Supper my Club

Last night, Greg and I went out for my birthday dinner. Yes, out on a Wednesday night, with a babysitter installed at home and no kids or nothin'. It was cool.

We went to a supper club, that most Wisconsin of institutions. Tornado Club Steak House in Madison, if you care to google it, just so you too can drool over the menu. This is an old-fashioned, screw those new-fangled, supper club. So dark in the evening that you need the candle on your table to read the menu. Lots of wood paneling and comfortable booths in the bar, intimate even though you can't fill the air with cigarette smokiness anymore (yay for smoking ordinances!). Wait staff in black with long white aprons, very knowledgeable about the way the steaks are cut and aged.

And the food. Mmmmmm.

They start you out with a relish tray, with a nod to the modern that the relishes are stuck into a tall, chilled glass instead of a little tray. All the favorites-carrots, celery, olives, pickles--followed by an amazing variety in the bread basket. Mostly traditional drinks on the menu, though Greg and I opted for Cosmopolitans (I'm a sucker for a fruity drink and of course it came with an orange rind swirl inside).

Wonderful salad with homemade dressing, of course, followed by great steak with excellent potatoes. I had steak fries, but these were really good steak fries. Not at all doughy like some places, crisp and hot and standing up to the rest of my meal.

I really like this restaurant. I think we should go back in two weeks (we have a family celebration coming up). I'll call the babysitter!