The One That Has It All: The Fireside Supper Club

There are so many wonderful supper clubs in and around Rhinelander, Wisconsin:   Shady Sue's (see my blog post on this restaurant), Al-Gen, The White Stag Inn, Silver Birch, Bootleggers, just to name a few.  (Even The New York Times has sung the praises of a few of our supper clubs in this article.)

So given that this might be our last extended visit in the Northwoods for a while, it would seem to be a hard choice to just pick a few.  

But for me, my "last supper" had to be at The Fireside Supper Club.  

First, there is the view.  The Fireside Club, usually referred to by locals as just "Fireside," is located on Townline Lake which is a small lake just a few miles east of Rhinelander.  Even when the view of the lake from the dining room is partially hidden, it is obscured by beautiful Northwoods pine and hardwood trees, the latter which burst forth in color in the fall.

For many of us "old timers," Townline Lake conjures up memories apart from the restaurant.  When was I was in junior high back in the 1960s, Townline Lake was THE swimming lake of choice.  

At that time, the area in front of Fireside (then known as Lee's Fireside) was a sandy man-made beach.  Since the lake was so close to town, mothers routinely dropped off carloads of teenagers at Townline Lake for the day. 

There we lolled the day away swimming, floating on blow-up rafts, and, slathered in baby oil and with Sun-In our hair, sunning on beach towels with transistor radios blaring.  

Now, the beach area has been allowed to return to its natural weedy state which makes it perfect for fishing.

The staff at Fireside, always welcoming and efficient, is another reason this is one of our favorite supper clubs. 

Earl and Margo Morey have been the owners since 1989, and Margo is  often the hostess, always patient and unflappable even when dealing with the Friday night fish fry crowd.  Margo and I attended Trinity Lutheran Church and Rhinelander High School together, so I always feel like I'm walking into a friend's home when we visit the restaurant.  

The waitstaff and bartenders are also exceptional, and we have been waited on by some of the same waiters for years. 

While we have enjoyed countless fish fries at Fireside, for this special meal we chose a quieter week day, and once again we remembered how Fireside is just "more."

As we sipped our cocktails, we sampled the cracker basket.  Then we were quickly served crispy, well-garnished salads.   

At Fireside, you also get a small basked of assorted warm dinner breads with your salad, and that night I couldn't resist the bite-sized cornbread muffins which were slightly sweet.  

Then came our SECOND course which at Fireside means a choice of soup or juice.  My husband always orders the piping hot French onion soup.  He invariably burns his mouth because he can't wait to dig into the broiled cheese crown.  

I usually pass on the soup/juice course, but this night I couldn't resist the fantastic beef and dumpling soup.  It was filled with lots of tender beef and small, toothsome dumplings.

My husband and I usually try to avoid ordering the same entrée, but this night we both had to have one of the day's specials which was rainbow trout.  

While I chose the side of steamed vegetables and my husband chose the baked potato, the star of the meal was clearly the trout.  

Pan-fried to perfection, the trout was perhaps the juiciest fish I've ever had.  When I poked my fork in for the first bite, it literally squirted--in a good way.  

The beautiful, tender pink flesh was mild and reminded me of salmon.  (It was just as good the next day!)

What better way to end this wonderful meal than with an after-dinner ice cream drink?  We had been watching the expert bartender prepare these all evening, and we knew had to get in on the action.  

We sat at the bar to better observe the making of the Banana Banshee the bartender prepared for us to share.  

She filled the industrial blender to the top with scoops of vanilla ice cream before adding the vodka, creme de cacao, banana liqueur and heavy cream and then whirring it to icy perfection.

"Perfection" is a good word with which to end this restaurant recap because this meal, as with all the meals we've enjoyed at Fireside over the years, was exactly that.   

Downtown Dining: The Brick

For several years, I have sadly observed that downtown Rhinelander is not what it used to be.

When I was a child, Brown Street, the main street, was the place to see and be seen especially on a Friday night when all the angled parking places on both sides of the street would be full.

