On Wisconsin

Until I moved to New York I had no idea that supper clubs and Friday night fish fries were exotic species, or how hard it was to make a real Old Fashioned (the cocktail specialty of my wee little Grandma Geltemeyer).

From an important study at Grub Street :



Just hearing someone call it "the Dells" rings like a tuning fork from home.

My grandfather's top spot was Chissy's in Waldo, where all the waitresses knew him by name. Every time we visited him in Sheboygan Falls we would pile into two cars and drive for 25 minutes in the dark ("Take a left at the round barn") for a $10 rib eye with a baked potato and a side of cole slaw and $5 pitchers of beer. It was the life.

p.s. Never in my many long years have I witnessed anyone ordering a grasshopper in a supper club.