It was sometime after World War II when the supper club became middle-class America’s
choice for a night on the town. Supper clubs were neither four-star
restaurants nor diners, but offered good food familiar to American
tastes in a relaxed setting. Inevitably there was bar near the
entrance, where patrons loosened up with a few drinks before sitting
down dinner—“supper” it was usually called back then, at least in this
part of the country.
Nowadays, restaurants capturing the
unpretentious feel of the old supper clubs have become scarcer. One
contender, Bobu’s Steakhouse and Lounge, has been open for more than
two years at the western edge of West Allis. Specifically, Bobu’s seems
cut from the tail end of the supper club era, the 1970s. For anyone who
grew up in Milwaukee during those days, Bobu’s is a reminder of times
past, a world certainty and freedom where drinks were cheap and no one
was carded, where phone calls didn’t follow you everywhere and work
ended at 5 o’clock sharp.
During those years Bobu’s owner, Bob Radtke,
ran a disco called the Sand Dollar. His chief waitress, Diamond Lil, is
a veteran of most every West Side restaurant from the ’70s onward,
including Balistreri’s and the Red Mill.
With its dark
paneling, red bar stools and white tablecloths, Bobu’s recreates the
essence of the term “supper club.” Despite the exotic suggestion of the
restaurant’s name (“Bobu” is actually Radtke’s nickname), it’s a steak
and chop joint whose Italian accent is heard in the menu’s veal
Parmesan, chicken piccata, Caesar salad and pasta pomodoro.
Warning:
The appetizers are filling enough to serve as supper. The potato skins
($6), deep-fried and topped with three cheeses and bacon, spill over
the platter. The eggplant ($7) comes in long and hefty strips, tenderly
fried and lightly battered, served with a bowl of marinara. Unlike
typical bar food, they are not greasy. The straw onion rings ($6) form
a mound tall enough to ski on.
Still hungry? Dinner begins
with a warm loaf of white bread (rye on Fridays to go with the four
fish fry specials). The entrees, many of them reasonably priced at less
than $20, include a choice of homemade soup or a house salad of mixed
lettuce and tomatoes with freshly made croutons. Potato options include
the usual baked variety and french fries, the less-expected red-skin
mashed and, surprisingly, hash browns, almost unheard of in restaurants
past breakfast time. Friday adds another choice: potato cakes (not
potato pancakes) served with applesauce.
Strict vegetarians
are limited to pasta pomodoro ($11). Chicken and fish are readily
available, but somehow you just know that red meat, beef in particular,
is the house specialty. The largest, most elaborate preparation, the
12-ounce steak pepperanto ($32), is built around peppered tenderloin
tips sauteed with bell peppers, red onions, tomatoes and roasted
garlic, flamed with a splash of brandy. The steak Bobu ($27) also
speaks of Italian American. It’s a 14-ounce New York
strip with roma tomatoes, oregano and basil in a roasted garlic sauce.
The modest 6-ounce steer filet ($19) comes done to order—in my case,
medium pink inside and blackened at the edges, topped with some of
those crunchy onion rings and accompanied by mushrooms. Similarly, the
Bobu burger ($7) is a half-pound of choice ground beef, cooked to
perfection on a toasted kaiser roll, with a choice of three cheeses.
Bobu’s
is the kind of place where boisterous locals gather at the bar and
everyone knows their servers by name. By the end of the night, everyone
at the bar probably knows everyone else’s name as well.
BOBU’S STEAKHOUSE & LOUNGE
11505 W. National Ave. (414) 321-7300 Credit Cards: All major Smoking section
Photo by Tate Bunker
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