Written by Rick Alabaugh, Executive Chef at Golden Ocala.

At Golden Ocala, the goal of our restaurants is to give our members dining experiences that they will truly enjoy. To do this, we design menus that embody creativity, pleasing tastes, and comfort. As the Executive Chef, it’s my job to create menus specifically for our members’ satisfaction and train our culinary staff to execute successfully.

If It’s Not Fresh, We Don’t Serve It

The first step in creating a menu is coming up with the items that we want to feature. We look to see which foods are in season and which foods we can get the freshest. For our fish, we always serve the freshest catch with day boat delivery – meaning that the fish was caught locally the day before and delivered the next day, when we’ll serve it.

Creative Pairings

Once we know which main item we want to feature, such as smoked pork chop or snapper, we pair it with other food items that highlight it. Contrary to popular belief, there are no rules about which foods can be paired together. Fish doesn’t always have to be paired with rice and meat doesn’t always have to be paired with potatoes. In fact, we’ve even put lobster IN mashed potatoes.

Creative pairing is where some of the best dishes come from. This not only means combining ingredients that aren’t usually served together, but also letting different styles of cuisine influence the dish. At Golden Ocala, we aren’t afraid to combine French cuisine with American style foods if it means creating a unique, great tasting dish. That’s why the menus in Raspberry’s are so innovative.

The WOW Factor

Another way to create a “WOW” dish is to take a comfort food like macaroni and cheese and prepare it in a new, original way. Instead of using elbow macaroni and cheddar, we may prepare it with bowtie pasta and a variety of cheeses like asiago and Fontina. Sometimes, I’ll come across an ingredient that I think will add a special touch to a dish we are creating and we’ll try it out to see if it gives the dish that WOW factor. We always like trying new things that we think our members will enjoy.

One of the great aspects of dining at Raspberry’s is that we change the menu weekly, allowing our members to constantly experience new tastes and different variations of dishes. Members, come dine with us in Raspberry’s, Knickers, Cafe on the Green, and any of our special events! Let us “WOW” you with our creations engineered specifically for your satisfaction.