We love the atmosphere and food at many of the Wisconsin supper clubs we've visited over the years. We were going to take a weekend getaway up toward Dubuque and check out some of the fall foliage last year. We knew there are a handful of supper clubs in Grant County on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River from Dubuque including the Village Bar Supper Club in Kieler, WI that we visited a few years ago. But there was one that I wasn't familiar with - Chop's Kall Inn near Hazel Green, WI.
Ben and Mable Kahle started the Kall Inn Tavern and Dance Hall ("Kall" the pronunciation of their last name) in Kieler, WI in 1945. The main draw to the Kall Inn was a television set that marveled and entertained diners when programming was available to be watched. Five years after opening, the Kahle's purchased an old fish market near the Mississippi River west of Hazel Green along US 61/151 near the narrow bridge that would cross the river at Eagle Point in Dubuque and turned it into a supper club, changing the name to the Kall Inn Supper Club.
Ben and Mable were joined in the business by their son Wayne after he got out of the Navy in the late 50's. Ben Kahle died in 1964 and Mable passed the following year. Wayne, his wife Mary, and their five children continued to run the Kall Inn Supper Club up for over 45 years up to and after Wayne and Mary had retired and were wintering in Texas and three of their children had moved away. Two of the remaining daughters in the area decided to close the business in 2012.
Not far from the Kall Inn was another supper club - the 3 Mile House Supper Club - so called because it sat 3 miles from the Mississippi River bridge between Dubuque and East Dubuque, IL. It was located at the corner of Wisconsin State Highways 35 and 11 outside of Hazel Green, WI. Originally known as the High Hat Supper Club, it suffered a devastating fire in the 40's. It was rebuilt, but further back from the highway intersection. It was - and still is - one of the more popular supper clubs in the Tri-State area.
In 1980, Paul and Velma Moor bought the 3 Mile House Supper Club and like many people who own supper clubs, it was a family affair with their six kids helping out in the restaurant. One of their sons - Jeff, also known as "Chop" - became deeply involved in the business. Shortly before the Moors bought the supper club, Chop had started to date a young lady by the name of Julie. In fact, Chop and Julie's first date was dinner at the Kall Inn Supper Club. When the Moors took over the 3 Mile House, Julie started as a waitress. It wasn't long after that Chop and Julie were married and raising their own children.
In 1997, Chop and Julie took over ownership of the 3 Mile House and ran it for 21 years before Chop decided he wanted to do something else in life. Chop and Julie sold the supper club and laid low for a couple of years.
In 2019, Jeff and CeAnn Kaiser, owners of one of our favorite little roadside dive bars - the Kieler Mall in Kieler, WI - bought the Kall Inn as an investment. The Kaisers reached out to Chop and Julie Moor to see if they would be interested in running the place for them. Chop was ready to get back into the restaurant business and he readily agreed to run the Kall Inn for the Kaisers. Chop brought over many of his famous dishes from the 3 Mile House including his beef tips bowl, broasted cod, and the popular prime rib and barbecued ribs on Saturday nights. And to let everyone know who was in charge of the place, the Kaisers named it Chop's Kall Inn Supper Club. Chop's Kall Inn opened in late November 2020.
My wife and I had taken the Friday afternoon off and we got checked into our hotel in Dubuque around 3 p.m. After getting settled in, we took off to enjoy a couple craft beers at the newly expanded Jubeck New World Brewing in downtown Dubuque, then we went on to the Wicked Dame to get my wife a martini or two. We had made reservations in advance at Chop's Kall Inn for 7 p.m. But we decided to head out early and I popped the address into the GPS.
After crossing the Wisconsin side bridge over the Mississippi, we got off at the Badger Road exit - the 2nd one into Wisconsin on US Highways 61/151. The GPS had me get off on a black top road. It was well after the son had gone down and we were suddenly going down a dark road with trees lining the roadway. My wife remarked, "This looks like the kind of road in the movies where two people drive down, but only one comes back. Are you trying to tell me something?" At the bottom of the hill, the road opened into a clearing and on the left was Chop's Kall Inn. (see map)
We were about 25 minutes early when we walked into Chop's. There was a long narrow three-sided bar off to the side, but it was the most prominent feature in the dining room. Royal blue was the defining color of the restaurant with the wait staff wearing royal blue polo shirts and the chair backs at all the tables were a deep royal blue. It wasn't a fancy place - more homey than posh. The atmosphere fit us like a glove.
A young lady behind the bar asked us if we had reservations. I told that we did, gave her my name, but I also said we were early. She said, "We have your table set up back in the corner!"
The young lady led us back to a four-seat table in the corner. Already on the table was a good ol' fashioned relish tray complete with veggies, a cheese spread, a liver spread and ranch dressing. The little packaged bread sticks were available in a basket on the table.
