In looking up hours for Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse I noticed that his empire now includes Audubon Clubhouse at City Park. I have been smitten by this wonderful place since I attended a wedding here in 2012. The food was not brilliant but the setting more than made up for it.
My expectations about the place took a dramatic upward turn when I discovered that Dickie Brennan had added this little gem to his portfolio of restaurants. I immediately booked a reservation. On a recent cold but gorgeous December day we sat on the patio under a heater. Plastic shades blocked the wind so it was delightful out there, with views of the oaks and golfers buzzing around.
We could only get a space outside because inside it was filled with holiday revelers enjoying their jingle bells and exchanging presents.
The interior of this building is surprisingly glamorous. Casual but elegant, especially decked out in Christmas finery. The wraparound porch is also lovely.
When we saw Dickie, coincidentally the next day at Pascal’s Manale he joked that new upgrades for the Clubhouse might include hitching posts for horses outside. What fun!
The activity the day we visited centered around busy wait staff and parties. The menu is casual like the previous one but much more upscale, and certainly better.
We started with a turtle soup for Tom which he was wild about. He remarked on it several times throughout the rest of the meal. I ordered a Crabmeat au Gratin with Crudités and inquired if crudités could be swapped for crostini. I was told that crostini is one of the dippers, but they offered more of those and fewer veggies, and I accepted. C'mon, don’t ruin a perfectly creamy and fattening dip with healthy options!
We also ordered a burger and a club sandwich.
The crab dip was too watery for my taste, and a tad on the sweet side. I checked the menu and discovered it was made with Swiss cheese, which accounted for the surprise taste. The crostini were magnificent, as were the veggies. I have never seen such interesting Crudités. I could maybe be coaxed into being good with these. They included purple carrots, Romanesco pieces, thinly sliced turnips, and radishes as well as a pressed bell pepper. Very interesting assortment. The crostini, fortunately, was so crunchy it offset the weakness of the cream sauce in the au Gratin.
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I was highly suspicious of the club sandwich in a place like this, wondering if they would resist the urge to “gourmetize” it. They could not. It was not bad, but it is impossible to improve on the classical goodness of a simple club sandwich. The bread here was different in that it smelled upgraded, and the mayo was Dijonnaise. The turkey was house-smoked and delish, the bacon was made at The Commissary and superb, and the dressings were beautiful. The cheese was Swiss. So what’s to complain about? Nothing really, except that there was a minimum amount of items between the bread. I am not a fan of the dislocate-your-jaw sandwich of any kind, so that isn’t necessary, but there could have been more filling to this sandwich. Who doesn’t want more premium ingredients? Raise the price and give me more.
I was intrigued by the concept of Manchego fries on the menu. That is one of my super duper favorites, and I was intrigued by the idea of “gourmetizing” cheese fries. That investigation will have to wait for another visit (there will be one, and soon.) We opted for just a regular side of basic fries. I was hoping for housecut in a place like this, but it is a golf clubhouse after all. They were nice enough frozen fries.
We also got a burger which I assumed would be great here. We were asked what the temp should be because they do it medium. It was definitely not medium. It was mooing, so much so that I had to force myself to bite into it. Tom raved about it because he likes rare beef. The bite I took revealed a superior quality of beef and a fantastic burger, as suspected. Next time I will be clear about the interior. Dressings were also excellent, actual red tomatoes, etc. It too, was "gourmetized", with Gruyere and carmelized onion mayo, brioche, house pickles, etc.
We will definitely return time and again here. The place is delightful, glamorous, and unmistakably southern. Service and food are Brennan quality and there is even a Brennan at the door to greet you. (Lauren’s daughter Lindsey.)
Fun. Delicious. Highly recommended.
