The Supper Club

Supper Club's are very popular in Wisconsin, but not long ago were becoming a dying breed for sometime as people navigated to "healthier" food options. Many wondered if they would go they way of civility in society. It seems, that in our era of nostalgia for everything termed mid-century modern, the supper club is making somewhat of a comeback in the state. It joins vinyl, what us older folks know as records, mid-century modern furniture and houses as increasing trends within the larger population. McFarland has a supper club that first opened in the mid-1950's. You cannot get more mid-century modern than that. 

Last year on Oct 5 the supper club in McFarland had a kitchen fire which burned a massive hole in the roof. An anticipated few month closure turned into several months. It reponed in late June of this year. Renamed the Maple Tree in 1984, many of my family members would recall it as Conrad's supper club. The supper club had recently been bought by two long-time employees of the prior owner, when the fire occurred. At least one of the two new owners is a young man, who was a classmate of my youngest son in the McFarland schools.  This summer night, every table was taken compared to the about 100 persons in the building at the time of the fire, for which the fire call came it at 5:20 pm. A community is supporting a business that suffered a great setback from the fire. 

The Vestibule is papered with old
news clippings from the area.

The wife and I ventured to the Maple Tree for dinner on Friday, July 28, a month after its reopening. The restaurant and bar open at 4:00 pm, and when we arrived a few minutes before the hour there was a long line waiting to get in. The line had shortened by the time we left, just before 5 pm, but the parking lot was fully packed with vehicles. One can say it is a popular place.

Perhaps it was the hour of our arrival, but for a few persons the wife and I appeared to be the youngest customers. Clearly, supper clubs are popular with the well-seasoned citizen crowd. The demographic, and I should probably not say this because it may be me in ten years, struggled moving through the salad bar. My wife asked why I did not pick up my plate right away and put salad on it, and I said I would just have to hold it. The people ahead of me had a hard time figuring out what to get, and to get it on their plate. The older gentlemen ahead of me filled his plate with salad, skipped most everything else, and then proceeded to fill his plate with French dressing, such as in have a little lettuce with your  salad dressing. He then back tracked to get other items. And once again hit the French dressing. I said to my wife, this is why I was not in a hurry, I could not have gotten in a good groove to get the salad bar items. Our only regret with the salad bar was the lack of hand sanitizer at the end.

We both enjoyed prime rib, something we have not had for a good amount of months. She had the petite and I the queen cut. I said to the wife, that when I was younger, perhaps two years ago, I would have had the super cut. But, with my age (being a seasoned citizen) I thought it was appropriate to cut back on the portion size. She said perhaps I am just eating a little smarter in my old age. 

Talking about old, while the renovation was wide spread, so most of the interior is new, they did keep it quite authentic to the way it looked before. The wood wainscoting and paneling and even the wood accordion dividers between sections of seating. Supper club aficionado's should be pleased with the way it appears. 

Many supper club's have been lost over the years and it is nice to see this testament to Wisconsin having been renovated and reopened after the fire. The Herrmann's supper club in Sun Prairie, an old main stay, was lost to the large gas explosion in 2018 and is being replaced by an apartment building. Yet, I think the site was struggling before that explosion as it had turned over ownership and even was closed for a time. You will not find fancy food at a supper club, but the comfort food that has made supper club's a standing presence in the state. Given our era of discontent, there is nothing wrong with some Old Fashions and comfort food at a Wisconsin supper club.