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Olympia Fields CC To Bring In City's Top Chefs To Cook Up Their Specialties During U.S. Open Le Francias, Mia Francesca, Heaven on Seven, 312 Chicago, Zest Keefer's and The Tin Fish to Cook for Tiger and Fans Contact Barry Cronin OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. (May 6, 2003) - Olympia Fields Country Club will be the focal point of the golf world during the week of the upcoming U.S. Open golf championship (June 9-15), but the club's kitchen also will be making fine dining history the same week. Seven of Chicago's most celebrated chefs will be cooking up their favorite recipes at Olympia Fields during the week of the Open. The club has arranged to bring in guest chefs from Le Francias, Mia Francesca, Heaven on Seven, 312 Chicago, Zest, Keefer's and The Tin Fish to cook their specialties for some 2,500 daily clubhouse diners and championship contestants, including the likes of golf stars Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els. That amounts to a total of about 35,000 meals for the week - the same number the club serves in a typical golf season. Players and their families, club members, corporate hospitality customers and championship officials are among those who will be dining in the clubhouse during the week of the championship. "We're going to have the best golfers here at Olympia Fields Country Club during the week of the U.S. Open, so we thought it was only right that we should match it with the best food the Chicago area has to offer," said OFCC club manager Russell Ruscigno. Officials said it is the first time a host club of a major golf championship has attempted to serve such a refined food menu to such a large number of people for seven straight days. Typically, host clubs will simply hire the caterer brought in by the U.S. Golf Association to feed its corporate hospitality customers and daily ticket holders. "No one has ever done what we are doing," said Jeff Seapan, executive chef at OFCC, who will be overseeing the entire food operation. "The food [the guest chefs] are planning to make is what they serve on the ala carte menu at their restaurants. On a busy night in their restaurants, they may serve 300-400 pieces of hors d'oeuvres. Here, they'll be serving 15,000 to 18,000 a day. It's fine dining on a massive scale." Seapan will have 50 staff members on hand during the week of the Open along with 10 chefs and he will be running the operation the same as he runs the club's food operation - only on a much larger scale. "We're not compromising on the way we do things," said Seapan, a graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School. "We're making our own salads, cutting our own peppers, slicing our own tomatoes. It's going to be very labor intensive." Ruscingo also has arranged to bring in culinary students from the Kendall College of Culinary Arts in Evanston and from the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago to assist in the kitchens. The guest chefs will come to the club in advance and teach the staff how to make the recipes that will be served the week of the championship. One of Seapan's challenges leading up to the Open is ordering mass quantities of the ingredients the guest chefs require. "Jimmy Banos (Heaven on Seven) ordered 19 different spices, a few of which even I hadn't heard of," Seapan said. "We have been sourcing food for the last six months. We will get it all here." Monday - Colin Turner, head chef, The Tin Fish, in Tinley Park. Mini-crab cakes, Buffalo shrimp, seared sesame tuna, grilled salmon flatbread, and others. Chicago Magazine named Turner up-and-coming chef of the year; Chicago Magazine rated Tin Fish Chicago's best new restaurant. Tuesday - Patrick Concannon of Mia Francesca and Playito, both in Chicago. Chicken flautas, asparagus-wrapped prociutto, 4-cheese ravioli among other thing. Concannon will be on site all week as roaming chef to assist Jeff Seapan. Wednesday - Josh Young of Zest Restaurant in the Intercontinental Hotel, on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Pancetta (Italian bacon); pancetta-wrapped figs; bacon-wrapped scallops; twice-baked fingerling potatoes; escargot and potato tart. Thursday - John Hogan of Keefer's in downtown Chicago. Lobster rolls, Steak Diane, Moroccan-glazed tuna, and others. Friday - Don Yamauichi of Le Francias in Wheeling. Chilled marinated pork loin and pickled cucumber, seared tuna dressed in olive oil and pink peppercorns, braised gingered baby short ribs, smoked duck spring rolls, talking black cod and others Saturday - Jimmy Banos of Heaven on Seven in Chicago. Shrimp and andouille skewers, Jamaican jerk chicken skewers with Habanero mango chili sauce, chili marinated pork satay with cilantro tzatziki sauce, and others. Sunday - Dean Zanella of 312 Chicago in Chicago. Grilled flatbreads with wild mushrooms and smoked mozzarella, grilled baby lamb chops, Italian anti-pasto display. |