In the back of the parking lot of the Hobnob, a wonderful 62-year–old supper club in Racine, Wisconsin, a sign warns drivers not to plunge their cars into Lake Michigan. There’s something about the preserved-in-amber 50s-retro swank at this charming old chestnut—the off-angle arrowhead neon sign, the jumbo martini glass sloshing on the facade, the smooth stylings of house pianist Lillian Gildenstern—that makes almost everything that happens inside magic. Even the food, which under less enchanting circumstances would be considered thoroughly conventional—white-bread middle-American surf, turf, and potatoes—is likable at the Hobnob.
And there’s no cheffy upscaling of Wisconsin supper-club food. The menu is textbook: prime rib, broasted chicken, fried fish, cheese curds, walleye, meat loaf, and more. The chef Reynolds brought in to execute this time-honored cuisine is the talented Gilbert Langlois, late of North Center’s Chalkboard. In an appearance on The Nocturnal Journal, the WGN radio show hosted by Dave Hoekstra, author of The Supper Club Book: A Celebration of a Midwest Tradition, Reynolds said Langlois had little experience with Wisconsin supper clubs—and yet, regrettably, the chef has somehow managed to nail it.
Tables are provided, per tradition, with a standard small relish tray: canned olives, carrot sticks, green olives, radishes, and gherkins. A more deluxe version is another rare success on Millie’s menu: a lazy Susan featuring Merkts-style cheddar cheese spread, smoked trout dip, liverwurst, summer sausage, chicken liver paté, pickled cherry peppers, three-bean salad, and cottage cheese. If you limited yourself to that and a Hamm’s on draft, you could leave assuming nothing was amiss.
2438 N. Lincoln 773-857-2000 millieschicago.com
