A Wisconsin supper club is opening inside an existing Tacoma restaurant

With 14,000 square feet under one roof, the owners of Rhein Haus have split the Tacoma restaurant in two — sort of.

Wally’s Wisconsin Tavern, a Midwestern-themed bar replete with cheese curds, fried fish, butter burgers, muddled old fashioneds and Milwaukee beers, will open on the right side of the building at 649 Division Ave., in 3,000 square feet of space. Rhein Haus will remain to the left, retaining the main bar and patio overlooking Wright Park.

The Tacoma edition of Wally’s will be the second dual-concept location for the restaurant group, which has a similar setup in Denver, Colorado, and also operates a Rhein Haus in Seattle and Leavenworth.

The two restaurants will share the existing entrance and a kitchen, led by chef Kelly Wilson.

“Like so much of the past year,” he told The News Tribune this week, “developing the Wally’s concept came as a challenge but also an opportunity,” adding that the “gigantic dining room could feature multiple identities.”

Guests, then, have a choice: Go left and revel in the excellent German tap list, custom-made sausages and housemade spätzle at Rhein Haus, or turn right and kick back with a can of Schlitz, a basket of cheese curds and a turn at Big Buck Hunter.

If all of this sounds strange to you, then you have never lived in the Midwest. Therein lies an unhealthy affinity for fried dairy, a sensible fealty to the region’s beer-baron history, and a daily tug to dimly lit, dark wood-paneled bars where cheap beer and darts, cocktails and conversation go hand-in-hand. When you pass a Culver’s, famous for its butter burgers — a version of which holds a prominent spot on the Wally’s menu — you stop.

“Wally’s is a tribute to several members of our restaurant team’s Midwestern roots,” said partner James Weimann.

There will, of course, be cheese curds, beer-battered and fried, served with “pickle dip” or ranch. Other plates include a Wisconsin-only cheese plate with rye crisps and pickles; a wedge salad with Roth buttermilk blue cheese, tomatoes, frizzled onions and crumbled bacon; a Fish Fry — the preferred Sconnie term for a basket of fish and chips — and a Fishwich, a staff favorite, according to Wilson.

“Developing the menu felt like a guilty pleasure,” he said, “where we could add cheese and bacon to everything. But I also wanted to highlight the fact that Wisconsin is known for its cheese — because it is good!”

See also: six styles of mac and cheese, from meaty mac with pork belly and bacon to buffalo mac with fried and hot-sauced cauliflower, and mac and cheese pizza laden with American cheese and garlic curds.

To execute the two-in-one approach, Wilson’s menus overlap on the backend — partly out of necessity but also of sensibility, given the state’s German immigrant history.

“So we can have our bratwurst with sauerkraut for Rhein Haus, and then cook the same brats in beer, cover it with cheese fondue and crispy onions for Wally’s,” he said.

Draft beers will mirror the excellent list at Rhein Haus, with German-style house brews and rare on-tap imports combined with regional favorites. Only Wally’s, though, will have Hamm’s on special every day.

Originally brewed in St. Paul, Minnesota, Hamm’s has been connected to what is now Molson Coors since 1999. The easy-drinking lager has a teeny tie to the Pacific Northwest, too: Olympia Brewing Company owned the brand in the ‘70s, until Pabst bought Olympia in 1983.

Weimann’s father earns the naming rights to this tavern, honoring his upbringing in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a city of about 50,000 people situated an hour between Milwaukee to the south and — perhaps more importantly — Green Bay to the north. The lakefront region was long home to several Indigenous peoples, until Irish, German and Dutch settlers arrived in the 19th century. In addition to cheesemaking, the region is home to Johnsonville Foods of American sausage fame. Sheboygan is still a manufacturing town: of furniture, even earning the nickname “Chair City,” and of fixtures by Kohler, headquartered in the neighboring town.

The original desire for a German-inspired restaurant — Rhein Haus — stemmed from this familial history and that of the business’s other partners, including Deming Maclise, Rich Fox, Dustin Watson and Matt Fundingsland.

Both sets of Weimann’s grandparents, he said in a release, spoke German before English, and the notion of a Wisconsin supper club was etched into his teenage psyche.

“My first job in the restaurant industry at age 15 was washing dishes at Johnny’s Supper Club, a Wisconsin diner known for its Friday night fish frys,” said Weimann. “We look forward to bringing that vibe to Tacoma and creating a place for Great Lakes sports fans, those hailing from the Midwest, and beer and cheese lovers to feel at home.”

Reckon it’s got a little something for everyone.

WALLY’S SUPPER CLUB / RHEIN HAUS TACOMA

▪ 649 Division Ave., Tacoma, wallyswiscoma.com

▪ Wednesday-Saturday 4-9 p.m. (10 p.m. weekends), Sunday 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

▪ Details: opening Wednesday, June 23; follow on Facebook and Instagram for updates

This story was originally published June 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.