Balancing seasonality, sustainability and originality, chefs are cooking up creative and successful seafood presentations— even at clubs firmly located on dry land.

By Joanna DeChellis, Contributing Editor

SUMMING IT UP

• A little education goes a long way to ensure sales and success when introducing new seafood dishes.
• Freshness and quality product are essential.
• Highlighting seafood as special can help to keep waste and costs in control.
• If sustainability is important to your operation, purchase seafood certified by an organization such as The Marine Stewardship Council (www.msc.org), or check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch (www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx).

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a club or resort that doesn’t offer a pretty darn good version of fish and chips. It’s familiar. It’s quick. It has a low food cost. And members go crazy for it. It’s basically the seafood version of a club sandwich.

But that doesn’t mean all seafood dishes have to play by the fish-and-chips rule. Instead, chefs are casting a wider net, to come up with menus and events that feature new and interesting seafood applications for everything from trout and tripletail to scallops and sea urchin.

“If it lives in a body of water, we consider it ‘seafood,’ ” says Andreas Sellner, Executive Chef, The Reserve at Lake Keowee Club, Sunset, S.C. “At The Reserve, we feature fish, crustaceans, and mollusks from all over the world. I have a really great relationship with my supplier, who sends me weekly updates about what’s in season, what’s been overfished and what’s coming available, so I am able to get the freshest and highest-quality product available.”

Sellner puts those two attributes—freshness and quality—above all else when it comes to his seafood menus. Sometimes this means steering members toward different dishes and fishes. “I try to be in front of members as often as possible,” he says, “so I can explain to them why we’re featuring some products—and, more importantly, why we’re not featuring other things.”

Like Sellner, chefs at properties across the country—even those firmly located on dry land—are going above and beyond to ensure their seafood dishes are equally responsible, delicious, interesting and most importantly, saleable.

Visual Effects
Seeing is believing, and at Sylvania (Ohio) Country Club (SCC), “Fresh Fish Market Fridays” prove that members and guests really do eat with their eyes.

Each week, Executive Chef Victor Zapata sets up an iced display of fresh fish for members to view as they pass through the dining room (see photo, opposite page). The featured fish, which is presented on the club’s menus in a variety of forms, changes each week. And rarely, if ever, is a special repeated.

“ ‘Fresh Fish Market Fridays’ have been our most successful dinner service of the week for over two years,” reports Zapata. “By putting the fish on display, members can see the quality that is available.”

Even though Sylvania, a Toledo suburb, is not a coastal city, Zapata is able to purchase fresh, high-quality seafood from neighboring fish markets in Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland. “We’ve introduced seafood that I would have never thought my members would like,” he says. “A surprising number of them recognize the different species, too. Lately, it seems like I can’t stump them.”

Two such examples are tripletail and sea urchin, which have both become popular offerings. “As we come up with recipes, we focus on the flavor of the fish,” says Zapata. “I don’t want to drown something light and fresh in a heavy sauce, or weigh it down with too many ingredients.”

SCC always offers at least one good-for-you seafood option, too. “Fish is synonymous with healthy eating,” says Zapata. “So we try to balance the market menu with one lighter dish that might be topped with a fresh arugula salad, alongside one heavier dish that might be dressed with a beautiful beurre blanc.”

To keep costs in line and round out the market special, SCC offers a make-your-own salad bar with dozens of fresh choices and composed salads.

At Sylvania CC, the iced display of fresh fish (near left) sets the table for the “Fresh Fish Market Fridays” that have become the club’s “most successful dinner service of the week for over two years,” according to Executive Chef Victor Zapata .

 

On its regular a la carte menu, SCC features four to five fish dishes, which rotate seasonally. “Salmon and sea bass are our biggest sellers,” says Zapata. “Ivory salmon, in particular, has probably been our most successful fish dish to date. It’s really rare, but the flavor and texture are incredible.”

And, according to Zapata—and perhaps more importantly, SCC’s members—it’s worth the higher price point.

To educate servers about the different dishes, SCC holds pre-meal lineups where servers are able to taste new items and learn about the fish’s flavor and texture, as well as hear about how it has been prepared. “I have to be completely accurate with what I tell them,” says Zapata. “They all carry smartphones, as do the members—so if I make something up about how fresh it is, where the fish came from, what it ate or how it was harvested, they call me out.”

Like most clubs, SCC features a mix of products that are farm-raised and caught in natural habitats. “Seafood is tricky,” says Zapata. “You have to put in the work to guarantee freshness. That means knowing your order dates, ship dates and arrival dates, and planning accordingly.”

