The Lebanon Country Club has transformed parts of its well-cared-for property into a showcase for natures bounty.
You no longer have to be a Birkenstock-wearing “granola roller” to know about, or experience the benefits of, organic foods and the farm-to-table movement. No longer niches for the environmentally or socially conscious, these trends have become synonymous with not only good nutrition and health, but also culinary quality.
In fact, at Lebanon (Pa.) Country Club (LCC), in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country about an hour west of Philadelphia, these trends have moved well beyond being merely passing fads, to become an integral part of the club’s life. LCC traces its roots to 1920, when a group of prominent citizens sought a suitable location for a country club and golf course, and found two adjoining farms, each with 100 acres, to provide the perfect spot. Ninety years later, LCC is now home to a par-72, Alexander Findlay-designed 18-hole golf course, along with a driving range, multiple putting greens, a pro shop located in the old historic farmhouse next to the putting green, three hard tennis courts (two that are lit for night play), a swimming pool, and a full-service clubhouse with both casual and formal dining rooms.
Even with this wealth of amenities that, as amassed over the years, has helped LCC build up to and maintain a steady membership of nearly 500, Executive Chef/Food & Beverage Director Eric Notter sought to create a new feature of its legacy when he, with the help of a volunteer gardener—his father-in-law, Fred Ulrich—planted a chef’s garden on an unused patch of the club’s vast lawn.
“There is a lot of competition for our members’ dining-out dollars,” says Notter. “Beyond offering them quality food at a good value, we wanted to find a way to give them a sense of ownership over their club’s F&B operation. The goal was to connect the club itself to the food on the plate.”
A Blooming Business
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America’s Hyde Park, N.Y. school, Notter’s career includes positions in many prominent establishments, including the Strathallen Hotel, Rochester, N.Y., Café L’Europe in Palm Beach, Fla., and Marriott Hotels in Harrisburg.
He joined Lebanon Country Club in 1990, became Executive Chef in 2003 and added Food & Beverage Director to his title in 2010.
F&B Profile
• Club name/location: Lebanon Country Club, Lebanon, Pa. |
“When I came to LCC, there was a French chef here whom I really respected and wanted to learn from,” says Notter. “He had good menus and he set a certain standard that the F&B team had to live up to. He made everything from scratch, including soups like the baked crab soup, which is something of a signature item for us.”
With better hours than his previous experiences in the restaurant world, Notter happily spent his first 13 years at LCC honing his scratch-cooking skills. Then, when the executive chef retired, Notter rose to the challenges that lay ahead of him.
“The membership was shifting, and a growing number of families were joining the club,” he says. “Our menus were geared more toward the adult diner in a formal setting. That was all about to change, so we changed with it.”
Since that time, he and his team of sous chefs have pushed themselves to not only improve their skill sets—Notter encourages participation in professional organizations like the American Culinary Federation—but also to create forward-thinking menus that can appeal to the club’s full range of members. This strategy helps to continually evolve LCC’s dining program, as the team is constantly brainstorming ways to merchandise menu offerings, cater to member requests, and bring new flavors to the table.
“The quality and level of creativity that goes into our food has changed dramatically,” says Notter. “We now cater to all types of demographics and styles of cuisine within our menu mix.”
LCC’s Terrace Dining Room, which features a newly added patio for outdoor dining, rotates its menus quarterly—but a new Specials Menu, with four to five entrees, is written daily.
“Chef gets pretty creative with the Specials Menu,” says John Gross, LCC’s Acting Treasurer of the Board and Chairman of the Operations Committee. “When he features a fish on special, he’ll display the fresh fish on ice in a case at the front of the dining room. The members walk in and that’s the first thing they see. They’re so astounded by the quality and the freshness of the product, they are willing to pay a little extra for it.”
Notter takes his merchandising strategy a step further by posting chef-suggested wine pairings with the various specials each night.
