Wisconsin Dells, WI
The warmth of an old supper club can suggest the wonderment of a new year. Implied promise is found in the romantic lighting, cloth napkins and gentle demeanor.
Wally’s House of Embers in Wisconsin is on of those places.

 I’m sitting in the 44-year-old supper club in search of a good martini and some classic Wisconsin Lannonstone, the late 1950s building material that mimicked the rectangular geometry of modern art. I always love the fuzzy feeling it creates.
Instead, these are the surprises I discover:

 * The romantic Omar Sharif Room at Wally’s house of Embers. Originally a broom closet, the Sharif love shack seats two and is adorned in sweeping leopard spot curtains accented by pictures of Sharif from his best movie roles. The concept comes from Sharif’s appearance in “Funny Girl,” when he takes Barbara Streisand to dinner in a private room. Nearly 300 marriage proposals have been made in the Sharif Room since it opened in 1976.
I have an ex-girlfriend in Los Angeles who is dating Sharif. She says he was in Madrid for the holidays and unable to comment on his room. Despite their 31-year age difference, she says Sharif kisses like he’s in the movies: He holds you close, but leans back from the head only. Then, he holds your face from underneath. She claims Sharif would never put his hand on the side of a woman’s face because it would block the “camera” view.
This is why we call this column Detours.

 * The supper club’s cocktail lounge is a mishmash of decorating ideas, like Martha Stewart-meets Emeril Lagasse. The back bar and ceiling are illuminated by stained-glass windows salvaged from a Wisconsin church, while a disco ball hangs near singer Billy Anderson, who plays a Hammond B-3 organ. A fan of B-3 greats like Jimmy Smith and Groove Holmes, Anderson has been playing the Dells since 1960. The remainder of the lounge’s ceiling is covered in leopard-print balloon fabric. The bar serves 21 martinis, including the Margatini ($7), Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Tequila mixed with Triple Sec lemon and lime juice, served with a salted rim. Also try the Paula Hartmann (Absolut Citron vodka, Chambord, Cointreau, cranberry juices, slices of lemon, orange and lime, $7).

 * The supper club also has a Humphrey Bogart Room (for two to four people).
  And the Rudolph Valentino Room (for four to eight).

 * Wally Obois opened the House of Embers in 1959, back when Highway 12 was a two-laner. Wally moved to the Dells in 1952 to check out the Midwest’s wide-open spaces. Wally is 76 and retired, but he and his wife Barbara, 69, still help around the bar on weekends. He’s humble about how he gave the supper club its wacky name. “Something burning with charcoal,” he says. “When we started, we cooked with live coal- burning embers.”

The House of Embers is known for its tender ribs, smoked over hot hickory logs (they don’t use chips, which can create cold smoke). The supper club makes its own barbecue sauce, which is thin and vinegary. You can taste the flavor of the meat under the sauce. A full rack of ribs is $25.95, a half rack is $19.95.

Cinnamon rolls are served before dinner. The concept works because the rolls are airy and not heavy. Barbara created the recipe for the cinnamon rolls, which have been featured in Bon Appetit magazine. She is circumspect about revealing the recipe; outside of saying the secret is in how she mixes the dough.

The House of Embers seats 180, with capacity bumping up to 250 in the summer when outdoor dining is offered. A majority of the clientele comes from Chicago. The supper club also caters to stars at the Crystal Grand Music Theatre, down the road at 430 Munroe Ave. (Hwy 23); call (800) 696-7999. (Cool upcoming shows include Mel Tillis at 3p.m. and 8 p.m. March 15 and Ray Price at 8p.m. May 17.) Crystal Grand guests Willie Nelson and Bill Cosby have feasted on House of Embers food. Late Wisconsin Dells entrepreneur Tommy Bartlett was a House of Embers regular.
Chefs Mark and Mike Obois purchased the restaurant from their parents in 1998. Mark and Mike are graduates of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Besides the ribs, the supper club is famous for steaks; Austrian veal (flambéed with brandy and finished with cream, brown sauce and Swiss cheese, $22.95); and breaded haddock (with caper tartar sauce, $10.95), served on the traditional Friday night fish fry. During my visit, Mike was cooking while Mark did the talking. At age 39 Mark is the youngest of five children. All of the Obois children worked at the supper club at one time or another. One sister Debbie, is a bookkeeper, and another sister Linda, is an assistant manager and server. A third sister, Saffhron, is a jazz funk saxophonist in Los Angeles.

Wally and Barbara live in a modest home behind the supper club. The Obois family is as tightly knit as a Green Bay Packer ski cap. Up until 1999 Barbara’s mother, Lou Stettin, played baby grand piano every Sunday night in the lounge. Her warm-up routine included one whiskey Old-Fashioned and a cup of soup. She retired at age 92.

Lou Stettin was born on St. Patrick’s Day, 1907, in Chicago. Mark says she first came to the Dells in 1917. The trip took nine days in a horse-drawn carriage. Her daughter, Barbara, grew up near 57th and Halsted. Lou’s husband was a Teamster who ran a trucking company. Barbara came to the Dells in 1958 and got a great job at the legendary Del Bar (named because it is the halfway point between the Dells and Baraboo, Wis.) supper club, across the street from the House of Embers.

“Walter was a bartender there,” Barbara says. “That’s how I met him. He was supposed to be hip. These girls used to come in with motorcycle clothes on and go, “Is Walter around?” I thought, “I better stay away from this guy.” Then he asked me if he could drive me home. He knew I didn’t have a car. He had a long, pointy cream Cadillac. I figured he had money.” Wally and Barbara got married six months after their first date.

Wally was born in Austria, where he lived until 1936. From the age of 10, he was reared by Uncle Tony Baldasti in Queens, N.Y. His parents didn’t have the money to bring him to America. As a teenager, Wally was an apprentice electrician on the battleship Missouri in the Brooklyn navy yard.

Uncle Tony had his legs blown off below the knee on the Russian front during World War II. “His buddies were going to leave him,” Mark says while sitting in the restaurant’s enclosed veranda. “They thought he was going to die anyway. So he pulled out his luger and said, “You better take me, or I’m going to take you.” And he lived into his mid-80s. Whenever his mom would go to Europe, she would bring back six bottles of [Slivovitz] Uncle Tony’s homemade plum brandy in her trench coat. And when we’d go to New York, we’d bring some back. “I have some here, if you’d like a sip.”

We re-adjourn to the lounge. Wally and Barbara join us. Billy Anderson is singing Louis Armsrong’s “(What a) Wonderful World.” Someone reaches across the bar for one of those 1960s cartoon cocktail napkins with the quote, “Happiness is finding two olives in your martini when you’re hungry. - Johnny Carson.” Wally and Barbara suggest a toast, which is a good idea. You are among new friends in a dark room that is illuminated by the spirit of tomorrow. You are happy.

   Wally’s House of Embers is at 935 Dells Pkwy. (Hwy 12) in Wisconsin Dells.
   The supper club is open weekdays from 4:30 to 9 p.m., weekends from 4:30 to 10 p.m. (hours will change for the    summer). Casual to fine attire is suggested. Call (608) 253-6411.