Smoky's Club, Madison's most enduring supper club, closed in late February after 69 years but since early April has been opening three nights a week for drinks and alternating food specials.
That limited run will come to an end May 27 when the sale of the property is expected to go through, said co-owner Tom Schmock, whose parents, Leonard "Smoky" Schmock and Janet Schmock, founded the steakhouse on the Near West Side in 1953.
The restaurant at 3005 University Ave. is making way for a five-story, mixed-use building from Flad Development.
But in the meantime, Smoky's has been opening Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.
"We've had some pretty interesting entrées, just one entrée per night. Tonight, it's scallops. Fridays would always be fish fry," Schmock said Thursday. Wednesday it's been hamburgers or chicken sandwiches.
"It's been going pretty well," Schmock said. "We had been just doing Thursdays for quite some time and it was very busy, but with the summer hitting and nicer weather, it hasn't been quite as busy, but we still get our regulars in. They can't get enough."
Matt Schmock, who ran the supper club and steakhouse for his father, Larry Schmock, and uncle, Tom Schmock, said they took the month of March off, and just do one dish per night because he has no waitstaff and just one cook. "So we try to make it as easy as possible on them."
He said the crowd is mostly regulars and those who follow the restaurant on Facebook. "That's the only way we get the word out. But it's word of mouth that's spread pretty good," he said.
Thursdays have been the best night typically, he said. "The place gets full of regulars who have been coming here for years. It's a fun hangout. Everybody can talk to each other at the place they used to meet, one last time," he said.
Matt Schmock said they've been using a batter made with New Glarus' Spotted Cow beer for the fish fry, and will use the same recipe at his new restaurant in Mount Horeb, Driftless Social, which he expects to have open by the end of August in the former Schubert's diner, 128 E. Main St.
He said the space is gutted and interior walls are scheduled to start going up June 20.
Matt Schmock, said he and his brother, Tim Schmock, will incorporate many of Smoky's features into Driftless Social, but he doesn't want to call it a supper club.
"I want to be a few different things," he said. "I want to have supper club elements to it, steakhouse elements to it, and also be a nice neighborhood bar as well."
Art of the Everyday: A recap of April in photos from Wisconsin State Journal photographers