Blue Stem, the 3,000-sq. ft. casual dining venue at the Augusta, Mich., property, is part of a total $5.5 million investment at the property, which includes Stoatin Brae, the resort’s sixth golf course. The restaurant will feature modern twists on American classics with signature dishes including Scottish fish chowder, shrimp cakes, and lamb shank and grits.
The casual-dining Blue Stem restaurant is one of the latest additions to the facilities that make up the Gull Lake View Golf Club & Resort in Augusta, Mich., Michigan Live reported.
John Scott, president of the property, hopes its modern American cuisine and its setting will be so attractive for food lovers that it works attracts as many independent diners as it does golfers, Live reported.
“Food was always here for the convenience of the golfer,” Scott said of foodservice at the resort, which includes five golf courses. “What I think we learned from this new restaurant is that we can do food as its own separate thing. We’re trying to give some identity to it.”
The new, 3,000-sq. ft. Blue Stem restaurant is adjacent to the resort’s soon-to-open, sixth golf course, Stoatin Brae. Construction of the casual dining restaurant, which includes a pro shop for golfers and is a starting point for those using the new course, involved about $1.5 million of a total $5.5 million investment required to design and develop the restaurant and the course, Live reported.
C&RB reported on plans for the restaurant in December.
“We’re trying to make sure we give identity to our restaurant,” Scott said of the new eatery, which has seating for about 90 people inside and for another 50 on its outdoor patio. “The food is really good but you don’t need to wear a tuxedo in here. We’re not expecting you to be on your best game. Just come in, eat and relax. Expect to have a really good meal. Expect to play a really good golf course. But don’t expect to have to dress up or (feel) that it’s too fancy or that it’s not attainable for the average person.”
Executive Chef Renee Hogge said the restaurant will feature modern twists on American classics, including cleverly prepared adaptations of steak, pork, fish and chicken dishes. “We’re a restaurant and not just a golf course restaurant,” Hogge said.
Signatures dishes for Blue Stem, which is named for the natural prairie grasses in the area, include Scottish fish chowder (smoked whitefish with potatoes, corn onion and cream); shrimp cakes (gulf shrimp, shallots, thyme, red peppers and burnt scallion aioli); and lamb shank and grits (cooked with garlic, celery, carrots, onion and red wine), Live reported.
Hogge oversees the kitchen at Blue Stem and has, for the past three years, overseen the culinary work at the resort and its East Course Grill, a dining facility at the Gull Lake View East Golf Course. It is a restaurant but also provides meals for any of up to 268 guests that may stay at any one time in the resort’s 67 villas, Live reported.
Along with catering golf outings, the grill also accommodates social, business and recreational events for up to about 300 people. It is in the process of being updated into a smokehouse concept. Its menu will include barbecue and is to be named Charles and Darl’s Smokehouse and Grill. That is being done to honor John Scott’s father, Charles, and his late grandfather, Darl, Live reported.
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