I just took a look at this food blog. I thought I had already posted about our trip to Butte, MO to eat at Lydia’s Supper Club. I must have been dreaming, because there is no post, until this one, about it.
One weekend, in either the end of May or beginning of June, we got a wild hair to hop in the jeep and drive three hours to Lydia’s to experience an authentic supper club. Well, I looked up the definition of supper club and this restaurant partially fit it, minus entertainment or a dance floor. This place is straight out of the sixties. The décor makes you feel as if you are dining out on the set of “Goodfellas”.
It was a nostalgic culinary adventure. I had never eaten at Lidya’s before but Granny came with us and she had been there dozens of times. After we were led to our table Granny said that nothing in the décor or feel of the place had changed since she had been there last (she had not been there in at least fifteen years).
Lidya’s executes a complete meal consisting of five or six different courses. They begin with an antipasto type course with items like sliced carrots, green onions, pickled beets, anchovies, and sweet potato salad. Then they serve a simple green salad with a trio of their signature dressings crafted on the premises. Next a heaping plate of spaghetti, a heaping plate of homemade ravioli, and a heaping plate of fries arrive. After that the main entrée, which you actually order off of the menu, emerges. Their menu has only appetizers, entrees, and beverages. Everything else just shows up, and shows up, and shows up…. Lastly, they serve a small scoop of ice cream. Like your entrée you can choose the flavor they had several different specialty varieties.
I have read several reviews about Lidya’s, a couple good but mostly bad. Here is the deal. If you are going to Lidya’s expecting some sort of modern, fusion, or organic river street bistro, you are not going to find it at there. What you will find at Lidya’s is the same thing you found at Lidya’s 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, heck maybe even 50 years ago ( I am not entirely sure). So they are consistent. They cook their steaks correctly. They a do a good job with what they do. The staff also, are good at what they do. But they use the same seasonings, deploy the same cooking methods, serve on the same dishes, and wear the same type of uniforms as they did all those years ago when they were in their “Hey Day”. People who are going there for the first time don’t understand this. But when I went this was the experience I was anticipating and it was the experience they delivered. It was the experience that my grandmother remembered from years ago.
You really write well. This is the VERY same experience I had at Lydias 35 years ago. Fantastic!
PS-I sure do love that boy eating those crab legs!!! (Which I also love!)