"Hurry up, it's time for supper"
- Chappell Roan, "Hot to Go"
This post isn't completely within Streetsblog Chicago's wheelhouse, but I thought many of our readers would enjoy it, so I wrote it up during the three-day weekend for fun.
If you read Part 1 of this series, in which a few of us made a car-free trip last month to the Heritage House in far-northwest-suburban Harvard, Illinois, you know what a supper club is. Otherwise, in this neck of the woods, the term refers to the Midwestern institution of a classy-but-casual place to enjoy old-timey food and cocktails, especially prevalent in Wisconsin.
The Hobnob, 277 Sheridan Rd. in Racine, is a stellar example of the genre that's actually located in the Badger State. But it's only a 7.5-mile, mostly bike-friendly ride from the Kenosha terminal of Metra's Union Pacific North Line. (And you can pare it down to about six miles if you're a so-called "strong and fearless" cyclist who's willing to take a more direct route that includes a couple more miles on five-lane Highway 32 / Sheridan Road.) So the Hobnob is a great way for Chicagoans to get an authentic taste of Wisconsin without burning gasoline.
While the Heritage House is quaint and rustic, the Hobnob, established in 1954, has more of an Atomic Age vibe. Therefore, showing up there feels a bit like walking into a B-52s video, in a good way. On the other hand, it's got enough mid-century modern elegance that it will also appeal to Frank Lloyd Wright fans coming from a tour of the nearby Johnson Wax headquarters he designed. And it's right next to Lake Michigan, with breathtaking views.
I should also mention that the Hobnob is somewhat more upscale than the Heritage House. But the Racine restaurant does have a few dinners in the $20 range, including a $22 beer‑battered cod Friday Night Fish Fry special.
The fly in the ice cream Brandy Alexander for car-free supper club aficionados like myself is that Metra's Kenosha schedule is pretty sparse on weekends and holidays. On Saturdays, the only trains to Chicago after 8:49 a.m. are at 6:49 p.m. and 10:20 p.m. On Sundays and holidays, your only choice is 6:49 p.m.
Trains from Waukegan run more frequently, but the station is 23.4 miles south from the eatery via a bike-friendly route. That's probably not a distance you'd want to pedal at night after consuming prime rib and a martini.
On Memorial Day Weekend, Chicago Critical Mass cofounder Michael Burton and Streetsblog Chicago cartoonist Jonathan Roth were once again up for doing a train + bike journey to a supper club I'd proposed. The problem was, the only day that worked for all of us was Sunday, and the Hobnob didn't open until 4:30 p.m.
We decided to take to UP-N to Highland Park and ride about 37 miles to the eatery. Here's an approximation of the route we took, almost entirely on bike trails. View an interactive version here.
Michael and Jonathan had stuff to do on Memorial Day, so we got to the Hobnob at 4:30 p.m. for an early dinner, which they seemed to thoroughly enjoy, and left a little before six to catch the 6:49 train. They got there with enough time to pick up some only-in-Wisconsin New Glarus beer to (legally) drink on Metra.
As I did last month, I opted to make the most out of the three-day weekend by spending the night at a nearby budget motel. This time it was the Beach Aire, a little less than two miles south of the Hobnob. As you can see in the photo gallery below, its lakeside location and retro decor were the perfect complement to my old-school dinner.
That choice gave me time in the morning to relax by the shoreline reading "Dubliners," my default road trip paperback.Then I made my way back to Waukegan at a leisurely pace, mostly on the waterfront, including some trail riding in Illinois Beach State Park, before catching an inbound train.
Here are some photos I took along the way that provide a sense of how the trip went down. Read more about last month's journey to the Heritage House in Harvard here.
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