Willies

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  I sandwiched Willie's between Club 45 and Antler's although my chronology's a little out of whack on this trip.
    Bear Creek is another rural town that gas prices and a stumbling economy hasn't been particularly good to in the last several years. Recreation is the first budget cut that people will make when the purse strings tighten up and all but two of the six or seven bars are closed as well as the two markets and several other businesses.
    Wllie's is on a street corner and as you walk into the bar room on this particular Frday afternoon there are a bunch of older, and a couple younger, cardplayers. They're seated to the right of the front door at a heavy wood table that has a top held up with supports angling outward from the base to the edges leaving a shelf underneath for smokes and drinks so they're not in the way of the game.
    The long bar top itself is machined finished wood with a veneer of of partially fiinished rough outer bark along the outside. The suspended cieling has some double panels with renderings of Nascar and various Wisconsin sports team logos.
    If you go around the corner of the bar there's a dining room that seats roughly 20 people with a rail along the upper wall loaded with carved wooden cars, tractors, and other miscellany. It's a pretty basic menu and they have daily specials up on a board behind the bar for the farsighted.
    The food is reasonably priced as are the drinks. The shots aren't generous but you can't have everything.
    There's no ferns or brass just wood and linoleum.
    There's no martini list just beer, shots, and an occassional rum and Coke.
    There's no sand crab  or Patagonian tubefish rechristened with another name to make it sound more palatable just burgers, Friday fish fries, and the like.
    Ther's no bullshit just local people. That's just fine by me.
    If you're up this way for fine dining you missed the boat. If you're 40 minutes or so up U.S. 45 north of Oshkosh and can eat somewhere where they serve simple fare, stop by and give the local economy a shot in the arm.

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  Posted on 08.03.13 James H.

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