by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
I’m a sucker for zany kitsch and a fan of Bill Murray’s humor, so I was happy to head towards St. Augustine to sample the food at the Murray Bros. Caddy Shack. The concept eatery was begun by Bill Murray and his band of brothers in 2000 at the World Golf Village locale. It’s primarily owned and run by Andy Murray, who has extensive experience in the restaurant biz.
Outside, the building is marked by a gigantic golf ball half embedded in the building, half a golf cart crashed next to the entrance and massive resin gator standing, ready for any and all photo ops. Inside, the theme is continued, mixed with stodgy golf clubs of old and the irreverence of the Caddyshack movies. The walls are crowded with posters and interesting memorabilia from Bill Murray’s career.
Appetizers are under a section called “Tee It Up,” and feature selections you can find at most sports bars, like chicken wings, chili cheese fries, onion rings and other selections. I highly recommend the onion rings, which are made from fresh sliced sweet white onion dipped in a light Southern batter and then deep fried to golden perfection. They’re served with a sweet tangy barbeque, but are just as savory alone. The nachos are an impressive mountain of flavors, with notes of heat throughout. I particularly liked the South of the Border refried beans, which popped with flavor and were just different enough from the standard stuff that comes on nachos to make it noteworthy.
Next on the menu are “The Greens,” the five stand alone salad selections on the menu. Many of the selections have kitschy names keeping with the Caddy Shack/golfing theme. The signature Hack Salad contains shredded roasted turkey, hickory smoked bacon, blue cheese, tomatoes, black olives, green onion, diced hard-boiled egg served on a bed of fresh Cali greens.
The “Slices” section of the menu is, of course, filled with their pizza selections. They certainly don’t skimp on the meat, piling it high on the pie with their “Too Much Meat” selection. The most famous pie of the bunch is the Lex and Terry Cheeseburger Pizza, which apparently tastes like a cheeseburger. If you tend toward more exotic pizzas, try the “The Maui Waui” topped with hickory smoked Maui ham, pineapple, chopped green onions and provolone cheese.
On “The Turn” you’ll find Caddy Shack’s pasta selections. For a lighter portioned but tasty treat, go for the Lobster Ravioli, topped with a creamy red pepper sauce.
The meat of the menu is literally on “The Back Nine” with their selection of filet, top sirloin and T-bone steak, served up with their excellent smashed potatoes. Also filling out that section are the popular Nana’s Pot Roast, Country Fried Steak and various surf & turf combos. I sampled the Firecracker Shrimp & Scallops, two full skewers of grilled shrimp and bacon wrapped scallops doused in their sweet and lightly spicy firecracker sauce. They were served on a bed of their smashed potatoes, which was the wrong thing to pair with the dish. While it did make for a decent presentation, the potatoes tended to stick to the seafood on the skewers and wasn’t an inspired pairing for the flavor of the dish. A wild or yellow rice would have complemented the skewers, the side of spinach and the very intense flavor of the sauce far more satisfactorily. The skewers themselves were very tasty, with tender shrimps and scallops grilled to perfection.
Under “Caddy Favorites” we went straight for the big one: “The Double Bogey Cheeseburger.” This excellent double decker cheese burger is ¾ of a pound of quality ground beef with your choice of cheddar, jack, American or Swiss cheese. It is massive. Those who order it should either have a very wide mouth or the snake-like ability to dislocate their jaw. With this burger on your plate, you won’t go away hungry, and you might go away with leftovers. Unfortunately, as in the case of the Firecracker Shrimp, it seemed that all of the effort went into the main course of the dish, with little thought to the sides. In the case of the shrimp, the smashed potatoes would have been stellar for a steak dish, but didn’t pair well with the seafood. As far as the burger’s sides went, the lackluster, pinkish iceburg salad wouldn’t have been a good choice to pair with anything. The standards for salads, even as an after-thought side, have been raised by eateries across the country. The fries were decent, but nothing special when compared with the awesome burger.
Besides alcohol that was more than reasonably priced and well mixed, there was one thing that made me yearn to be regular customer at Caddy Shack: The Belgian Waffle. It doesn’t sound like the sort of thing that would normally catch my eye on a dessert menu, but Dawn (our waitress) highly recommended it, and she seemed to know the menu well. The swoon-worthy dessert consists of a warm, sweet Belgian waffle topped with hot fudge, caramel, glorious homemade whipped cream and candied pecans. The whole thing sits atop a scoop of melting vanilla bean ice cream for a varied mélange of sweetness that may have you wondering: would I sell my soul for a Belgian Waffle? Who knew Belgians could be so diabolical?
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