A Chicago-Area Supper Club With Steak, Walleye and a Lodge-Like Glow

A basket of complimentary bread and onion-scented butter is a good way to begin here. It sets a generous, old-school tone before the plates of ribs, steak, fried fish and big comfort-food sides start arriving.

This Chicago-area restaurant borrows its mood from a classic Northwoods supper club: warm, rustic, sociable and built for lingering over dinner. The cabin-like interior, wall photographs and other decorative touches give the room more personality than a standard steakhouse, while the broad American menu keeps the decision-making pleasantly difficult.

It can be a casual lunch stop for tomato bisque and a burger, but it also handles the more formal business of birthdays, anniversary dinners, work gatherings and large family meals. There is enough room, enough food and enough menu range to make a mixed group feel well accommodated.

The layout offers a few different versions of the evening. Spacious dining rooms are suited to a full supper-club meal, while the separate barroom gives a visit a more relaxed starting point. Booths, counter seating and conventional tables provide still more ways to settle in.

When the weather is agreeable, the outdoor patio adds another dining option. Inside, the energy can range from quiet to lively depending on the hour, though the dining rooms generally remain workable for conversation even when business picks up.

Thick cloth napkins are one of those small details that suit the setting. They are not essential to enjoying a burger or fish sandwich, of course, but they reinforce the sense that lunch can be treated with a little ceremony here.

Steak is a central reason to come, with choices that include filet, skirt steak and other steakhouse-style cuts. The parmesan-crusted skirt steak has been a particularly good choice, especially when paired with a server’s guidance through the menu.

For diners with a bigger appetite, the Wagyu beef ribs and barbecue ribs take the meal in a more indulgent direction. The ribs are tender and meaty, with a smoky barbecue sauce that stays balanced rather than turning the plate overly sweet.

Brisket and corned beef broaden the meat-heavy selection without making the menu feel like a one-note steak list. The corned beef has a notably deep flavor, and it fits neatly into the restaurant’s comfort-food approach.

The steakhouse meatloaf is not a timid little slice. It arrives as a substantial slab of beef with fresh green beans and seasoned mashed potatoes, the sort of plate that can easily become tomorrow’s lunch as well as tonight’s dinner.

That generous scale runs throughout the menu. A meal here does not require a special occasion, but it does reward an appetite—or a willingness to take home leftovers.

The fish choices keep the restaurant from becoming all beef and barbecue. Walleye fish and chips, lake perch, salmon and a fish sandwich give the menu a useful lake-country streak.

The walleye is battered and fried to order. Its platter has at times come with potato chips instead of thick-cut fries, an unexpectedly casual companion for such a classic fish dinner; fries can be requested in their place.

The fish sandwich makes a strong lunch option, with a crisp exterior, flaky fish inside, hot fries and fresh coleslaw. Lake perch is another appealing choice for anyone who likes a breaded, fried fish preparation without committing to a steak-sized entrée.

The side-dish list gives a diner plenty to work with: garlic mashed potatoes, au gratin potatoes, macaroni and cheese, steamed spinach, corn and house salad all have a place at the table. A plate can go full supper-club comfort, or it can be tempered with something green.

The house salad and chopped salad offer crisp, fresher counterpoints to ribs and meatloaf. Salmon is another lighter route through the menu, and the veggie burger gives a vegetarian diner a genuine main-dish option rather than a reluctant afterthought.

Tomato bisque has become a memorable soup selection. It is a particularly sensible opening at lunch, perhaps followed by a burger served with an onion roll, but it also works when the rest of the table is ordering more elaborate dinners.

A supper-club table benefits from a few things to pass around, and the appetizer selection provides several. Wisconsin cheese curds, fried bites with ranch, buffalo wings and fried calamari cover the satisfying fried-and-shareable territory.

The calamari has a crisp batter with tender squid inside, avoiding the rubbery fate that can befall this appetizer. Buffalo wings arrive with a notably loose blue-cheese dip, a small quirk that may matter to those who prefer dipping rather than spreading.

Steak skewers can also move the opening course closer to the main event. With so many substantial entrées ahead, though, a table may want to show a little restraint. Or not.

A cherry Old Fashioned is well suited to the restaurant’s warm barroom character, especially before a steak or ribs dinner. Beer drinkers can find familiar choices such as Hamm’s, and a burger-and-beer lunch remains a perfectly respectable way to use the place.

Dessert is not an afterthought. Key lime pie comes in a notably large portion, while a cookie skillet and a sundae offer more shareable ways to finish. The pie’s size alone may encourage a table to order one spoon-friendly finale rather than several separate desserts.

The menu covers enough territory that an informed recommendation can be genuinely useful, and the service is known for providing it without turning the meal into a sales pitch. Staff members help diners sort through steaks, fish, salads and heavier comfort-food plates with a clear sense of what each person is after.

The pace is attentive but not intrusive, which suits a place used for conversation. It works as well for a couple deciding between walleye and skirt steak as for a family table trying to coordinate appetizers, sides and desserts.

This is a restaurant that has been used for milestone dinners and workplace celebrations, and its seating options make that easy to picture. Larger parties can spread out in the dining rooms rather than feeling wedged into a bar-only setting.

A party of 12 has been served hot food at the same time, an encouraging sign for anyone planning a group meal around individually ordered entrées. The menu also helps: a guest who wants salmon or salad does not have to order in the same spirit as the person ready for barbecue ribs and macaroni and cheese.

Reservations vary with the day and the hour. Walk-ins can work at some times, while dinner and larger groups are better occasions to reserve ahead.

There is a free parking lot, and street parking is also mentioned, though availability can vary. Once inside, diners have a range of seating choices: dining-room tables, booths, counter seats, the bar area and the patio.