Geno's Hilltop Steakhouse, Black Creek - Thursday May 24, 2018

This evening we drove north from Appleton to Geno’s Hilltop Steakhouse on Old Highway 47 between Black Creek and Bonduel.  We arrived at about 6:30 and the friendly barroom was fairly busy.   A couple families with small children drinking kiddie cocktails were seated at tables in the barroom, typical in Wisconsin and no place else.  We sat at the L-shaped bar and Paul ordered his usual BOFS, but I went with a short vodka tonic since the weather was so warm.  The bartender noted the specials and provided us with menus.

 

We talked with the bartender and she informed us that Geno, who purchased the supper club in 1999, sold it to his daughter Nicole a couple of years ago. Now Geno only comes in to work on Wednesdays so we missed him by a night.  She didn’t know much else about the history of the place other than it had been around for a while and was most recently called Kelly’s Steakhouse and before that Steve’s Steakhouse, or vice versa.

    

When we were ready to order, a waitress appeared at the bar.  The menu offered several combination dinners and Paul decided on the deep fried haddock/sirloin steak combo with a twice baked potato.  I ordered the Cajun haddock and American fries with cheese and onions.   The waitress soon reappeared and said we could go to table 10 whenever we were ready. 

The small dining room, like the bar, featured knotty pine paneling, and had only 10 tables, with the soup and salad bar prominently featured in the center of the room.  It looked like there was another dining area in back that they could open up on a busier night if necessary.  The soups were beef vegetable and clam chowder.  Paul enjoyed the beef vegetable and I skipped the soup.  The salad bar included cheese spreads and liver pate’, as well as all the typical items and my favorites: beets, sunflower seeds and crumbly bleu cheese.   All the food was excellent.  The Cajun haddock was done perfectly and the cheese on the American fries was just right, not overwhelming.

     

Geno’s Hilltop Steakhouse was a fabulous surprise and provided for a nice relaxing evening.  The unremarkable building is actually on top of some small rolling hills and represents everything great about Wisconsin’s rural supper clubs.  Excellent food and service at a family owned establishment on a quiet country road on a nice summer evening.  Can’t beat it!