I see my mother and dad.
I see my brother. I see. I can see where we sat
25 years ago, 40 years ago.
? ?
>> Literally, this supper club looks like my grandparents'
house use to look, so coming here brings back a lot of
memories of what it was like when I was his age going over
to their house for dinner. They actually have the
same carpet and tile out front that I was used to seeing
when I was growing up.
? ?
>> You said you guys come and have cocktails.
What kind of cocktails are you having?
>> Um, sometimes... >> Shhh.
We're on camera, remember? [laughter]
>> Sometimes, I'll have a blackberry tea,
or when I'm in a really fancy mood
I'll usually have a Shirley Temple.
>> Yeah.
? ?
>> The preceding program has been a co-production
of Wisconsin Public Television and University Communications
at the University of Wisconsin- Madison.