Families, couples, and groups of teenagers would walk up and down this three-to-four-block "strip" stopping in at the several banks, clothing stores, drug stores, and diners or cafes that lined the street.

It was not unusual to see people sitting in their cars just watching the people walk by.  And in the winter, it was not unusual to see empty and unlocked cars parked and idling while their owners shopped and then returned to warm cars.

And let's not ignore the bars.  

On this three-block stretch alone, I bet I could count at least a half-dozen bars, and that doesn't even include the side streets off of Brown Street:  Pat's, The Elbow Room, The Nortthwestern, just to name a few.  

While there are still a good number of bars in downtown Rhinelander, today it seems that every third storefront on Brown Street is empty and available for sale or rent.  

However, recently there has been a fine-dining renaissance of sorts in the few blocks that comprises downtown Rhinelander.

One such restaurant is The Brick which we've had the pleasure to eat at several times on trips home.

At the entry of the restaurant, there is--you guessed it--a spacious bar.  Even though The Brick takes reservations most of the time, they do not take reservations on Friday night for what I like to call the "Northern Wisconsin Eucharist"--the fish fry.  So the bars of most restaurants can be quite lively on a Friday night.  

The dining room is to the left of the bar and, while pleasant enough, seems to have lost a little something in polish.  Gone are the white table cloths The Brick used to use leaving bare, institutional restaurant tables.   However, the service remains friendly and attentive.

For his first course, my husband ordered the soup of the day, a creamy vegetable soup.  It was rich and flavorful and served with both oyster crackers and a tiny baguette.

My salad had a shower of shredded red cabbage and carrots to add a nice crunchy layer to the greens.  It also came with a tiny baguette.

For his main course, my husband ordered a dish that he and I have enjoyed several times here--the pork schnitzel.  However, this time the dish was slightly disappointing.  

While the schnitzel was a large portion, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, our waiter informed us that it no longer came with sweet-and-sour cabbage, a favorite German side dish of ours.  The waiter also informed us that the spaetzle was from a package.  The gravy on the spaetzle also tasted "canned," for lack of a better word.

Fortunately for me, my entrée was superb. Described as "Skewered Jamaican Grilled Shrimp" on the menu, it consisted of eight large shrimp seasoned with jerk seasoning and served over a pineapple salsa which had nice touches of diced jalapeño and red peppers and cilantro.  This is a dish I definitely want to eat again.

Two other notable fine-dining restaurants near here are Brown Street 151, which we've tried and enjoyed, and the newly-opened Historic Davenport Restaurant which we've heard great things about.

My hope is that excellent restaurants like these will help downtown Rhinelander make a comeback.

A View & a Side Car: The Boathouse

After co-owning a house on Lake Emma just outside of my hometown Rhinelander, Wisconsin, I and two of my sisters found it to be, sadly, time to sell this property.  So my trip home this summer was bittersweet.  I'm sure I'll be back to the Northwoods some day, but for now I wanted to celebrate some of the wonderful meals we had this summer with this, the second of several blog entries.

If you live in northern Wisconsin, chances are pretty good that you go to Minocqua at least once a year, especially during summer or what we call "tourist season."

In many ways, Minocqua, which is about an hour north of my hometown of Rhinelander, is the quintessential tourist town, not unlike a miniature version of, say, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  

Along Minocqua's four- or-five-block main street are bars, restaurants, and souvenir, fudge and popcorn shops.  

However, nestled between several very large lakes, this Northwoods city is in the perfect location for dining-with- a-view, as several of its restaurants are perched on the water's edge.  

One of our favorite lunch places is The Boathouse, formerly known as Bosackis's.  

While I've never had a bad meal here, the main attraction is sitting in the porch section of the restaurant and looking out at Lake Minocqua.  When we dined here, we were entertained by watching the local Min-Aqua Bats Ski Club practice their jumps and mounts.  