My wife and I were looking through the menu when our server for the evening - Brooke - came over to greet us. Here's a spoiler alert - Brooke was fabulous that evening. She was cheerful, had a great sense of humor, and was more than helpful all night long. She would have been the kind of waitress where you would have invited her to sit down at your table at the end of her shift and just hang out having a couple beers.
Brooke asked us what we wanted to drink. My wife ordered a dirty Absolut vodka martini - I was sort of surprised she wanted another martini after she had two stiff ones at Wicked Dame. I saw that they had Old Style in bottles on the beer menu. I immediately signed up for one of those. Wow! Old Style in a Wisconsin supper club. I was loving this place already.
The only problem - Brooke came back and told me that they were out of Old Style. "Out of Old Style," I said in feigned indignation.
Brooke laughed and said, "I know! What kind of place is this?"
I jokingly said, "Well, I'm gonna trash this place!"
Brooke laughed again and said, "Could you do it in one of the other girl's stations so I don't have to clean up?"
I knew I was going to get a steak, so I immediately switched to the house cabernet they had at Chop's.
Even though I pretty much knew I was going to get steak that evening, it turns out that Chop's Kall Inn also had pork chops, grilled or broasted chicken, a chicken or shrimp pasta alfredo, and a number of seafood entrees including the stuffed-broasted cod that Chop made famous at the 3 Mile House. We were a day early for Chop's prime rib and barbecued ribs night. Appetizers included chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, onion rings - and since we were in Wisconsin - fried cheese curds.
After ordering up our meals, we had a choice between cottage cheese, a tossed salad, house-made cole slaw or soup as a starter. My wife got a small bowl of the cole slaw, while I ordered a salad. My wife thought their cole slaw was very good and she offered me a bite. It was creamy and sweet with a nice crunch to the cabbage. Dinner rolls were provided along with the salads.
My salad featured fresh lettuce greens - the dish was cold to the touch so they were making the salads in advance and pulling them out of the refrigerator when they were needed. And I have absolutely no problem with that. There were cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and large crouton chunks on the sale and it was slathered in what was called a French dressing on the menu, but it was more of a sweet Western-style dressing. It was a great start to the meal.
My wife and I both got steaks for dinner that night - the tenderloin filets. I don't think we considered anything else on the menu. Hers was a 6 ounce cut and she ordered it medium at first. Seconds after "medium" came out of her mouth, she changed it to "medium-rare". She cut into it and I would have called it rare-plus - it was pretty rare. But years ago, my wife would have sent it back. She went ahead and ate it like that. And she thought it was excellent.
Sides came with the steak and we had choices such as mashed potatoes and beef gravy, a baked potato, wild rice, steak fries or French fries, or a steamed vegetable of the day. My wife got the hash browns with grilled onions and cheese mixed in.
I got the 10 ounce filet that evening. And, as always, I ordered it rare. I got steak fries to go along with the filet. I had requested Brooke bring out some fresh ground horseradish and she provided a little tub of it
And my steak was a perfect rare - very red and cool in the middle with a great salt and pepper flat-grilled seasoning on it. It was tender and flavorful. It, too, was excellent. And the steak fries were outstanding, as well. They had to be broasted as they weren't oily or greasy, crisp on the outside and had that pillowy potato inner core. After tots, steak fries - good steak fries - are my second favorite way to prepare potatoes.
And that was a problem because I was stuffed from the steak and I couldn't stop eating the steak fries. I finally got Brooke's attention to come over to the table. "Take these away before I eat more," I said as I gestured to the less than half-full bowl of steak fries.
Can't stop, huh," Brooke said as she picked up the bowl. "The steak fries are my favorite," she said.
Brooke tried to entice us with some dessert, but we were too full to even consider any more food at that point. (Besides, we figured that if we needed dessert later on, the hotel had a restaurant.) She dropped off the check and I took a quick look at it.
Now, this is my pet peeve with some restaurants - restaurants who suggest a tip on the bill. The tip suggestions at Chop's Kall Inn - 18%, 20%, 22% - were based upon the meal, the tax on the meal, and the credit card fee of 3.5%. I only tip on the cost of the meal, not the tax or tip. I think it's somewhat dishonest when restaurants suggest a tip that includes taxes and extra fees.
But that was the only bad taste that was left in my mouth with our visit to Chop's Kall Inn. The steaks we had at Chop's were excellent. The service we had from Brooke was excellent. She was really fun and we like fun servers when we dine out. And the atmosphere was homey and far from stuffy. Grant County in Wisconsin has 8 supper clubs and we're going to try to eat at each one. But it's going to be tough to beat everything we experienced at Chop's Kall House.
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