Pine Tree Supper Club, Northport - Friday August 17, 2018

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 established system of managing guests.  They take your name as you enter and provide you with menus and invite you to visit the barroom, which we gladly did.  The hostess then takes your order and returns to let you know when a table is available for you to sit down, whenever you are ready.  The barroom was full.  We ordered drinks and some seats soon  became available.  Paul ordered the standard BOFS and I went with a vodka tonic.  Our drinks were large and very good.

 

When we moved to our table, it was set with a large bowl of salad to share with a lazy susan with the standard dressing options, and a relish tray with liver pate’, cheese spread, carrots, radishes, pickles and celery.   They also had bread, coleslaw and crackers at the table.  It was almost like having our own personal salad bar.  Everything was very good and I could have made an entire meal of it, but tried to save room for the main course.  We both ordered one of the Friday night specials.  I went with the Baked Topped Cod (topped with lobster and crab) with mashed baby reds and Paul went with the Prime Rib and Bang Bang Shrimp with a baked potato.  All the food was excellent.  And after the substantial salad and relish tray, we had a lot to bring home.

 

Everything about our experience at the Pine Tree was great and it was the pure definition of a rural Wisconsin Supper Club.  We’ll definitely be back.