I had a very fresh and tasty Greek salad.  On top of the crispy greens were red onion rings, grape tomatoes, Kalamata olives, crumbled feta cheese, and a dusting of Parmesan.  This salad also had, to my liking, a generous portion of pepperoncini peppers.  I like to bite the "heads" off of these and sprinkle the juice on my salads for a little extra zing.

My husband had the sandwich called The Boathouse.  The good-sized serving of roast beef was topped with sauteéd mushrooms and onions and melted provolone cheese.  He said the sandwich was delicious and rivaled the roast beef version of the signature South Louisiana sandwich the po' boy.  Served au jus, it also came with a serving of coleslaw, his favorite side, and Italian pasta salad.  

The Boathouse also boasts a very visually impressive, even regal, bar.  Many of the bars in northern Wisconsin have similar statement-making bars.

Which leads me to the Bloody Marys.

If there is a trifecta of Wisconsin cocktails, it would consist of 1) an Old Fashioned, 2) any after-dinner ice cream drink, and 3) a Bloody Mary.

I like to think of a Wisconsin Bloody Mary as a salad, or sometimes a meal, in a glass.  Garnishes usually consist of an olive, a celery stalk and a pickle spear.  

This one also included a pepperoncini and a sausage stick, but I've also had cheese cubes, a strip of bacon, a piece of beef jerky, and/or a boiled shrimp in my Bloody Mary.  I once went to a bar in Milwaukee which garnished their Bloody Marys with a beef slider on a skewer!

And then there is the "side car."  

At The Boathouse, and many other places in Wisconsin, you get a small beer chaser to accompany your Bloody Mary.  

Some places just give you the cheapest beer on tap, but at The Boathouse the waiter offered us a list of at least seven options.  Clearly Wisconsites are particular about their side cars.

Having a Bloody Mary at The Boathouse on this visit reminded me of a previous meal we had here when a man at a table of people adjacent to us asked us if we were having whiskey with our Bloody Marys.  

(Even though it was 11:30 in the morning, that would not be outside the realm of possibility in northern Wisconsin.)

We explained that, no, it was beer, but the question alone made it clear that these people were not from Wisconsin.  

They were probably from Illinois.

But I tried not to hold that against them.  

A Supper Club is not a Club: Shady Sue's

After co-owning a house on Lake Emma just outside of my hometown Rhinelander, Wisconsin, I and two of my sisters found it to be, sadly, time to sell this property.  So my trip home this summer was bittersweet.  I'm sure I'll be back to the Northwoods some day, but for now I wanted to celebrate some of the wonderful meals we had this summer with this, the first of several blog entries.

Shady Sue's is a supper club.  If you're not from the Midwest, you might ask, "What is a supper club?"  And in some ways, that's a difficult question to answer.

Some food historians say that the term originated either during Prohibition or after when liquor licenses were granted to dining establishments outside of city limits.

Although you don't have to be a "member" of a supper club to dine there, these usually family-owned restaurants perpetuate a strong sense of place, history and community.

(For a more complete and thoughtful exploration of supper clubs, I suggest The Supper Club Book: A Celebration of a Midwest Tradition by Dave Hoekstra.)

Not unlike many Northwoods supper clubs, the bar at Shady Sue's takes up most of the restaurant's space.  This large horseshoe is surrounded by a semi-circle of dining tables that seat, at most, 40 diners.

Although you can make reservations at many supper clubs, I prefer not to because sitting at the bar, ordering a cocktail, perusing the menu while you wait for your table is, to me, part of the whole supper-club experience.

My husband and I did just that--sat at the bar until a table was ready for us.  Ordering a martini and an Old Fashioned, we didn't mind that the bartender, an older, serious gentleman, told us we'd have a 45-minute wait.

But first, the Old Fashioned--the signature drink of many supper clubs and the unofficial state cocktail of Wisconsin. (Check out this article for confirmation of that claim.) This cocktail is a combination of liquor, sugar or simple syrup, bitters, mixer, and a garnish and is usually served on ice.  

However, an Old Fashioned needs to be ordered properly.  

