Oneida Golf & Country Club takes big swings with mix of refined, casual cuisine

While it’s not completely accurate to say that this isn’t your father’s golf course, at least when it comes to cuisine at Oneida Golf & Country Club in Green Bay, the stuffy private club stereotype has gone the way of argyle socks.

Or as sous chef Michael Klanchar put it while performing an impromptu waddle in the dining room, “Our guests don’t have monocles and walk around a certain way.”

Billed as one of Wisconsin’s most prestigious private clubs, Oneida Golf & Country Club certainly has all the dazzling interior and exterior views you’d expect of a pristine property bathed in luxury. But while standards are high for its members, the club no longer carries a burden of expectation when it comes to fine dining, said executive chef David Avery.

“Country club fare has come a long, long way,” he said. “There’s a real mix here now. Members who wear casual jeans and want to sit in the bar and eat buffalo wings, and some who want to be in the dining room and have four courses.

“We have to be really flexible with our menu and try to find common ground so we can accommodate everyone who is coming through. If someone is in the mood for an open-faced roast beef sandwich, that’s what we’ll do.”

Working at a private club is unique in that Oneida’s roughly 400 golf and social members pay good money to use the facility. That means the Oneida kitchen becomes their kitchen while away from home.

Serving the same clientele requires you remember their favorites but also maintain a fresh approach so day-to-day dining doesn’t become stale. Then there’s the matter of paying attention to individual needs – sometimes as candidly as having members walk in the kitchen and make mood-based requests on the fly.

Try getting away with that at a chef-owned restaurant.

“They’re telling us what they want. We’re ordering products specifically for them,” Avery said. “And sometimes they’re going to come off 18 holes and not want a four-course lunch. They just want something light, a burger or a sandwich. And a good one, at that.”

Avery grew up outside New York City and attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., before working in Arizona, and later a Troon Golf property in Wausau. That opportunity brought him to Oneida, also managed by Troon, last year. Klanchar, an Oconto native, trained at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton before helping open Koko Sushi Bar & Lounge in Bellevue.

Together, they’re butchering Chilean sea bass and curing salmon in-house while devising theme offerings like German night, sushi night and oyster night. The latter proved so popular, raw oysters were added to the menu full time, Avery said.

Part of the challenge is recognizing what worked at country clubs in the past, but what will also keep new members – especially younger families – around for the future. That means embracing some of the trendier innovations of foodie culture and keeping things casual when the occasion calls for it.

“We’ll do everything from a ham sandwich to lobster,” Avery said. “On the course, we have a shack that does sandwiches. When the weather’s nice, we’ll have grilling stations with hot dogs and brats. So we’re working out of multiple outlets to meet all our needs.

“Your number one seller at almost every club is going to be a club sandwich or a burger. Doesn’t matter if it’s here or Scottsdale or Malibu. That’s a constant thing.”

As you’d expect of the slim Wisconsin golf window, June is when everything really comes together with members strolling the course or diving into the pool. Surprisingly, the club is extremely busy in the winter thanks to elaborate holiday gatherings and other special events booked by members.

This year’s unexpected jolt of warm weather also helped Oneida open its course earlier than it has in almost 50 years, Avery said.

While everyone already knew the facility had stunning views, now Avery and Klanchar are making sure it has stunning food to match.

“It used to be more of a social status thing, but that changed a lot with the golf boom in the ’90s,” Avery said. “We offer a lot of things you don’t normally see at private clubs.

And with those different amenities, you really have to have the cuisine to go along with it.”
Oneida Golf & Country Club is located at 207 Country Club Road, Green Bay. To learn more view their listing on meetingpages.com.

Reported by:  Green Bay Press-Gazzette