“Chef is on the floor a lot, talking with members and making suggestions,” Gross adds. “They’ve come to trust his pairings and as a result, they order a bottle of wine when they may have first only ordered a glass.”
LCC is in the process of rewriting its wine list, and to make sure it will provide a good fit with member preferences, the club has been featuring two wines-by-the-glass every night for the past few months. “The wine committee and our wine consultant get a lot of feedback this way,” says Notter.
Garden Party
With freshness always front-of-mind, two years ago Notter and his team dug up a 60’ x 60’ patch of grass on the club’s property to plant a vegetable garden.
“We’re sitting on some of the country’s most nutrient-dense soil,” says Notter. “The house committee asked if we could plant a garden, and we decided to do it. This way, we are able to control where our produce comes from, and how it is grown and harvested. And we can extend the life of a lot of the things we grow by preserving them in jellies, sauces or by canning, and then use them throughout the year on all of our menus.”
When Notter’s father-in-law, Fred Ulrich, heard about the garden project, he insisted on helping. “My hat is off to him,” says Notter. “I work 70 hours a week, so I’m not able to be out tending to the garden as much as I’d like. But he’s there all the time, tending to each and every plant. He’s been a gardener his whole life, so this is a playground for him.”
The first garden was planted in 2009, across the street from the club. Members were able to see it as they arrived and, according to Gross, it generated a great deal of buzz within the membership.
However, the original plot turned out to be directly in a flood plain, which proved to cause a lot of problems. This year, at the suggestion of LCC’s Golf Course Superintendent, Dan Brickley, the garden was moved to a different patch of lawn where there was likely to be less flooding, and fewer weeds.
The relocated garden is made up of six rectangular-shaped plots, each measuring roughly 75 yards long and 4 feet wide. Between each plot is a two-foot grass aisle, so the garden can be tended to more easily. “That was Fred’s idea,” says Notter. “We were all tired of having muddy shoes.”
Using the club’s own compost as the primary fertilizer, the garden produces beets, pumpkins, potatoes, lima beans, tomatoes, peas, herbs, and a bevy of other vegetables for Notter and his team to use in various meal preparations. Ulrich even planted a dedicated carrot box.
“He dug down 24 inches,” says Notter. “Then he hand-sifted compost, sand and dirt into the box, so the carrots would grow straight down.”
Looking to make the most of the well-irrigated space he&rsq
uo;d already dug up, Notter has begun planting a mini-fruit orchard, which would be less vulnerable to flooding, where the first garden was originally located. Four fruit trees were planted this year; six will be planted next year, and six more in 2012.
“We make all of our own preserves, apple butter and jellies,” says Notter. “We’d been buying the fruit at a farmers market for years. It seemed like a logical step to create our own orchard. Plus, every tree—and a lot of the other items we need to tend to the garden—has been donated by the members.”
LCC also has a handful of Master Gardeners among its membership who offer helpful tips, tricks and guidance to Notter and Ulrich.
From Plant to Plate
LCC defines its cuisine as “seasonal comfort food.” Meat and potatoes are the staples, but whatever is available from the garden will make up the rest of the offerings.
Featured dishes include Pumpkin Ravioli with Ginger Peach Sauce & Prosciutto Crisp; Frenched Pork Chop Stuffed with Apple Sauce Bread Filling and finished with Apple Butter Sauce; and Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Chicken Sausages served with tri-color Peppers, Onions and LCC’s homemade Marinara Sauce over Papperdelle Noodles.
“Almost every dish we serve has something from the garden in it,” says Notter. “Even the banquet menus feature our homegrown stuff.”
While the garden has provided lots of food for the club’s various meal occasions, its most important role has been to bring members into the club to eat, golf, swim and play.
“It’s becoming part of our identity,” says Notter.
But in reality, the garden has been part of Lebanon Country Club since its founding in 1920—it just needed the right time, and people, to come along so it could be cultivated into a rich new part of the club’s history, and culture.
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