Schwarz's Supper Club, St. Anna - Saturday January 12, 2019

Saturday night took us on another venture to the Supper Club Mecca of Wisconsin, Calumet County on the east side of Lake Winnebago, this time to Schwarz’s Supper Club in the small hamlet of St. Anna. Ziggy and Evelyn Schwarz opened a one room tavern in 1957 that through three generations has blossomed into a large supper club that today employs more than 100 people, serving up to 700 patrons on a typical weekend night.

We arrived about 5:15 to find the parking lots nearly full. After locating a parking spot, we headed for the barroom to find the bar packed, no open stools. Just as we entered, a couple seated right by the door welcomed us as if they knew us and offered us their seats at the bar as they were heading into the dining room.   We gladly accepted their offer and promptly ordered a couple of old fashioneds from one of the friendly bartenders. Schwarz’s bar is a long, backwards L-shaped bar with tables around the perimeter. We guessed that there were well over 100 folks in the barroom served by at least eight busy bartenders. Service was prompt and the drinks were good and strong. Everyone was having a good time.

A bartender gave us menus to look over. At Schwarz’s, when you are ready to order, setting your menu up on end on the bar indicates that you are ready for a waitress. After studying the large menu and deciding what to order, I set my menu on end and sure enough, in a couple of minutes a young lady appeared (one of several roaming the barroom), pen and pad in hand. She took our order and name and said that we should listen to be called over the intercom when our table was ready. As all the food is made to order, typical wait time on a busy night at Schwarz’s is about an hour from the time you place your order until you are seated at your table, and tonight was no exception. We were glad to have a seat at the comfortable bar and ordered some more drinks and visited with some of the other patrons. Eventually we heard our name called and headed toward the end of the bar and the hostess station for directions to our table.

Schwarz’s has two large dining rooms that we estimated can seat nearly 200 people. We found our table set with a relish tray, warm bread, salads and a Lazy Susan with four different dressings. Our entrees were brought out shortly after we had finished enjoying our salads. Ann opted for the sea bass, pan seared and then baked with a homemade lemon caper sauce. Since their steaks are custom aged and hand cut in house, I had to try one. I chose the double cut cowboy ribeye, a 32 ounce slab of beef with a baked potato. Our dinners were very good and there was plenty to take home for lunch the next day. Unfortunately we did not have room for dessert or an after dinner drink.

Schwarz’s is a bit larger and busier than most of the supper clubs we visited but they have developed a system over the years to serve a large number of patrons while still maintaining the high quality food, service and  overall dining experience you expect from a good Wisconsin supper club. Definitely on our return visit list.