Plantation G&CC reaps bountiful rewards from a once-a-month seafood buffet that generates, on average, 400 covers. “We do it up,” says Executive Chef Scott Harrison (right) about the spreads, which include an oyster raw bar, seafood soups, crab legs and many other variations on the theme.

A Seafood Bounty
At Plantation Golf and Country Club, Venice, Fla., Executive Chef Scott Harrison “puts in the work” by not only changing half the club’s menu weekly, but also by offering a once-a-month seafood buffet that generates, on average, 400 covers.

“We do it up,” says Harrison. “There’s a raw bar with oysters, a bunch of different homemade cocktail sauces to pair with the shrimp, seafood soups, composed salads that feature things like mussels or shrimp, a hot line, a carving station, a salad bar, a baked potato bar, crab legs and a huge dessert station.”

The monthly buffet is promoted in the club’s newsletter, on posters, in e-blasts and through good ol’ fashioned word of mouth. Beyond being good for business, the buffet, and the soups in particular, help with inventory and waste control, allowing Harrison and his team to come up with creative applications for any leftover product.

A Real Catch
Most everyone offers a “catch of the day,” so to truly differentiate their daily seafood features, club chefs are finding that a little ingenuity goes a long way.

“Our club is five miles from the ocean,” says Keith Bayer, Executive Chef at Old Palm Golf Club, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. “Our membership is sophisticated and well-traveled. I couldn’t get away with offering them the same fish and seafood items they could get at a local restaurant. It has to be unique and truly special.” [For some examples of creative seafood options, see “Inspired Ideas,”]

Bronzini, pompano, hogfish, cobia and monkfish are all popular at Old Palm. And while he prefers to keep preparation of these fishes simple, Bayer relies on his house-made spice mixes and oils to elevate flavor profiles.

To educate diners, Old Palm has a dedicated website where live videos of Bayer preparing different seafood dishes are posted. “It gives them a chance to see their chef in action,” says Bayer.

At SCC and The Reserve, Sellner and Zapata educate members about different fishes and seafood dishes through specialty cooking classes.

“When we ask members what they’d like to learn more about in the cooking classes, they always say seafood,” says Zapata. “It’s a great opportunity to have face-time with members,  and it gives us a chance to gauge whether new and different fishes will be successful.”

Turning Tides
With ongoing concerns about overfishing—along with the need to stay updated on nutritional and dietary issues and other ever-changing trends relating to seafood—chefs continue to increase their reliance on purveyors and watch groups, to help them “sort through the seaweed” and stay knowledgeable.

“I talk to my purveyors and rely on them to keep me abreast of trends and new products coming in,” says Kellen Graham, Kitchen Manager at Copper Canyon Golf Club, Buckeye, Ariz.

As a purely public club, Copper Canyon tends to play it safe with its seafood options, offering familiar proteins like cod, sole, salmon, shrimp and scallops in new and interesting ways.

“Our guests want mainstream, recognizable proteins, so we try to keep it familiar and find creative ways to enhance classic dishes,” says Graham, who also works closely with the club’s fitness department to create guest-specific, lighter fish dishes based on calorie content and nutritional profiles.

At Old Palm Golf Club, Executive Chef Keith Bayer (above) keeps preparations simple for the wide variety of fishes that are popular with members (including bronzini, pompano, hogfish, cobia and monkfish), and enhances flavor profiles with house-made spice mixes and oils.

At Galveston (Texas) Country Club (GCC), Executive Chef Gustavo Vega likes to explore local markets, to see what’s on trend and in season. “Versatility and freshness are most important,” he says. “It allows us to make seafood a focus of our F&B program.”

Vega helps educate members about different fishes by sharing details about special preparations and by adding complimentary toppings, cooking wines and herbs.
“We educate servers so they can describe the taste and texture and recommend pairings and alternate preparations,” he says. Flounder Milanese, red snapper and parmesan-crusted soft-shell crabs are some of GCC’s most popular dishes, he notes.

 

 

Gustavo Vega, Executive Chef at Galveston CC, has established Flounder Milanese, red snapper and parmesan-crusted soft-shell crabs as some of the club’s most popular dishes.

Snapper is also a popular offering at Plantation G&CC, where the club’s petite plates feature combinations like bruschetta prawns in a light white wine brodo, and Maryland crab cakes served with a chipotle remoulade and cilantro aioli.

“The petite plates allow me to cater to a larger demographic looking for a casual seafood option,” says Harrison. “Plus, my fish guy brings me the best of the best. Today, he’s bringing in swordfish that we’ll sear, then top with a fresh kiwi and blackberry relish.
“We’re fortunate to have adventurous eaters at the club,” Harrison adds. “It allows for more turnover and better quality product. But we’re also fortunate to have developed really great relationships with our suppliers. We trust them, and they deliver excellent quality.”