# For the love of Wisconsin Supper Clubs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [September 27, 2020, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630 "2020-09-27T01:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/41 "2020-09-28T06:28:13Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The link that @kitap shared has a pretty good summary. Others will add to this, but the general characteristics of a Wisconsin supper club are: > > . . . > > - Relish trays… Relish trays! Now there’s a term (and an item) I haven’t heard anybody else speak of for years. I’ve never been to Wisconsin, and I doubt that my Dad had either, but he used the term. He worked in the dining cars of the Canadian National Railway for a number of years, and remembers serving train passengers relish trays. In fact, he always made sure that “important” dinners at our house, for example, Christmas and Thanksgiving, always had a relish tray on the table. My (now ex-) wife had never heard of them, and neither had my sister’s husband, but after a few “important” dinners at Dad’s they grew to like them. Even though my Christmas dinners in recent years have been solo, I still put together a small relish tray. It wouldn’t be Christmas dinner without it. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/42 "2020-09-28T12:28:42Z")
Pools Cuba Club ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/43 "2020-09-28T17:48:56Z")
My grandparents lived in Waterford, and we’d visit from Kansas for a couple weeks every summer. We’d go to the Cottonpicker in Burlington at least 2 times each trip, making sure we got in at least 1 fish fry. I can remember sitting in the waiting room near the bar, while the adults had brandy old fashioneds. I certainly resented having to dress up for dinner - we were on vacation ferchrissake! But I also loved being in the back room, with all my cousins and aunts and uncles and family friends all seated at the longest table I’ve seen, drinking Roy Rogers, collecting the little plastic swords they speared the cherries with, and surreptitiously catapulting pats of butter across the room from a carefully folded linen napkin. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/44 "2020-09-28T17:54:47Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > > > Damfino, I was a kid. I thought it was cherry juice from the maraschino cherries, I would never have heard of grenadine syrup at age 6. Not until I was in HS. > > That’s what I thought as a kid and I’d been no where near Wisconson A Shirley Temple is made with grenadine. A Roy Rogers is a Shirley Temple with cola added. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/45 "2020-09-28T17:58:08Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Relish trays! Now there’s a term (and an item) I haven’t heard anybody else speak of for years. I had to google it. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/46 "2020-09-28T18:00:48Z")
I’ve always wanted to go to one. If I’m not mistaken, they exist in other states in the Midwest? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/47 "2020-09-28T18:39:40Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > If I’m not mistaken, they exist in other states in the Midwest? Yes. We ate at one in/near Escanaba where they were especially particular about “food sharing”. We kept saying, “Stop looking at my plate, we’ll get busted!” But that is almost just a suburb of Wisconsin. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/48 "2020-09-28T18:50:02Z")
I listen to a fly fishing podcast and the hosts always spend a lot of time talking about where they eat after their day on the water. When theY fish the Driftless Region, they always talk about going to supper clubs. It just contours up images of comfort food and warmth. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/49 "2020-09-28T19:14:48Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Relish trays! Now there’s a term (and an item) I haven’t heard anybody else speak of for years. I never heard of the term till now, but it turns out I’ve seen them and just didn’t know they were called that. My first assumption was wrong because I took it too literally: A tray with relish…like the stuff you put on a not dog. I recall this awesome steakhouse in Milwaukee ( ‘Butch’s’? ) and the spread of olives, pickles and such that they brought out would be a vegetarian gut busting meal in itself. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/50 "2020-09-28T19:27:44Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I’ve always wanted to go to one. If I’m not mistaken, they exist in other states in the Midwest? As @eschereal noted about one in the UP, and @MissTake noted about one in Minnesota, you can find a Wisconsin-style supper club outside of the Badger State, but I suspect that the closer the location is to Wisconsin (either physically or attitudinally), the better the odds. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/51 "2020-09-28T19:40:27Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > I never heard of the term till now, but it turns out I’ve seen them and just didn’t know they were called that. Same here; my mother’s mother always had a tray with olives and assorted pickles for special occasions. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/52 "2020-09-28T19:59:15Z")
At Smokey’s in Madison, they had, cottage cheese with fennel seeds, green onions, celery, carrot sticks and radishes. ( I haven’t been there for years)I’ve been to places up north in Wisconsin that had those tea type carriers, stacked with three plates including, deviled eggs, gherkins, pickled beets, and cheese dip! ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/53 "2020-09-28T20:21:01Z")
My grandparents lived in Wisconsin, and my parents moved back there after they retired, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been to a proper supper club. Or maybe I have and I just didn’t realize it. I do remember a restaurant we used to go to with my grandparents that definitely had that sort of atmosphere. It overlooked Castle Rock Lake west of Adams-Friendship, definitely had that dark wood paneled decor, and a menu consisting of things like fried fish and prime rib. I don’t remember relish trays, though. I don’t remember what it was called, and I can’t find anyplace that looks like it on Google Maps (I’m pretty sure it was somewhere along County Highway Z), so I have no idea if it’s still there. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/54 "2020-09-28T20:25:17Z")
@WildaBeast: my wife’s family used to have a cabin right in that area, on the west side of the lake (just north of where County G hits WI 58). Even if they might not have had a relish tray, that sounds like it ws probably a supper club! ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/55 "2020-09-28T20:46:27Z")
Now I’m thinking it was most likely [Carlson’s Rustic Ridge](https://rusticridgervresort.com/). The place looks nothing like how I remember it, but if you read the blurb about their history at the very bottom of the menu (which I can’t copy and past from because it’s a jpeg image), it sounds like they only recently expanded the place into a resort/campground and remodeled the resturant. But the description of the former restaurant that the current owner’s parents opened in 1985 “serving mid-western supper club staples” sounds a lot like what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/56 "2020-09-28T21:11:40Z")
That’s my point. Restaurants are the broad category. So while a diner is a subset of restaurants, if I described a diner and someone said oh, that’s just a restaurant, that would not be an accurate description. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/57 "2020-09-28T22:42:27Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Same here; my mother’s mother always had a tray with olives and assorted pickles for special occasions. Isn’t it the law? I seriously cannot remember any holiday or get together without a relish tray. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/58 "2020-09-29T01:53:31Z")
We have things that closely resemble relish trays in much of the rest of the country. The common name I hear for them is “crudité”. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/59 "2020-09-29T02:46:37Z")
In my experience, crudités are cut up veggies and often with dip. Relish trays are pickles olives, gardenia salad etc. We always had both at holiday meals. Crudités were appetizers and relish trays were on the table with meal. Seems like these supper club relish trays went above and beyond the humble plate of olives and pickles, and were served more like appetizers than accompaniments. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630/60 "2020-09-29T04:30:22Z")
New theory debuting right here: Relish trays evolved into the tradition of topping a Bloody Mary with veggies and cheese and olives and dozens of miscellaneous “relishings”. My favorite Wisconsin tavern does a great Fish Fry… and a Bloody with “half the produce section on top”… bet they wouldn’t have without “The Relish Tray” in their DNA from way back in their (supper club) past. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-wisconsin-supper-clubs/921630.md?page=4)