St. Clair Supper Club

Alright. I see what they are trying to do here. Basically turn a basement into something they can use to seat guests and make money. But without using any of the above Roisters menu or kitchen resources. I get it. This supper club is what Alinea group came up with.

The concept is good. A Wisconsin style supper club which is dark, hip, has the antlers on the walls and the tufted leather seats. Casual yet intimate. Good service and ambiance.

The thing that makes it fall a little short is the limited menu. Obviously they are trying to go for this and it’s intentionally designed to only offer a small selection of items, mainly prime rib. But I’m not sure if this concept works in the west loop. Considering Roister has a much more impressive menu and Fulton Market has so much to offer I doubt I will come back here. No one ever really craves prime rib only for dinner. Even steak houses offer more choices than this.

The prime rib really is amazing and for what it is trying to accomplish I give it credit. But I will only give it 3 stars because it’s not a restaurant that everyone can relate to and I feel only caters to a certain crowd in a particular mood for one type of meal.

The service was great, the cocktails and the prime rib were excellent, sides were very good as well. Strange that there isn’t a wine by the glass list- inconvenient for groups that don’t have similar taste in wine. Also far below average desserts, assuming there isn’t a pastry chef as I can’t imagine a trained chef would produce extremely dense cherry chocolate cake and an unappealing dry dense bread pudding. Quite a surprise on both counts coming from Alinea Group.

So, I am going to sound like a grumpy old man. In my defense I was raised primarily in the midwest, so I am familiar with wisconsin supper clubs. I thought the staff were delightful and the menu was exactly right for the vibe they were trying to communicate. The food was really good....and would have been just as good at an actual supper club, for a fraction of the price.
That is my problem, if you are not from here you can be sure that you are experiencing a high quality version to the supper club milieu. I just am not sure it worth it.

Would I go back to St. Clair Supper Club? Yes, I think so. However, there was one huge disappointment: the meat did not have the "prime rib cap" (search that term in quotations if you don't know what I'm referring to). That is the best part of any rib roast or rib-eye steak but there was none on any or our table's cuts. I even asked the server before ordering if there were caps on the cuts, she checked with the chef and told me "yes". Apparently no one knew what I was talking about as the answer was "no".

If you go, get multiple orders of the sides. If you don't you will have wished you did. The creamed corn is fabulous though the portion is small - same for the mashed potatoes.

Service was good though the greeting on the first floor when you enter was quite cold - like they were annoyed by our coming. And the music played in the St Clair dining room was too loud and way out of character for a supper club (loud rock and roll).

I hope management can fix some of the problems I and others note as the idea is wonderful and the tastes are good. Plus the location has a terrific vibe.

Really chill, old-fashioned ambiance. The kitchen is wide open, so you can appreciate the attention to detail they put into every plate. The menu is simple: Prime rib, always medium rare. Good apps and sides. Everything has a shareable size, including the meat. We were too full to try the desserts, I guess we have an excuse to go back!