Feil’s Supper Club, Randolph, Wisconsin

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Old Fashioneds

Relish Tray: by way of the extensive salad bar, sort of
Ice Cream Drinks: extensive list, plus seasonal specials
Price Range: most entrees are from $18 to $30
Ambiance: Bavarian, charming, with lots of history

Feil’s Supper Club is an old family run establishment, serving German specialities and traditional supper club fare as well. Located right on highway 73 in Randolph, WI, I must have driven past it a million times, always with somewhere else to be. Jean and I finally made the trip one Sunday night in October. Feil’s is a pretty big place, with a big parking lot to boot. When we arrived, there was only one other car in the parking lot. Feil’s does a popular Oktoberfest celebration every Saturday night during the month of October with a German buffet – so I would imagine Sunday nights are a little slower than usual in October.

The interior of the bar is dark and cozy festooned with Christmas lights and teutonic decor. One of our favorite hallmarks of a supper club are those weird little quirks that you might not see at another type of restaurant. Feil’s had these little “bar booths” all over the vast bar area, both small two-top booths, and booth-style seats that faced that large wrap around bar.

The bar area also features a large display case of Green Bay Packers memorabilia, mostly from the Brett Farve era and earlier. In case it wasn’t clear by the fact that we have a blog about Wisconsin supper clubs, Jean and I are both big Packers fans. It does add quite a bit of enjoyment to our old fashioneds when we sip them among photos of the owners with Brett Favre’s mom.

As we were enjoying the memorabilia, we noticed they had a “pull-tab” machine. Pull-tabs are like a dive bar (and supper club, apparently) version of a gas station scratch off – you pull up on tabs to reveal hidden symbols, with a few winning combinations that result in small cash prizes. It had been a while since either one of us had tried our luck, so we decided to purchase a few. Sadly, none of ours turned out to be winners, so we had to dip into our own pockets to pay for our old fashioneds.

The host called our name when our table was ready and we were led into the dining room. We sat down and ordered another round of drinks. Jean went for another brandy old-fashioned, and this time I opted for one of the house specialty cocktails, a southern peach old fashioned. It was made with whiskey, and flavored with some kind of peach syrup. It was pretty tasty, though I can’t say it completely converted me over from the classic brandy old fashioned.

Feil’s has one of the largest salad bars I’ve ever seen (15 feet according to the restaurants website.) A large ledge with a pitched roof hangs just above the salad bar. An entire miniature Bavarian village sits atop the ledge, which might be more impressive if it wasn’t dwarfed by massive salad bar. The salad bar must have at least 30 items. It has all the fixings for any kind of salad you could concoct. It also features an impressive array of deli-type salads, fruit salads, and a soup of the day.

I love a good salad bar – Jean might say ‘too much’ or ‘more than life itself’ – and I have a tendency to really go nuts and pile high a combination of salad ingredients which borders on the obscene. My salad included such strange bedfellows as pickled beets, sauerkraut, cucumber salad, olives, whipped braunschweiger, all atop a bed of spinach and floating in a pool of hot bacon dressing. I can’t be held responsible for your satisfaction if you try the exact same combination as me, but you can bet I ate every last schnibble.

By this time the dining room had filled up a little more with other patrons. The server brought a fresh loaf of rye bread to our table about the same time we came back from the salad bar. Feil’s has a reputation for their bread, as the owners come from a long line of bakers dating back to their roots in Germany. It was warm, and a bit softer than most rye bread I’ve had before.

For entrees, I selected the pork hock with roasted vegetables. I ordered some sauerkraut on the side as well. Jean ordered a sirloin steak and three fried jumbo shrimp. Her steak was cooked to her liking, and the shrimp were fried golden brown.

My pork hock was served with a flavorful, rich brown gravy. The skin and fat had been cooked in such a way that it was crispy like pork rinds. I’m not sure what they did to get it that crisp, but it was delicious. If you’re someone whose mouth salivates at the idea of crispy, pork-rind covered pork hocks, you’ll be delighted. The roasted vegetables were an excellent compliment to my meal.

“Gemütlichkeit” is one of those untranslatable mouthfuls in the German language. In general it connotes a feeling of contentedness and comfort and relaxation. It might be tough to find a word in English that would be adequate, but after eating at Feil’s, I’m sure no translation will be necessary, as you’ll be feeling it first hand. With their ample selection and reverence for tradition, it’s no surprise that they’re celebrating their 50 year anniversary. I expect they will be celebrating many more milestone anniversaries to come.