Vintage Cliff Bell’s supper club menu, opened in downtown Detroit 1935

Here is a fine spot-on overview of The Supper Club Book   from Lori A. May of Detroit Books Examiner.

Thank you.

August 14, 2013

Someone should open a supper club called The Blue Dahlia.

Good Raymond Chandler inspired drinks would be served.

Thanks to David Luhrssen for this fine write up in Express Milwaukee.

Wanted to find a Milwaukee supper club, closest I got was the Five O’Clock, 2416 W. State. St. but concluded that the former supper club is now  too much of a steak house.

The Butterfly Supper Club, Beloit, Wis.
(Portrait by Paul Natkin)

…..The muse is plain thanks to Crain’s.

Thanks to author Anne Spiselman for this:

You asked for it: More supper clubs!

Ced-Rel kitchen staff (Paul Natkin photo)

A hearty thanks to Eater National for turning the pages on The Supper Club Book.

A four-star shout out to the Chicago Tonight WTTW-Channel 11 staff for cooking up this presentation so fast and thoroughly over the Fourth of July weekend.

Happy supper clubbin’!

Chicago Tonight – The Supper Club Book

Photo by Paul Natkin

Thanks to my friend and avid reader Rick Kogan for this nice write-up in Printer’s Row.

Greetings!
Welcome to the Supper Club Book Blog.
This eventually will become a fluid and forever-expanding site long after “The Supper Club Book (A Celebration of a Midwest Tradition)” with foreword by Garrison Keillor–has lost its shelf life in bookstores. BUT, the book isn’t even out until June 1.

Here is the first review from May 5th’s Wisconsin State Journal:…….

Just Read It is a regular feature in which the State Journal seeks recommendations from Wisconsin authors, literary enthusiasts and experts, focused on the contributor’s particular genre of expertise.
Mary Bergin of Madison began full-time work as a freelance travel and food writer in 2008, when she left The Capital Times after 20 years as a features editor and writer. She recommends three food books that double as resources for travel and says they are proof that delicious getaways are possible both close to home and around the globe. “Food is at the heart of culture everywhere,” she notes.

1. “The Supper Club Book” by Dave Hoekstra (Chicago Review Press, June 2013) has depth because the author, a longtime Chicago Sun-Times writer, sniffs out wonderful backstories about supper club people in the Upper Midwest. Most supper club writing concentrates on little more than food and décor; this refreshing perspective is more about a special sense of place and regional heritage. Hoekstra is selective – only 24 restaurants make the cut for this book – but each is significant in representing modern-day supper clubs (like the flashy, eco-progressive Red Stag in Minneapolis) or classics with long years of service (like The Ding-A-Ling in Hanover). Garrison Keillor, in writing the foreword, provides a sweet reminder that supper club value isn’t just about the food.

2. “Food Lovers’ Guide to Chicago” by Jennifer Olvera (Globe Pequot Press, 2011) makes it easy to compile calories way beyond the Windy City’s most obvious cuisine. Fast and sometimes sassy insight covers ethnic eateries, farm markets, cocktails, cooking classes and more. Especially helpful are neighborhood categories, and quick takes on regional food festivals extend to Wisconsin. The author is a longtime, trusted Chicago food writer and recipe developer whose work is widely published. Her guide fits into the average tote bag, but it’s also worthy of a spot on a kitchen shelf because of recipes squeezed from restaurant chefs. That includes Chestnut and Lavender Soup from Vie’s Paul Virant, a James Beard Foundation finalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes.

3. “Food Lover’s Guide to the World” (Lonely Planet, 2012) is a group project that seduces with luscious photography, exotic destinations and occasional recipes from a wide swath of ethnic cuisine. This is a book that also encourages out-of-the-box thinking: In the “Breakfast of Champions” chapter are descriptions of huevos rancheros in Mexico, kaya toast in Singapore, fuul medames in Cairo. The world’s best food markets? The short list includes the St. Lawrence in Toronto and Spice Bazaar in Istanbul. Throughout, places are introduced as almost-sacred spaces, and the emphasis is on food more than restaurant. As New York Times writer Mark Bittman reminds us in the intro, a rich dining experience only partly involves what is eaten.