DIVING INTO LANDFALL’S COASTAL COUNTRY CLUB KITCHEN WITH CHEF BRIAN DENNIS

by Fanny Slater

Chef Brian Dennis, CEC® Executive Chef Country Club of Landfall Wilmington, NC

Even a worldwide pandemic couldn’t slow down Chef Brian Dennis from cranking out over 200 buttery lobsters for loyal members of the Landfall community this past spring. Though the gifted chef began perfecting his culinary craft in the club industry in Georgia, after four years at Wilmington’s prestigious Country Club of Landfall—he’s now well-versed in North Carolina’s most celebrated coastal equation:

Fried plus fish equals happy faces.

A sweet, tasty, Southern tale that spans from scrambled eggs to curly fries to bison short ribs.

I read that you grew up working in your father’s restaurants. What are some of your earliest childhood memories in the kitchen?

My family still tells stories of me at five years old getting up early in the morning, pushing a chair up to the stove, and cooking my own scrambled eggs.

My dad and uncle were in the fast-food industry, which introduced me to the kitchen. I was the fry guy, and they would give me $10 to play in the arcade all day. As far as food memories, those go back to my Lebanese grandma. I still remember watching her roll her dolmas.

Tell me about the culinary journey that led you down the path from “fry guy” to Certified Executive Chef® at Wilmington’s most esteemed country club?

In high school, I started getting into the corporate scene (Longhorn’s, Outback, etc.) as a grill cook. I was a great grill cook when I was young!

After bouncing around doing that, I went to culinary school in 1997 at the Art Institute of Atlanta and graduated two years later. My first job right out of there was at a country club in Georgia.

Georgia is obviously known for Low Country cuisine, but North Carolina has its own Southern culinary style. How would you define its personality in your own words?

Especially being coastal, these people love their fish, man! My whole menu could be fish, and they would be happy. Georgia is more Southern. More meat and potatoes. Here, if it’s fried, they eat it and if it’s fish—they eat it. They’re loyal to their seafood and the local seafood markets, so we use them as much as possible.

You were immediately drawn into the country club environment right out of culinary school. What was it that charmed you about the clubs versus quintessential restaurants?

I had to have new challenges all the time, and in country clubs you have weddings, golf tournaments, and events. Menus are always changing. In a smaller restaurant kitchen, it’s a daily grind every day, and that just wasn’t for me.

I did it for a while, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. I also grew up in a golf family, so I liked being around that environment. Both of my parents played, and we were actually members of a club when I was younger. So, I enjoyed surrounding myself with that.

I also love getting to know members and building relationships. It keeps me entertained, it keeps my brain moving, and I’m constantly getting to put my stamp on things.