The new ownership group of Valley High GC near Houston, Minn., is remodeling and introducing a new menu. “We’re a quality golf course and we’re adding to the restaurant and bar side,” says Casey O’Connell, who after five years as General Manager will now focus on a new role as Director of Golf Operations.
Remodeling is expected to be completed, and a new menu put in place, by the first or second week of August at the clubhouse and restaurant of the Valley High Golf Club near Houston, Minn., the Winona (Minn.) Daily News reported.
The 145-acre, 18-hole public golf course was purchased in a deal that took effect July 1, the Daily News reported, by an ownership group that included the owners and managers of several restaurants (the Dublin Square Irish Pub & Eatery, Burger Fusion and the Arterial Bar & Grill) in La Crosse, Minn.
A major remodeling project began at the start of July in the clubhouse and its restaurant, which has been renamed The Turn Bar & Grille, the Daily News reported. The revamped restaurant will have a larger menu that is influenced by the owners’ other restaurants, featuring items such as chicken wings, burgers, wrap sandwiches, mahi-mahi fish tacos, steak, chicken, fish and chips, a variety of comfort foods and a Friday fish fry.
“We’re using fresh ingredients,” said Matt Boschka, one of the new owners. The restaurant and bar also will use local products such as Pearl Street Brewery beer, Buffalo Hills Bison meat and Trempealeau Hotel walnut burgers, Boschka said.
“A lot of people have missed having a Friday fish fry here” for the past two years, O’Connell said. For the past two years, the menu had been scaled back to such fare as burgers, wraps and other sandwiches, and appetizers, he noted.
And while during those past two years, Valley High has been a seasonal business, open from March to November, Boschka told the Daily News that “We tentatively plan to be open year-round” with the restaurant and its banquet room, which can accommodate up to 100 people.
Casey O’Connell, who had started his fifth season as the Valley High’s General Manager, told the Daily News that he is pleased that the new owners will oversee the club’s bar and food operations while he focuses on the golf course in his new job as Director of Golf Operations. “We’re a quality golf course and we’re adding to the restaurant and bar side,” O’Connell said.
“The golf course is in great shape,” O’Connell added, noting that Valley High draws people from within a 50-mile radius. “It’s better than I’ve ever seen it at this time of year. A customer recently told me he hasn’t seen it look this good in decades.” He attributed that to the work of Golf Course Superintendent Jim Bastys and a quality grounds crew.
“I’ll focus on golf outings, overseeing the golf staff and working with the superintendent on constant improvement of the golf course and playing conditions,” O’Connell told the Daily News about his new role.
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