The Stanwich Club Executive Chef Corey Chow
From whole lambs slow-roasting on a spit to beets buried in embers, club chefs are embracing live-fire cooking—not just as a technique, but as a full sensory experience that’s equally exciting for members and staff.
At The Stanwich Club, Executive Chef Corey Chow takes inspiration from Chef Francis Mallmann, “the godfather of open-flame cooking,” as well as a few of his favorite restaurants: Campfire in Carlsbad, Calif., and The Place Restaurant in Guilford, Conn.
“It’s all outside,” Chow says of The Place. “There’s a row of cinder blocks, with different levels of grills, and they cook simple things: lobster, shrimp, steaks, fish,” Chow says. “Their clams are the best clams I’ve ever had in my life. So I thought, ‘how do we incorporate this type of cooking, from something simple to something refined?’”
The answer: a custom-made setup Chow and his team now call “The Thunderdome.”
“It’s very dramatic,” says Chow. “It’s 10 feet wide by 15 feet high. There are three different levels. There are chains everywhere that are hanging with racks that you cook on. It’s a good conversation piece, it’s a great way to show different styles of cooking, and it’s fun for us, too.”
The Thunderdome makes an appearance a few times a year, usually for a member-guest weekend. The team carves out a section next to the 18th hole, lays down sand, and builds the structure.
“It’s a lot of work just to set it up, and the breakdown’s even worse; it’s dirty, and there’s ashes everywhere. But it’s a very big crowd-pleaser. And [the grounds team] makes it look like nothing happened.”
“We’ll start pre-cooking the day before with vegetables, and the day of, we’ll start the fire around 12 o’clock,” Chow adds. “All day long, the smoke is blowing all over the course. It’s a beautiful scene. But it’s not smoke and mirrors; we cook a buffet—everything on that buffet has been on the grill, cooked open-fire.”
Chow’s early culinary experience was wood-fired, and it still informs his perspective.
“To me, cooking a great protein—a perfect piece of fish or steak—that’s easy. All you have to do is execute,” says Chow. “But to take a normal red beet and make it even more dynamic—that’s harder for me. Vegetables are much more challenging, and that makes it more fun.”
That philosophy shapes the Thunderdome’s offerings, and members are eager to try it all, from charred beets to roasted cabbage and carrots.
“We did an awesome street corn station,” recalls Chow, “where the corn is just roasting on the grill, and then we dip it in butter, cotija cheese, and [spices].”
While live-fire cooking has trended in restaurants for years, Chow sees greater potential in the club space.
“It doesn’t have to be something crazy,” he says. “It could be a four-foot cinder block grill. … You can take it in a lot of different directions, but I think it’s great for the experience. And with clubs, that’s what you want; you want the membership to have that experience and for them to show off to their guests.”