First, you name your liquor.  Brandy is the preferred option (Wisconsin consumes more brandy than any other state in the U.S.), but bourbon is a second option.  Any thing else (gin, tequila) is just not an Old Fashioned, in most people's opinion.  

Then you name the drink:  Old Fashioned.  Then you name your mixer.  "Sweet" means 7-Up, "sour" means sour mix, "soda" is seltzer, and "press" is a mix of seltzer and lemon-lime soda.  

So a common and correct order would be, "I'd like a brandy Old Fashioned sweet."  

After that, your bartender will probably ask you what you want for a garnish--the traditional orange slice and maraschino cherry (often muddled in the bottom of the glass) or, less commonly, olives or mushrooms, which I think is just wrong.

I ordered a martini, another supper club classic--gin, dry, slightly dirty--and we proceeded to settle in for a comfortable wait.

Another older couple were sitting at the bar on the right side of the "horseshoe," and the husband turned to me and asked, "How did you find this place?"

When I said, "I grew up here," I didn't mean that I grew up in Rhinelander.  I literally meant that I grew up at this bar in this restaurant.  

Shady Sue's, formerly known as South 17, was a favorite dining spot for my parents back in the 50s and 60s.  The owners back then, Ted and Emily Perlberg, would even let my parents "park" me in a back room in my bassinet while they ate their dinner.  

Some of my earliest childhood memories are of sitting at the bar, pretty much where I was sitting there this night, with my family.  I particularly remember sitting next to my dad's mom and begging her for the liquor-soaked cherries from her Manhattan.  

This is probably where I and most of my siblings fell in love with shrimp as South 17's were deep-fried, delicious, and served with a very horseradish-y cocktail sauce.  

When we were seated, on the table was the ubiquitous supper club basket of crackers and bread sticks, here with a honey-butter spread.  It's not gourmet, but it does help take the edge off the hunger while you wait for your first course.

For his first course, my husband chose the soup of the day which was a creamy house-made mushroom soup.  

I chose the house salad.  Gone are the days of the supper club iceberg lettuce salad.  My salad consisted of an assortment of greens, baby carrots, sliced radishes, sliced mushrooms, and sliced peppers.  Dressing on the side, thank you.

For his entrée my husband chose the perch and said it was tender, mild-flavored and crispy.  OK, the crinkle-cut French fries were probably not house-made, but note the little "turned carrot" garnish. 

I went for the . . . shrimp.  These were not shrimp.  These were mini-lobsters!  My husband keeps insisting they were "langostinos."  All I know is that they were HUGE and perfectly cooked.  I only wish they had been served with a hot butter dip.  I will dream of these for a long time!

The appropriate ending for a meal at a supper club is an ice cream drink.  Not many restaurants or bars in the South do a proper ice cream drink--lots of ice cream and booze whirred up in an industrial-strength blender.  

(Ice cream drink sidebar:  When I was a kid, my parents gave me two birthday celebration options:  a party with my friends or a dinner out with them by myself.  As the oldest of five children,I usually chose the dinner alone with my parents.  More than once, my birthday dinner ended with generous sips from a Grasshopper.  Don't judge.  Those were simpler times, people.)

At Shady Sue's you can choose from a Grasshopper, a Pink Squirrel, or a Golden Cadillac, just to name a few.  We chose to share a Brandy Alexander, and it was as beautiful as it was tasty.  

When, in the not too distant future we hope, we return to visit Rhinelander, Wisconsin, I will undoubtedly return to this classic supper club.

Mardi Gras 2018!

Parades.  Parties.  Balls. Costumes. Masks. Beads. Doubloons. King Cakes.  

Mardi Gras is a festive time in Louisiana.  And what a better time to gather some good friends together for a dinner celebrating some of our distinctive flavors! 

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

A Mardi Gras Dinner Party Menu

Muffaletta Bruschetta

Mardi Gras Salad with Red Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette

Crawfish Étouffée

Corn Maque Choux

Amaretto Bread Pudding

Muffaletta Bruschetta

I posted this recipe a while back, but it remains a hit and is full of the flavors of the quintessential southern Louisiana sandwich, the muffaletta (sometimes spelled muffuletta).

