It’s surprising to learn that the U.S. Open has not had a consistent tradition of Champions Dinners each year. But on Tuesday night, over 30 of the greats who have hoisted the two-handled silver trophy, including Palmer, Nicklaus, Trevino, Woods and McIlroy, will gather for an intimate “Reunion Dinner” in one of the Merion clubhouse’s quaint dining rooms.
Club & Resort Business Editor Joe Barks, “embedded” as a utility worker on the expanded kitchen staff of Merion Golf Club as the Ardmore, Pa., club hosts the U.S. Open Championship this week, will file behind-the–scenes reports after ending his 10-hour shifts providing whatever support is needed for the high-volume food operation in the members’ tent. Here are some of his impressions and insights after Monday’s rainy opening day:
• It’s surprising to learn that the U.S. Open, unlike the Masters, PGA Championship and British Open, has not had a consistent tradition of Champions Dinners each year. But on Tuesday night at Merion—for the first time since Pebble Beach in 2010 and one of only a handful of times in the Championship’s history—over 30 of the greats who have hoisted the two-handled silver trophy, including Palmer, Nicklaus, Trevino, Woods and McIlroy, will gather for an intimate “Reunion Dinner” (attended by only champions and their spouse/guest) in one of the clubhouse’s quaint dining rooms.
Executive Chef Jerry Schreck’s menu features Butter-Poached Maine Lobster with Royal Red Shrimp Risotto and Sous-Vide, Dry-Aged Sirloin Strip Steak with Morel Mushrooms, White Truffle and Cheddar Fries (for the full menu, click here). One special touch not shown on the menu: white-chocolate-coated cookies, custom-made for each champion, with Merion’s distinctive wicker-basket logo, and the year(s) of that champion’s win(s), inscribed in icing.
• Monday’s downpours that soaked Merion again just three days after a similar deluge last Friday (and turned the creek that runs through many holes into swollen, surging whitewater) have rightfully highlighted the yeoman efforts of the club’s grounds crew to not only limit the damage for the start of competition on Thursday, but also to keep the course playable enough that patrons could still observe some practice play today.
Some attention and accolades should also go to the club’s food-and-beverage team, too, though, for how it has also had to adapt to the extra weather-related challenges that have come its way. The sudden cloudbursts brought food-rush crushes into the members’ tent at unanticipated times throughout the first day, and the weather also shifted diners’ preferences towards more hot-food choices and away from the cold sandwiches and salads that had been made ahead of time. That led to several flurries of extra cooking and packaging, all of which had to be executed amid fast-gathering puddles on the tent’s plywood floors.
• Something I really need to work on, as someone who’s new to the kind of high-volume crushes we saw today: Getting latex food-handling gloves on quickly—and without ripping them—when a prep table is full of hot food that needs to be boxed and moved out to a warming table from which customers are taking their choices as fast as we can make them. Standing there struggling like O.J. Simpson to get gloves on my hands before I can do my part is not exactly the best way to help pick up the productivity.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.