Seminole Pub

Sept. 20, 2006

Sharing is a good thing. At least when the unique food offerings at the Seminole Pub are involved.
In its third season and open to the public, the Seminole Pub is located in the Country Club of Boyne and is surrounded by Boyne’s picturesque Donald Ross and Arthur Hills golf courses.
Patrons will love the casual golf-themed atmosphere and varied-level seating with an outdoor deck and snack bar area. Three televisions and a well-stocked, mirrored bar at the pub’s center caters to patrons along with a humidor containing cigars for sale. The pub itself is non-smoking, but a door to the outside deck is just steps away.
A traditional pub menu is served all day long and includes salads, sandwiches, steak and chicken pasta, along with more creative dishes like Bangkok Calamari and Sriracha Beef Skewers (grilled steak marinated in a spicy red chili sauce served with tangerine marmalade), a personal favorite.
The pub also offers a Tapas Menu. “Tapas originated in Spain and tapas means little plates,” explains Country Club Manager, Tim Markey. “[Patrons would cover] their glasses of sherry to keep the bees out with a piece of bread and the restaurateurs would start adding a little bit of meat, a little bit of shrimp to it and other things and it’s just kind of taken off.”
The tapas is served after 5 p.m. each day, and boasts nearly 30 selections with a variety of ingredients – seafood, chicken, vegetables, cheese or nuts – sure to please everyone.
“It’s intended to be a very social thing, so you would sit down with a group of people, all of you would maybe order a couple of things each and everyone shares, everyone passes things around,” continues Markey.

MOVING UP
Executive chef Chris Bryant, who attended culinary school in Grand Rapids and has been cooking professionally for 11 years, got an auspicious start with Boyne. “I moved up here in 1995 and started working in the cafeteria as a busboy, picking up red trays,” he recalls with a smile. “I enjoyed the whole food service aspect and just continued with it. I’ve been given a lot of great opportunities here (at Boyne) and worked my way up.”
The tapas menu is a collaboration between Bryant and Markey. “A lot of the ideas… we have are simple preparations, bold flavors, real simplistic dishes so that you can order several of them and you can get a wide range of flavors,” says Bryant.
“You kind of let the ingredients do the talking themselves,” adds Markey, whose experience includes 13 years at Teddy Griffin’s Roadhouse, with stints in Hawaii, the Virgin Islands and California. “It’s not meant to be a full dinner, but once you have two or three of them you become full on it.”
The pub’s tapas offerings are artful presentations and vary from cold selections such as poached shrimp and gazpacho to hot selections such as a lamb “lollipop” marinated in chimi churri sauce or baked goat cheese served with tomato basil sauce and crostini, a staff favorite.
Sangria is available in the evenings to coincide with the tapas menu in a nod to its Spanish origins and margaritas are Markey’s specialty.
Sushi night is Wednesday from 6-9 p.m. with varying specials such as cucumber rolls, spider rolls (with tempura shrimp) or linagi rolls (eel) appearing on the menu.
Pete Kehoe entertains on the deck Wednesday evenings from 7-10 p.m. through August 30 with the Chris Copeland Trio playing jazz on the poolside deck on Friday nights. Outdoor heaters keep customers warm on cool Michigan evenings. The dress is golf casual and no reservations are required.
“During daytime, (the pub) is very golfer-driven,” reveals Markey, “A lot of beer and very simple cocktails as the golfers get back on the course, but the (heated) deck is a perfect place for dinner.”

The Seminole Pub is open from 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. for food and until 11 p.m. at night for drinks, seven days a week. The pub will close down in November when the hotel closes, but will reopen before the holidays and stay open all winter for dinner, Wednesdays-Sundays from 5-9 p.m. The pub is located in the Country Club of Boyne off of Pleasantview Rd. at Boyne Highlands’ second entrance, just past Trout Creek Condominiums. For more information please call the Country Club of Boyne at 231-526-3085.