Source:  original recipe

Yield:  20+ pieces

Ingredients:

1 c. purchased olive salad (I use Boscoli)

½ c. salami, diced (I used Genoa)

½ c. smoked Gouda or provolone, diced

1 baguette

olive oil

1 clove garlic, sliced lengthwise in half

Since the salad is rather oily, I put it in a wire-mesh strainer, spray it with hot water, let it drain, and blot additional moisture with paper towels.  Combine the olive salad with the salami and cheese.  Set aside. (The topping mixture can be prepared ahead.  Refrigerate if preparing more than an hour before serving.) 

Preheat oven to 350°.  Slice the baguette, slightly on the diagonal, into ½-inch slices.  Place bread slices on a large cookie sheet.  Brush each slice with a small amount of the olive oil.  Bake in the oven until the tops are beginning to crisp but the bread still gives to the touch.  Remove from oven and let cool until you can touch the bread.   While the bread is warm, rub each slice with the cut side of the garlic.  Start a new garlic clove halve if the first one starts to disintegrate.  (The bread can be prepared a few hours before assembly and left at room temperature.)

To assemble, top each slice of bread with a heaping tablespoon of the olive salad mixture.  Return the bruschetta to the oven and heat for about five minutes or until the cheese begins to melt.  Serve immediately. 

Mardi Gras Salad

The stars of this salad are red and golden baby beets.  Arranging the beets on a bed of greens results in a vivid display of Mardi Gras colors.  The salad dressing features a popular southern Louisiana condiment--pepper jelly.

Source:  original recipe

Yield:  6 servings, with leftover dressing

Salad Ingredients:

4 red baby beets, trimmed & washed
4 golden baby beets, trimmed & washed
olive olive
10 oz. pre-washed salad greens (preferably a spring mix with some purple lettuces

½ -¾ c. chopped green onions, green part only

½ Spicer Pecans (see recipe index under "Appetizers")

4 oz. feta cheese crumbles

Process:

To roast beets, preheat oven to 400°.  Place red beets on a square of heavy-duty aluminum foil.  Drizzle with olive oil and "massage" the oil over the beets.  Fold the ends of the foil to form a package.  Place the package on a baking sheet.  Repeat with the golden beets.  Bake for 30-45 minutes, checking for tenderness with a sharp knife.  Cool beets.  Rub beets with paper towels to remove skin.  Halve beets and slice in 1/4-inch slices.  (This can be done a day ahead, but store red and golden beets separately.

To assemble salad, place salad greens (enough for 6 servings) in a large bowl and lightly dress with salad dressing (recipe follows).  Divide the greens among 6 salad plates.  Arrange sliced beets on top of salads.  Sprinkle salads with green onions, pecans and feta cheese. 

Red Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette

Source:  original recipe

Yield: about 1 cup

Ingredients:

½ c. red pepper jelly (such as Tabasco brand)

¼ c. red wine vinegar

1 tsp. sugar

½ tsp. Creole mustard

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

¼ c. canola oil

Process:

Melt the pepper jelly in a bowl in the microwave or in a small saucepan.  Combine the melted jelly with the next 6 ingredients with a whisk.  Slowly whisk in the canola oil in a steady stream.

Crawfish Étouffée

Mardi Gras is early this year, so crawfish season hasn't quite begun.  But frozen crawfish tails (I only buy Louisiana crawfish) are readily available, and crawfish étouffée is a wonderful way to get your "fix" before the boiled ones are available.  

"Étouffée" is French for "smothered" and around here usually refers to a seafood "stew" served over rice.  This dish is smothered in goodness!  In the past, I have made this dish with a blonde roux, but I felt it just didn't have the depth of flavor I wanted.  So this recipe begins with a darker roux and is a melding of two recipes with a few of my own touches here and there.  

