The Aloha Burger. Photography by Joel Lerner/JWC Media
You don’t have to be a golf enthusiast to enjoy eating at the Wilmette Golf Club restaurant. Few restaurants on the North Shore offer such expansive views with great scenery, where diners can relax and enjoy a casual meal.
“People love to sit on the patio,” Shannon Whaley, restaurant manager, told DailyNorthShore.com.
The full-service restaurant is inside the clubhouse and has large windows and an outdoor patio that overlook the 18th green. Mature trees and landscaping surround the course, providing diners with an atmosphere that feels like a private club, but it’s open to the public.
The golf course clubhouse was rebuilt in 2005, after a fire severely damaged the building two years earlier. The spacious dining room has the atmosphere of a Wisconsin lodge, with a large fireplace in the center, an open wood beam ceiling and dark green carpeting.
The restaurant is operated by Open Kitchens, which cooks everything fresh to order and also operates the restaurant at the Palatine and Mount Prospect golf courses. Whaley said the chef has been with the Wilmette Golf Club since it was rebuilt.
During the prime golf season — spring, summer and fall — the restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And the patio is open for every meal for diners to enjoy. Breakfast is served until 2 p.m., making it a decent brunch spot as well. The breakfast menu offers diners many egg choices, from a variety of omelettes to eggs Benedict or steak and eggs. There’s even a sunrise burger topped with bacon, egg and cheese, or silver dollar pancakes and french toast if eggs are not your thing.
Lunch features an assortment of casual fair such as sandwiches, salads and burgers. Whaley said that the California Wrap, which includes a choice of chicken or turkey, topped with avocado, bacon, Monterey jack cheese and Chipotle mayonnaise, is a popular choice. Diners also love the club’s chili and Monte Cristo sandwiches.
Dinner is also casual and family friendly. The menu offers ribeye steak, a fiesta chicken that includes blackened chicken breast served with a black bean and corn salsa, and a few fish dishes. Speaking of fish, every Friday beginning the first Friday of Lent, the club offers a fish-fry. Whaley said the fish-fry is a very popular night at the restaurant, when they offer up fried perch, cod and shrimp, as well as some pasta dishes, salmon and tilapia.
The restaurant is popular with golfers and non-golfers alike. Whaley estimated that about half of the restaurant clients do not play golf. Local clubs will hold luncheon meetings at the restaurant, including the Wilmette Optimists and a Morton Grove ladies group. The welcoming atmosphere is such that it is not uncommon to see diners playing card games, such as bridge or canasta, or the Chinese tile game mahjong.
There are two large flat screen televisions always showing sports — mostly golf — and a fully stocked bar that players tend to stop at after they’ve finished a round of golf. Whaley said she thinks that it is the welcoming atmosphere that makes it a favorite spot for many people. “Everyone is really friendly. The atmosphere is inviting,” she said.
The Wilmette Golf Club Restaurant is located at Fairview Drive, Wilmette. The restaurant is open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. During the winter months when the golf season has ended, the restaurant is open only for lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Wilmette Golf Course Restaurant Manager Shannon Whaley.
Photography by Joel Lerner/JWC Media
Ricky Villa of the Wilmette Golf Course Restaurant.
Photography by Joel Lerner/JWC Media
The Sunrise Steak. Photography by Joel Lerner/JWC Media