Custom content isn’t just marketing parlance. In the kitchen, it signifies a growing movement toward personalization in which chefs are designing event menus that reflect individual tastes and flavor profiles. Whether preparing an intimate gathering for a member outing or a themed multi-course event complete with food and beverage pairings, culinary professionals are embracing the opportunity to showcase their talents while developing new concepts.
Say Cheese
If there’s one food that’s a staple in every Wisconsin-based kitchen, it’s fresh cheese. However, finding innovative ways to bring America’s Dairyland to the table requires a novel approach. For Executive Chef Nico Rossi at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wisc., that means producing unconventional dishes without upstaging the signature ingredient.
Nico Rossi, Executive Chef, Lake Lawn Resort
“In Wisconsin, cheese is king, and the more items we can cover with cheese, the happier the guests are,” says Rossi. He and his team have created a mac and cheese station, outfitted with a number of creamy bases, including mornay, Spotted Cow five-year aged cheddar, smoked cheddar and chipotle Munster.
Further enhancing this cheesy favorite, guests can choose from among 20 different toppings, ranging from lobster and steak to bacon and fresh vegetables. Smoked sauces and seafood tend to be the guests’ favorites, as are their interactions with culinary team members manning the station.
“Each chef brings a unique approach to open cooking methods with their flair and their banter with the guests,” adds Rossi. “Guests are left with a new experience during their stay with us.”
Cheese also played a starring role during a recent event in which Rossi and his crew designed special menus for the Swiss tourism board. Showcasing the country’s wines, artisanal meats and cheeses, as well as national dishes, the goal was to create a culinary adventure enabling guests to feel as though they had been transported to a European getaway.
It’s events like these that keep Lake Lawn Resort’s newly minted Executive Chef nimble and ready to experiment.
“Being a student of my craft, these events challenge us professionally to grow and be better,” explains Rossi. “Learning is a never-ending process.”
This fall marks Rossi’s first full year at Lake Lawn, where he heads up the resort’s fine dining restaurant, 1878 on the Lake. Since his start, Rossi has seen a shift toward more custom approaches for a broader range of dishes.
“People are choosing to be creative and have unique experiences with their food choices,” he notes. His previous stints preparing banquets at other high-end resorts, including Four Winds Casinos, Little Palm Island and Grass Flats’ Rhum House (over the course of 24 years), have enabled Rossi to develop an eye for what will best appeal to guests.
Down at the Hut, Lake Lawn’s seasonal marina bar, the menu, comprised largely of bratwursts and burgers, was overdue for a refresh. Rossi and his team debuted a fuller roster of street food items for Fourth of July weekend—featuring tacos, a Mexican shrimp cocktail, elote street corn, chips, and guacamole—to overwhelming success.
“We are looking to grow this concept on the lakefront,” says Rossi, “adding desserts and Asian-themed taco specials to weekly menus that will keep things fresh and build a following.”
Looking ahead, Rossi is confident that his kitchen will be able to produce custom menu items that fulfill the resort’s standards of excellence, with his devoted culinary staff by his side. “When you put a group of professional chefs together, grand ideas flow, as does the wine,” he says. “The food ideas come naturally to us, as we live to eat.”
Strength In Numbers
When crafting new culinary concepts, it’s helpful to cull input from multiple sources, and it’s especially convenient when those connections are in-house. Executive Chef James Pampinella at The Oaks Club in Osprey, Fla., utilizes a treasure trove of resourceful personnel in his busy kitchen, as well as input from club management.
“I am a firm believer that a chef is only as good as their current team’s ability,” he explains. “Tapping into the team’s ethnic backgrounds and culinary talents, and allowing them to own stations, brings forth new flavors and options.”
Not only does Pampinella rely upon their collective input to inspire new dishes, but to grow in his own role as lead chef. (He has spent the past 12 years at The Oaks Club, preceded by stints at Interlachen Country Club, John’s Island Country Club and Highlands Country Club.) Planning and preparing banquet menus over the past decade has shown him that club culinary events are becoming more personalized by the minute.
“I believe this shift is coming from the competitive dining landscape and what our members are seeing at other clubs that they belong to, their friends, and social media,” he says.
The Oaks Club as a whole uses insight from its house and social committee meetings, which divulge what members are discussing in terms of dining and dieting trends. Topping the list are healthy eating, vegan menus, and gluten-free dishes, while leaving room for less restrictive dining options.
Personalization came into play this past spring when Pampinella joined forces with Assistant General Manager Cory Saffran to develop some novel concepts. For an Easter buffet, the two designed a tiered deviled egg display, outfitted with decorative elements. The festive vignette doubled as a focal point for members and their guests upon arrival and enticed them to sample a traditional holiday appetizer in multiple flavors.
This past summer, Saffran took the lead on Bites & Flights, a progressive dining event with an escape-room-style component. Members were invited to move about the club, where they sampled different food and beverage pairings at each stop.
“Along the way,” explains Saffran, “they will have to answer questions to figure out the next location and remember a number that will unlock a box at the end with a small giveaway of custom, engraved-wood coasters.”
Menu highlights included chicken and waffles; mushroom, garlic, and lemon cream ravioli; and crab cakes served with three mini cocktails (on the restaurant terrace); caprese skewers with balsamic pipette and summer rolls paired with a trio of white wines; Oaks Club wedge salad and surf and turf (chateaubriand and poached lobster) served with red wine; and finally, a dessert trio and three mini dessert cocktails (on the ballroom balcony). A true all-hands-on-deck approach, the club’s maintenance team constructed a tasting spoon wall for presenting the first course of small bites.
Pampinella’s BOH staff also helps strategize banquet menu concepts, allowing guests to broaden their cultural horizons through their palates. Recent action stations have featured custom, handmade sushi and poke bowls made to order. “We first choose the focal point of a new dish and then build a foundation of flavor affinities to support it,” he explains.
“It takes the whole team to raise the bar,” Pampinella adds, “and bouncing ideas off of each other to create new and exciting offerings is a great recipe for success.”
