Kropp's Supper Club, Mill Center - Wednesday May 30, 2018

Located in the unincorporated village of Mill Center, northwest of Green Bay, the Kropp’s Supper Club building dates back to 1904 and was originally a tavern, food and lodging establishment for weary travelers in horse-drawn wagons to stop on the way to and from Green Bay.  The Kropp family has owned the supper club since 1947.   They are open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings, and from 3-8 on Sundays following noon home Packer games.

We arrived around 7pm when a large group of senior citizens, quite a bit older than us, was just leaving, all with smiles on their faces and small boxes of leftovers in hand, always a good sign.  The long bar and tables in the barroom were pretty full with what seemed to be a lot of “regulars” and some families with children but we managed to find two seats at the bar.   

As soon as we sat down, the bartender, Gillie, who is a Kropp son-in-law, approached us for our drink order. The old fashioneds were very good. We got the impression that Gillie has been there just about every night, on one side of the bar or the other, for the past twenty plus years. Paul, one of the regulars sitting next to us, told us that the Supper Club was for sale.  He added that the historic building, which adds a lot of charm to the experience, may pose a challenge in terms of updates required to bring it up to code for a new buyer. Another patron was lamenting the fact that his wife took him to the Men’s Wearhouse and made him spend $60.00 on a pair of “designer” blue jeans when he could have got just as good a pair at Fleet Farm for $14.99.

Gillie gave us menus to look over while we waited for a table to open up in the dining room.  A sign by the cash register said that unfortunately frog legs, one of their specialties, were not available due to a nationwide shortage.  Another menu offering that we hadn’t seen before was perch with bones (in season).  Gillie said they fry the perch whole rather than fillet it, preserving its flavor. Unfortunately the bone-in perch would not be available until the following week.

After a short wait a waitress came and took our order. The menu offered two scallop entrees, breaded and gourmet battered. On Gillie’s recommendation, Ann chose the gourmet scallops with homemade potato salad as a side and the garden salad with bleu cheese dressing. I opted for the ribeye with fries and a cup of chicken dumpling soup.

We headed into one of the small dining rooms when our table was ready. Our meals were very good, as expected, with special commendations to the potato salad and chicken soup in particular. We are going to have to return again when the perch with bones is in season. Kropp’s had a lot of character and a lot of characters. Definitely glad we stopped in.