MENOMINEE — Taking over Riverside Country Club was a big swing, but it’s nothing new owners Lexi and Kane Rasner couldn’t handle.
“For the community, I feel like we just can’t lose this place,” Lexi said.
The club will celebrate its grand opening this Saturday with a ribbon cutting at 11:30 a.m. with the Marinette Menominee Area Chamber of Commerce and a golf scramble at noon.
The entire community is encouraged to attend, with live music from 5 to 8 p.m. and a grill out to accompany the atmosphere.
“We are open to the public,” Lexi said. “Everyone thinks we’re private.”
She said the club is considered “semi-private” as it still has its annual golf memberships, but its golf course is open to the public — people can play rounds whether they’re members or non-members.
The same goes for its dining — the club is open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. and brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays. Lexi said the restaurant would be open year-round.
The club is also open for lunch during golf season from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The husband-wife duo started renovations in November, adding saunas to the locker rooms and a weight room downstairs for club members. They also are wrapping up the construction of an outdoor dining patio.
The main room received a fresh coat of white paint, new flooring and the stripping of its main wooden beams to reveal the wood grain underneath, a task that Kane said was “monumental.”
“We have over 200 hours in to redo the columns,” Kane said.
In addition to owning the club with Lexi, Kane is also the president of Advanced Blending Solutions in Wallace.
Lexi said the facelift will make the venue more modern for weddings and events. They currently have 14 nuptial celebrations on the books for this year.
“I’m trying to make it a one-stop shop for weddings,” Lexi said.
The addition of an on-site bridal suite will ensure that wedding parties can spend the day getting ready and getting married at the venue. She said the renovations are still underway for that project.
“The goal was to save this space,” Kane said. “To make it a space the whole community can come out and enjoy.”
When the time came to reopen the club’s restaurant, executive chef Lucian Hanlon said they started the menu from scratch.
Menu items range from $13 to $48, including offerings of prime beef, one of the highest classes of beef.
People can select from appetizers like truffle fries, mussels & clams, wings, potato skins and a lobster roll or cake. Entrees include offerings like filet mignon, chicken, ribeye, salmon and vegetarian options like risotto, alfredo and cauliflower steak. Salad and bread service is offered with each meal.
The inspiration for the menu was to keep things uncomplicated, with the ability to change with the seasons. He mentioned he’s looking for local vendors to provide fresh produce and dairy.
“I like to create things,” Hanlon said.
The chef, originally from Menominee but who recently spent 20 years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said his experience has guided many of the offerings.
He spent time at the 1913 Room (Michigan’s only AAA five-diamond restaurant), now known as Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Margaux in the JW Marriott and as a banquet chef for JW Marriott.
His stints earned him the Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference Tourism Award for Culinary Star of the Year in 2016 and the JW Marriott Banquets Food & Beverage Chef of the Year in 2018
He said he’d eventually like to customize the wedding banquet offerings. At JW Mariott, the banquet menu was 51 pages long, so his job here will be a bit easier.
“Basically, whatever they want, I’m willing to do,” Hanlon said.
His training is in French cuisine, and he discussed plating techniques as essential in dining.
“You eat with your eyes first,” Hanlon said.
A menu with too many items can quickly get out of hand with inventory.
“If you have a five-page menu, the majority of your stuff is going to be frozen,” Hanlon said. “It’s smaller, so I can push fresh food out. On Saturday night, if I run out of salmon, perfect, that’s my goal because I don’t open again until Wednesday.”
Hanlon said that when discussing future programming, people may see wine dinners. The club would bring a winery in, and he would pair the wine with the food and use the wine to make the food.
What can’t he do?
“Hopefully, fail,” Hanlon said.
Lexi thinks the same way. She said the club means a lot to her as an athlete and a parent of two children with Kane.
“I grew up out there,” she said. “I learned to play golf out here.”
Her skills earned her a Division I golfing scholarship with the University of Wisconsin — Green Bay. She said their memberships doubled from last year, maybe the result of people coming back. The profit hasn’t been insignificant, but it wasn’t the main reason.
“We’re not doing this to make money,” Lexi said. “I want this course to be around for our girls to grow up at.”
People can sign up for the golf scramble by calling 906-863-4837.
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