Menu Development: From Idea to Execution

With seasonality and freshness front of mind, club chefs share their menu-writing strategies and go-to sources of inspiration.

By Isabelle Gustafson, Senior Editor

MENU DEVELOPMENT IS A COMPLICATED process, but it’s a skill club chefs must hone to compete with area restaurants and cement themselves as a true dining destination for their members.

For Olivier Burgos, CEC, Executive Chef of Houston’s Royal Oaks Country Club, inspiration for seasonal menus and monthly specials comes from all over the world.

“Many of my ideas come from my travels,” says Burgos. “When I travel, I travel to discover what the locals eat. I take notes and pictures; I try every food I can. I always come back with ideas and try to reproduce or adapt the food for members.”

Burgos, a French native, worked in numerous Michelinstarred restaurants in Paris but spent most of his career abroad. He traveled throughout Asia, working as a cook in several countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and

Indonesia, to learn more about the cuisine. And he spent the better part of two decades in Australia, where he ran an award-winning restaurant.

“That’s what I’ve been doing in my life: going to di erent countries and staying there a year or two, sometimes longer, and learning,” Burgos says.

In 2017, he accepted a position as Head of Culinary Arts at Houston’s Culinary Institute Lenôtre. In 2021, he became Executive Chef of Royal Oaks, which boasts a relatively young and diverse membership, representing many di erent cultures and countries.

Consistent year-round supply

*Overall sales of grassfed beef have steadily increased year-over-year since 2017.

Source: IRI, Integrated Fresh, MULO, 52 Weeks Ending 12/26/2021

Tender & juicy

A la carte menus at Royal Oaks change every three months. Daily and weekly specials are carefully curated to feature scratch-made dishes utilizing the freshest and highest-quality seasonal produce.

“My young members don’t want [traditional] club food,” says Burgos. “They want the club to be a restaurant destination, somewhere they can bring their guests.”

Each month, Burgos plans a bu et with a di erent cuisine: most recently, Middle Eastern and Italian. Up next is Greek and then Spanish, with Nigerian on the horizon. Burgos also hosts a monthly chef’s table experience for 12, with a surprise menu. He also organizes themed dinners centered around a locally sourced ingredient, consisting of eight carefully crafted courses. In May, he’ll feature local wagyu.

“I want to highlight our local producers,” Burgos says. “The food tastes good because we work with the best ingredients. They support us, and we support them.”

A La Carte Creations

Like Burgos, Executive Chef Dale Sampson, CEC, starts with what’s in season when planning menus at Fairlawn Country Club (Akron, Ohio), prioritizing fresh, local and responsibly sourced ingredients.

“We have a pretty aggressive a la carte menu strategy,” Sampson notes. “We write two new menus daily and have one stationary menu [updated] each season.”

Sampson plans each menu with two sous chefs and the club’s banquet chef, drawing inspiration from “everywhere”—local chefs, magazines, books, TV, TikTok.

“Between the four of us, we come up with some great ideas,” he says. “It’s amazing to work in an environment where I can think of a new dish idea at 11 p.m., add it to the menu the next day, and it sells.”

Sampson says the younger members in particular are “always willing to try new things, from di erent peppers to new plating techniques.”

“Our spring menu has quite a bit of Asian influence,” he says. Features included tempura surimi with Alaskan pollock, nori, calrose rice, avocado and Mae Ploy aioli; and Asian-inspired diver scallops with ginger sauce, carrot, asparagus, zucchini and sesame.

“Thursdays are ‘Traditional Favorite Day,’” says Sampson, “where we make items for some of the older, more traditional members—anything with piccata goes over really well.”

When Daniel Fish started as Executive Chef of Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, Calif., five years ago, the culinary program was “kind of old-school,” he says. Since then, he’s brought in local suppliers, fresh, high-quality produce, new flavors and sauces.

These days, Bear Creek’s members love his “low and slow” house-smoked barbecue and wood-fired pizzas, a feature the club added in 2022. Pizzas are fired on Fridays, with specials that always sell well. Recent examples include a carnitas pizza (pictured below) and a white pizza with a parmesan-garlic sauce, mozzarella, tomato and artichoke.

He and his team are brainstorming new uses for the ovens, with plans to ”roast bigger pieces of meat, like prime rib,” Fish says. “We’ll also start doing our own breads and bagels.”

At Bear Creek, a la carte menus are updated seasonally, sometimes more often, plus regular events like monthly wine dinners and weekly themed menus. Fish starts with what’s in season, then he researches recipes and trends, looking to sites like Instagram and Pinterest and his “hundreds of cookbooks.” He reaches for Richard Blais’ books and The Flavor Bible most often.

He also leans on his experience running a catering company and several gastropubs and food trucks, crafting “menus and dishes that had complex flavors but were simple to make,” Fish says. “It helped me create items that I know can be done with a sense of urgency.”

Leading an operation means creating menus with all factors front of mind. Ease of execution is paramount.

“Every chef dreams of writing a menu and doing whatever they want,” says Burgos.

When menu-planning at Royal Oaks, he starts with an idea, then works with his sous chef to test and fine-tune, running through every variable: How long will it take to plate? What does it cost? Is it possible with the culinary team available?

“First, the food has to be good,” says Burgos. “But second, it has to be feasible.” C+RC