52 Supper Clubs in 52 Weeks

Tonight we ventured to the other end of the lake to Biggar’s Supper Club in Winneconne.   After a long and windy detour of Main Street in Winneconne, we arrived around 7:30.   The attractive barroom had several friendly patrons enjoying the evening.   The bartender, Dennis Biggar, owns the Supper Club with his wife Barb.   The restaurant has a history dating back to 1898 and was owned by the Holtz family for 93 years.   The Biggars have owned it since 2004.    We found some seats at the bar and ordered our standard BOFS and BOFP.   Dennis provided us with menus.    We chatted with Dennis, who is a cousin of our friends Mark and Kim Biggar.   Our drinks were good and we enjoyed them at the bar and after about a half hour a waitress appeared to take our order.   They had several specials including the traditional Saturday Night Prime Rib which Paul ordered along with a loaded potato and French Onion soup.   I went with...

After a dry spell in our Supper Club quest, we decided to try the Pine Tree in Northport, just west of New London. The Pine Tree is a classic rural Supper Club.   The site was originally a cheese factory built in the 1930’s amidst large white pine trees and was actually called the Pine Tree Cheese Factory.   It was sold and transitioned to a dance hall and bar, and then was purchased by Fred and Arlene Birkholz in 1963 and became the Pine Tree Supper Club.   Fred and Arlene were married in 1950 and had previously owned a dairy farm near Weyauwega.   The Supper Club was initially only the size of the current barroom, but in 1984 it nearly tripled in size including the addition of two large dining areas.    Since 1985 the Birkholz children, Mark, Corinne, Debbie and Sue have owned and operated the business.    Notably, the Pine Tree has only had two head chefs over its history, each for 25 years or more.   The Pine Tree has an establi...