Stoughton’s Casual Supper Club on the water: Springers of Lake Kegonsa (2024)

By David Brierley

Often when people go to a supper club, they do so intentionally. Maybe it’s their favorite local spot, or maybe they checked out our supper club map to find somewhere new to try, but whatever the case, they know they’re in for a night of great food and drinks in a laid-back, relaxing atmosphere.

Sometimes, however, a supper club is stumbled upon unexpectedly. That’s what happened when I discovered Springers of Lake Kegonsa. It wasn’t labeled as a supper club, but it was in a good location to meet some friends for dinner and drinks.

When we arrived, much to our delight, we found this hidden gem of a supper club. From the parking lot, Springers is a long, low, gray building. When you enter through the main door, you’ll find yourself at the end of a long-ish hallway that opens up to the bar area slightly to your left, the host stand just to your right, and the dining rooms further to your right.

Further to your left is a room with a pool table, several games, and a corner fireplace to provide a cozy glow in the winter. Before you get too excited about the games, check in with the host. Reservations are highly recommended – especially during the busy summer months – though it is first-come-first-served on Fridays; they don’t take reservations that night.

The bar area is open and spacious. The large, wooden bar and wood beams along the ceiling give it a bit of a northwoods feel, but the large windows looking out on the deck and Lake Kegonsa beyond make it feel more like a beach resort.

The bar is long and winds itself around the room, offering plenty of seating. If you prefer to be outside, you can either order a drink at the bar, or just head out to a table and wait for a server to stop by to take your order. The deck offers its own menu of appetizers and bar food so you can snack while you wait.

Springers, like many restaurants, is suffering from a staffing shortage, so even with a reservation you may experience a bit of a wait. That was just fine for my friends and I; we were more than happy to sip on a few co*cktails and catch up.

The staff at Springers does their best to get ahead of the delay, and apologized in advance for any delays we might experience. In my group’s opinion, however, the service was top notch; better, in fact, than many restaurants we’d been to. That’s no small feat considering the staffing shortage, and indicates a well-run establishment. Kudos to owners Laura and Steve Rowley.

After kicking back, catching up, and playing a few games (and maybe a few pull-tabs), our name was called over the loudspeaker (a classic supper club feature) saying that our table was ready. We headed up to the host stand, where we were promptly guided to one of the two dining rooms.

The dining rooms are separated by a wall to keep the atmosphere a bit quieter and more intimate. They are decorated with nautical paraphernalia and lit to lower, supper club spec levels.

Our server brought us water and menus, and told us about the specials. The menu at Springers offers something for everyone without being overwhelming. There are plenty of appetizers to whet your palate, from cheese curds to jalapeno poppers, and chicken strips to nachos. Shrimp co*cktail is just a “mess of shrimp,” which sounds like how I enjoy my shrimp: a lot of them. There is also something called “mollusk mania,” which consists of mussels, clams, and shrimp steamed in a garlic broth, served with bread.

Getting down to the business part of the menu, Springers offers salads, chicken dishes, and pasta, in addition to steaks and a large selection of seafood – including coconut shrimp, which is phenomenal. Nightly specials include fish fry on Wednesdays and Fridays, Mexican night on Thursdays, and prime rib on Saturdays. Springers is currently closed on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.

Dessert, per usual, can be served in solid or liquid form. And by that I mean a regular dessert or a dessert drink – both of which are quite tasty and a nice way to end the evening.

When planning your next visit to Springers, keep in mind that guests may arrive by several different modes of transportation. Of course, you can arrive by car, but you can also arrive by boat. Springers offers piers where boaters can dock and eat on the deck or inside. Additionally, Dane County is adding a bike trail that will pass right by Springers, meaning you can take a break from your bike ride to grab a beer.

If you happen to be there on a Friday in the summer, there is usually live music out on the deck. Boats, sun, co*cktails, food, and live music; that sounds to me like a recipe for a good time.

Be sure to check out Springers’s website for menu options, and follow them on Facebook for food specials and fun events.

Interview with owner Laura Rowley

O&AW: How long have you and your husband owned Springers?

LR: We bought the building in 2004 from the previous owners; it had been in their family for many, many years. At that time, the building was in really bad condition and wouldn’t pass a health inspection. It needed work, but my husband was in construction. We lived [nearby] and used to come here all the time, so [the previous owners] knew that my husband would be able to fix things if the things needed fixing. We basically had to tear the building completely down except for the outside supports. It took us about six months; we opened again in February of 2005 and we started in September 2004.

