SPRING BAY — At the Woolly Bugger, chef Joshua Lanning is preparing to offer a menu heavy with Midwestern favorites, yet sparkling with epicurean and comic touches.
The restaurant, poised to open to the public soon at Sankoty Lakes Resort and Retreat, will lean on the expertise of Lanning, a Richwoods High School graduate who has worked not just locally but in New York and California, as well as Denmark. Lanning, 36, says the bill of fare will mix familiarity with creativity.
“My goal is to make food that my folks would eat,” he said. “ … It won’t be too avant-garde or fancy.”
The Woolly Bugger, named for a popular artificial bait used in fly fishing, is already serving guests venturing to Sankoty Lakes for glamping, swimming, trout fishing and other recreation. KDB Development Group has already poured more than $10 million into the 220-acre resort, still under construction at 1583 Spring Bay Road.
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Yet the former gravel pit has largely taken shape. In addition to the overnight tents and trout stream, the Woolly Bugger overlooks a wading pool, beach and two lakes.
The eatery’s atmosphere is what Lanning calls “Wisconsin supper club”: high ceiling, wood paneling, wide fireplace, cozy bar and 15 thick-wood dining tables. Hanging from above, the lodge-like décor includes two vintage fishing boats, one with a mounted shotgun once used for duck hunting.
“These should be in a museum somewhere,” he said.
Wide windows allow a view of the patio, which offers more seating options. The beach below includes several cabanas; servers will take and deliver food and drink orders, with the notion of soon creating a digital component to the process.
Though the rest of the resorts’ amenities require either an overnight stay or day pass, the Woolly Bugger will open to the public as of July 15. At first, hours will be limited to 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays – eventually, according to plan, the eatery will also open for lunch Fridays through Sundays.
That’s good news for restaurant-challenged Woodford County. Lanning hopes the Woolly Bugger’s reach will include Germantown Hills, Metamora, Washington, Morton, East Peoria — and beyond.
He’s got the chops. After earning a degree from the French Culinary Institute in New York, Lanning worked at June in Peoria Heights and The Harvest Café in Delavan before moving on to SingleThread in northern California and Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark. He most recently worked as the culinary director for award-winning chef Sean Brock in Nashville in launching three new restaurants.
But as the pandemic pushed in, Lanning started to recalibrate his direction. He and his wife Heather, a Morton native, have two girls, now ages 4 ½ and 1 ½. They felt a longing for home, and this year KDB called to see if he might be persuaded to run the Woolly Bugger.
Lanning said, “It all came together.”
So has the menu. Lanning promises a Midwest focus, with Great Lakes seafood and local vegetables. Some herbs will come from area farms, while other will come from planters on the patio.
“We can really do some special stuff,” he said.
On the menu, visitors will find tried-and-true comfort food: smoked pork, ribeye steak, prime rib — even tater tots. Yet Lanning includes inspired flourishes, such as the schnitzel fish: this is no typical veal or pork schnitzel, but a potato-crusted walleye filet with sesame and leeks.
The menu makes clear that Lanning, though serious about cooking, doesn’t take himself too seriously. The fish sticks are not just “battered freshwater fish” but “dusted with delight.” The cheese ball, in addition to involving pimento, is touted as a “cheese ball of joy,” whatever that means.
“I find that funny,” Lanning says with a chuckle. “I want it to be a fun, loose environment.”
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The operation has undergone changes from the original vision, which saw the site as more of a lounge. In moving to a full-service restaurant, Lanning — who also serves as the eatery’s general manager — had to bolster equipment in the kitchen, which at just 500 square feet will be a wee tight for the five personnel (including Lanning) who will keep things humming.
In total, the business will employ about 25 workers. Lanning said he will emphasize “staff wellness” to maintain a pleasant and successful work environment. For instance, he said, he used to work 90 hours a week elsewhere, a workload he has reduced to about 60 hours and hopes to decrease further.
“Since having kids, I now understand the value of time,” he said. “I don’t want to work people to the bone. I don’t want to work to the bone either.”
Otherwise at the Woolly Bugger, the six-seat bar will have a wide bourbon selection, plus other enticing potables.
“I think we’ll have a pretty fantastic wine list,” Lanning said.
For resort guests, a “quick-eats” window will offer shakes, sundaes, corn dogs and other “summertime, poolside food,” Lanning said. Nearby, a huge smoker can be fired up for patio gatherings and shrimp boils.
Visitors can also stop at what Lanning calls a “county store” stocking packaged food, including Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, an Ohio-based craft treat created by another Richwoods grad, Jeni Britton Bauer. The store also includes a gift shop and soon will sell fishing equipment.
Phil Luciano is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com and 309-686-3155. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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