Playing and Paying: Both Good Reasons to Eat

At Peninsula Golf & Country Club, Executive Chef Phil Benedetti whipped up a special “Play Ball” menu, featuring “Recipes from America’s Ballpark.”

On the spectrum of Things to Like, and Not to Like, about spring, the opening of baseball season, and when income taxes are due, are at the extreme opposite ends of the scale. But they do share one good quality: Clubs have found both events to be worthy of special menus and meal occasions for their members.

At Peninsula Golf & Country Club in San Mateo, Calif., Executive Chef Phil Benedetti (“Comforts of Home,” C&RB, May 2010) has whipped up a special “Play Ball” menu, featuring “Recipes from America’s Ballpark,” that will be offered as a special dining theme to the club’s members throughout April.

The menu starts with a choice of Fenway Park/Boston Red Sox New England Clam Chowder or Chase Field/Arizona Diamondbacks Italian Chopped Salad. Entrée choices then include:

• Kauffman Stadium/Kansas City Royals KC Ribeye Stack sandwich, with bacon, onions, mushroom and cheddar cheese, and served on a potato bun, smothered in BBQ sauce ($22)

• AT&T Park/San Francisco Giants “Orlando Cepeda Caribbean Cha Cha Bowl,” featuring spicy adobo marinated chicken, pineapple and zucchini salsa, black beans and white rice ($20)

• Turner Field/Atlanta Braves “Knucksie” (after famed knuckleball pitcher Phil Niekro) Open-Faced Southern Sandwich, featuring smoked pulled pork, carmelized onions, cole slaw and dill pickle, serve over jalapeno cheddar corn bread and with crispy sweet potatoes ($21)

• Citizens Bank Park/Philadelphia Phillies Foot-long Summer Dog, with chipotle mayonnaise, pickled red onion salsa, and English cucumbers ($19.75)

• Petco Park/San Diego Padres Beer-Battered Fish Tacos, featuring fresh cod, yogurt aioli, roasted garlic pico de gallo, shredded cabbage, lime wedges, avocado and corn tortillas ($21)

All entrees are served with endless Jacobs Field/Cleveland Indians Waffle Fries. And for dessert, what else could be served but a vanilla ice cream sundae—in a souvenir World Champion San Francisco Giants helmet, of course.

The opportunity to eat and drink away your tax-day sorrows is being offered to the members of Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis, Mo., through a special “Happy Tax Day 10-40 Dinner Menu” offered in the club’s Fairway Grille from Friday, April 15^th through Sunday, April 17^th.  “Whether income tax time is a cause for celebration or commiseration, we’re here for you with a one-weekend, one time of year special menu,” a special promotion said. “All of the listed entrees are $10.40 each, and include our soup and salad buffet.”

The special menu at the special price offered much more value than is ever usually associated with doing business with the government. It included:

• Blackened Farm-Raised Tilapia, with mango and pineapple salsa

• Petite Filet of Certified Angus Beef, with two sautéed Gulf shrimp provencal

• Grilled Chicken Alfredo, with a basil pesto cream sauce and fettucini noodles

• Slow-Roasted Short Ribs, with shallot veal demi and Tabasco onions

“Make a reservation and come and cry in your beer, or into our of our specially priced glasses of wine,” the Norwood Hills promotion concluded. “Let’s have fun.”