#daylene's

An unusual destination for us, just 40 minutes north of our apartment, but we are having our kitchen redone and thought it would be good to get out of the apartment while some of the work is going on. So I rented a house on the Wisconsin River. It's been very pleasant sitting, reading and watching the river slide by.

The weather has been a little cool and wet, an excuse for doing less hiking than I had thought.

I've done some cooking, but also visited a few local Supper Clubs. These are traditional Wisconsin restaurants, often in the country, with a menu focusing on steaks and seafood.

Just down the street from us is The Hooker's Resort, a pretty basic place, a bar side serving mainly sandwiches, and a restaurant side where you grill your own steaks. Not bad, but not interesting either, but I'm pretty sure that's not the prime focus of supper clubs.

We are not far from the Wisconsin Dells, the major tourist destination in central Wisconsin. We visited two supper clubs there. Both have upscale versions of the traditional menus. But the building and the resulting experience are very different.

Ishnala is the most famous Wisconsin Supper Club, over 70 years old and a classic traditional place. Dark wood interior, log cabin construction, trees growing up through the building, looks out over the lake. Its age shows in the dark interior and in the completely inaccessible design, lots of stairs, and narrow passages around the trees. It's possible to get to the front door in a wheelchair, but it's not obvious how to do that. Once inside the door, there are lots of stairs.

Daylene's is new, really new. We were there on the second night after opening. It's a modern design lots more space, wheelchair accessible. very open to the lake shore. The menu is a little more modern that Ishnala's while keeping with the supperclub theme.

The food was more interesting at Daylene's, and the open modern design was very appealing.

We agreed on our conclusion. Going to the famous traditional Ishnala was good to do once, but we have no interest in doing it again. Daylene's, on the other hand, I will definitely return to again.