O&AW: Do you and your husband run the supper club yourselves?

LR: We rebuilt it with the thought that we would sell the building to somebody who would want to buy a restaurant, but unfortunately, that’s when real estate took a hit. So, we said, “Well, I guess we’re going to have to run this sucker.” We both had full-time jobs – my husband in construction and I worked in the medical field – so we hired some staff and a chef, and we ran it. We did that for quite a while, and then my husband got out of construction so he was down here full-time and was starting to get more and more involved in it.

O&AW: Has the last year been difficult for your restaurant?

LR: I just recently retired so I’m here more now, which has been a godsend because we can’t find staff. I’m pretty much a dishwasher and prep cook and cleaning person; we both do a little bit of everything. We’ve gotten a lot more involved with it this year because there is no one else. We’ve got five or six key people, and we have some part-time help that we’re lucky to have, but that’s about it. It’s been a tough year.

O&AW: Can you tell me about the history of Springers?

LR: It started out on the lake as a little grocery store. The lake has always been populated by a lot of people from Illinois that had cottages. On one side of the lake, all the houses were built from the flu epidemic of 1918. A bunch of [people] would come up here for the summer to escape being in downtown Chicago because of the flu epidemic. Eventually, someone had the idea to open a grocery store for things like eggs and milk, because back in those days you couldn’t just jump in your car and run to the grocery store as easily.

The bar was added in the 1960s, and they’d have dancing out here and that kind of thing. They also had built cabins and a bunk house that they used and rented out for fishermen and their families. When we took over, they sold all the cabins to individuals and the bunk house had been long torn down. It used to be called Sunnyside Resort, and at that time they rented boats and they sold bait. Then in the 1970s, they put on the dining room and the kitchen. That’s when it became a year-round supper club; before that, it was just open in the summer.

O&AW: Everyone has a different definition of a supper club. To you, what makes Springers a supper club?

LR: We try to be a family friendly place, we offer good food at a reasonable price, and you can come as you are, you don’t have to be dressed up. Yet, you can still get lobster on occasions like New Year’s Eve. It’s kind of a philosophy; we make a very hardy old fashioned, but the kids can come in here in their bathing suits if they want. We also have a Friday fish fry, we have prime rib on Saturday night, and nightly specials.

O&AW: What are some unique features of this supper club?

LR: We have a big pier for boats to pull up and to dock at … we’re on the snowmobile trails, and they are soon to be putting in a Dane County bike path that will go right through our parking lot. We’re right across the street from Lake Kegonsa State Park as well. We’re in a very recreational area for ice fishing, regular fishing … we’ve had ice boaters out here when the ice conditions are just right.

We have wonderful sunsets, and the patio is dog friendly. A lot of people come in on their boats and have their dog with them, so they can come get a drink of water and lay down by their owner. We’ve even had seaplanes come flying in so we say you can come by land, sea, or air.

O&AW: What are some of your more popular menu items?

LR: Definitely the Friday fish fry, we’re always packed for that. We have deep fried and beer battered cod, baked cod, walleye and bluegill and perch … all the fish that everybody expects at a fish fry. Saturday nights we have more of the steaks, the prime rib, and the chef usually will make a special; last week it was a Korean barbecued pork.

We do Mexican night on Thursdays, which is really popular with the people in the neighborhood. A lot of times people are coming up from Illinois to their cottages and they usually leave after work on Thursday. They’ll get here at about 7:00 and not have any food, so they’ll come down and eat tacos.

O&AW: Do you host any special events?

LR: Yeah, we have different nights like New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, we always do something special on Mother’s Day. We kind of go with the holidays, and every year we help sponsor the ice fisheree for the conservation club; they have a fishing tournament and they use our building as like their home base.

We have live entertainment on Friday evenings outside in the summertime. It is very limited, but we made a push with our zoning that we could do that between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

O&AW: What else should readers know about Springers?

LR: We have wonderful sunsets, and the patio is dog friendly. A lot of people come in on their boats and have their dog with them, so they can come get a drink of water and lay down by their owner. We’ve even had seaplanes come flying in so we say you can come by land, sea, or air.