Source:  My Recipes.com and John Folse's recipe

Yield:  8 servings

Ingredients:

1 T. paprika
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
½ c. vegetable oil
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 medium-sized onion, chopped (approx. 1 c.)
½ c. chopped celery
½ green pepper, chopped
½ red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeds & ribs removed, diced
½  c. diced tomatoes
2 T. diced garlic
½  c. tomato sauce
2 pounds frozen peeled crawfish tails, thawed and rinsed
2 quarts (or less) crawfish stock of unsalted chicken broth
1 oz. dry sherry
1 c. chopped green onions (green part only)
½  c. chopped parsley
2 tsp. hot sauce
S & P to taste

Process:

Stir together the first five ingredients in a small bowl.

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat.  Add flour and stir well to combine.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly, until roux is the color of caramel sauce, about 20 minutes.

Add onions and saute until they are translucent and slightly caramelized.  Add the celery and peppers.  Cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic, spice mixture and tomato sauce.  Cook 2 minutes.  Add the crawfish tails.

Slowly add the stock or broth, a little at a time, until sauce consistency is achieved.  (I usually don’t use all of it.)  Continue adding more stock as necessary to retain consistency.  Boiling to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cook thirty minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sherry, green onions and parsley, and hot sauce and cook an additional five minutes. Season to taste using salt and pepper.  Serve over white rice with extra hot sauce.

Corn Maque Choux

This dish is said to have Creole and Native American roots.  Some recipes add andouille sausage, but I like this all-vegetable version.  The cream adds a lovely richness.

Source:  Bon Appetit, October 2008

Yield:  4 servings (I doubled this)

Ingredients:

2 T. (1/4 stick) butter
1 c. finely chopped onion (I used less)
1/2 c. chopped red bell pepper
2 c. fresh corn kernels (cut from 3 medium ears of corn)
3/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
1/2 tsp. (or more) hot pepper sauce
1 green onion, green part finely chopped
1/2 finely chopped jalapeño, ribs and seeds removed
2 T. chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 T. chopped fresh basil
Coarse kosher salt

Process:

Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add bell pepper; sauté until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.  Add corn; sauté 2 minutes.  Add cream, thyme, and 1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce.  Simmer until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.  Mix in green onion, parsley, and basil.  Season to taste with coarse salt, pepper, and more hot pepper sauce, if desired.  

Amaretto Bread Pudding

I have made this bread pudding so many times, some people mistakenly think it's an original recipe.  I wish it was because it's the best bread pudding I've ever had.  I could eat the sauce just by itself.  Although once I made 4 pans for an engagement party, for this dinner party I made 2/3 of the recipe, and those measurements are in parentheses.  

Source:  Kay Ewing’s Cooking School Cookbook  (process modified)

Yield:  12 servings (6 servings in 11 X 7)

Ingredients:

12 pieces of sliced bread (1 loaf of Albertson’s French bread) (2/3 loaf)

4 c. milk (2 2/3 c.)

¼ c. butter (2 2/3 T.)

3 eggs (2)

1 ½ c. sugar (1 c.)

2 tsp. almond extract (1 1/3 tsp.)

½ c. sliced almonds (optional)

Sauce:

½ c. butter

1 c. powdered sugar

1 egg

¼ c. Amaretto

Preheat oven to 350°.  Tear up bread into a 13 X 9 pan-inch (could spray with Pam).  Heat milk and butter until butter melts.  (I do this in a large Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave).  Beat eggs in a large bowl; add sugar and almond extract.  Stir in milk-butter mixture.  Pour over bread and press bread until thoroughly saturated with the milk mixture.  (Sprinkle with almonds if using.)  Bake about 40 minutes until set.

To make sauce, melt butter and powdered sugar in a small saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat and quickly whisk in 1 egg.  Stir in Amaretto and beat (I whisk) until smooth.

To serve, cut bread pudding into squares and top with sauce.  Serve warm, even if made ahead.  (Can be reheated in microwave.)