By Scott Cronick
Sometimes, awesome things can be happening right in your backyard, and you don’t even know it.
Case in point is Harbor Pines Golf Course, where something very special is happening.
The Egg Harbor Township golf course and event space is less than a mile from my Somers Point home, and my wife and I somehow had no clue – despite other media attention and press releases delivered to my inbox – that it’s in the middle of a major evolution.
At one point, when I used to golf – and golf very badly – Harbor Pines was one of my favorite courses to play. Beautifully maintained with narrow but forgiving fairways, the place was so beautiful, scenic and relaxing, I would always pick Harbor Pines to play when given the choice.
Harbor Pines was so impressive to me and my former sports colleagues at The Press of Atlantic City that a former editor – the late, great Mark Simenson – bought a home at Harbor Pines after playing a media day event there with me.
Two years ago, Co-Owner Mitchell Gurwicz and his team decided it was time to make some major changes in honor of its 25th anniversary.
Even though those changes are still in the works, Harbor Pines already looks better than ever, cementing itself as not only a stellar place to play golf and host special events – like a plethora of weddings – but to offer a place the community can now hang at … even if they don’t have a golf bag in their trunk.
Settle in at The Roost
The second part of a three-phase expansion – we will get to the others in a bit – is The Roost, a stunning pub and grill located inside the legendary golf club that Harbor Pines badly needed.
Located where the former pro shop and some offices used to be, The Roost is that classy gastropub that is a perfect place to have a bite after 18 holes, but more importantly, it’s a place for anyone and everyone – even if you don’t golf – to go have a beer, a burger, listen to some music and even enjoy the outdoors, a far cry from when golfers had to hit the banquet area for a bite to eat after a round.
“We converted the entire space to create something brand new and something that was much needed,” Gurwicz said. “It was a major structural change, we added a ventilation system, added a second kitchen, built out an outdoor deck and patio area. It was a major undertaking.”
With a backdrop of dramatic views of the golf course’s first tee and ninth and 18th greens, the course’s stunning lake and picturesque gazebo, The Roost – named after the many turkeys hanging out around the property who like to roost in the safety of the course’s many trees – will be open year round and features a stunning interior and a gorgeous outdoor deck complete with Adirondack chairs, firepit, covered patio and umbrella-covered tables, enabling Harbor Pines to compete with other great courses – and restaurants – with similar amenities.
The inside is equally stunning with a sizeable granite bar as its centerpiece featuring an array of great craft beers on tap. The farmhouse-meets-industrial space features hardwood floors, brick accents and vaulted ceilings with thick wood beams spread across the top of the dining room.
“I think you get smarter as the years go by,” Gurwicz said. “When we built Harbor Pines 27 years ago, we didn’t realize just how popular our banquet space would be. We got hamstrung and couldn’t run a daily food operation because we had to share that space with banquets and outings, so it was impossible to build a customer base for daily food because we were limited by the facility. The Roost changes all that.”
The course owner said golfers really wanted their own dedicated space like The Roost so they not only have a place to hang after playing, but where they can invite others to meet them after a round or to take family and friends when they are looking for a local place to eat.
“One of the advantages of having an owner from the beginning – from the very first blade of grass that grew here – is that you have this institutional knowledge of the place,” Gurwicz said. “So, you can tweak this and that and meet the demands of the customer base. And this was just the right time to do it. Outdoor spaces after COVID became more appreciated and sought after, and it was time to take advantage of what we have here. We are an Audubon Sanctuary golf course up in an area that is protected and will never change. It’s beautiful out there, and we now have a dedicated place to celebrate that. Golfers can step up off the course and not even go inside. It’s a more customer-friendly situation, and diners can now interact with nature. We have live music on Fridays, and the place is really progressing into what we originally hoped for.”
Stellar food
Let’s be honest: Some golf course restaurants are all about ambience and fail in the food department.
The Roost delivers in a big way from the culinary side.
Featuring an eclectic and approachable gastropub menu, The Roost rivals anything on the mainland.
Start with The Roost’s killer chicken wings ($12 for six, $16 for 12) that are available in a variety of sauces, including the addictive blueberry habanero, which may make an appearance in this year’s Atlantic City Wing Fest at Golden Nugget on Feb. 3.
There’s also Big Boy Tots ($10), four giant tater tots stuffed with bacon and cheese and served with chipotle aioli; battered and fried cauliflower bites ($12) tossed in buffalo sauce with crumbled blue cheese; and Santa Fe eggrolls ($13) stuffed with chicken, cheese, Tex-Mex veggies and served with chipotle aioli.
A variety of soups and salads will please the lighter eaters, including the Mixed Berry Salad ($16) with seasonal berries, mixed greens, candied pecans and feta cheese; and the East Coast Cobb ($18) with mixed greens, hard-boiled eggs, red onions, bacon and blue cheese crumbles.
The flatbreads have become a popular item at The Roost, with the Caprese ($15) being the most popular featuring pesto, mozzarella, tomatoes and balsamic drizzle. Others include shrimp ($20) and cheesesteak ($16) options.
Handheld items – sandwiches, tacos and burgers play a huge role on The Roost menu. Check out the chili lime tacos ($22) with battered cod, lime slaw, salsa, pico de gallo and sour cream; the tuna melt ($14) with tomato and Swiss on rye; a BBQ pulled pork sandwich ($16) with cole slaw on a brioche roll; The Roost burger ($16), a giant, double burger with cheddar, bacon, onion rings and BBQ sauce; and the Cuban dog ($14) with pulled pork, mustard, pickles and Swiss.
For those looking for a more substantial meal, The Roost has you covered with about a half dozen entrees including steak and fries ($40) featuring a 14-ounce cowboy cut; BBQ ribs ($17 for a half rack, $28 for a full); pan-seared crab cakes ($40) with remoulade sauce, veggies and potatoes; Asian-glazed salmon ($32) with sesame crust; and chicken marsala ($25).
The cocktail list is impressive, particularly specialty drinks like the spicy margarita ($12) with Espolon tequila, triple sec, sour mix, habanero lime simple syrup and lime juice; and the gin and tonic ($16) with New Amsterdam gin, elderflower, cucumber simple syrup and tonic.
Happy hour is offered 3 to 6 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays with $5 off appetizers, $6 specialty cocktails, $2 off beers, $6 wines, and there are some super deals worth exploring every Sunday during NFL games.
“Of course, we are catering to the golfer, but we also want them to bring a friend over, and the menu has something for everyone to do that,” Gurwicz said. “Shareables are a big part of what we do because that’s what people want. It’s a very warm space that is not fine dining, but it’s not a pizza shop either. It’s a place where everyone should feel comfortable.
Gurwicz said that, like any business, The Roost has to evolve and find an audience beyond its core golf customer.
“So far, we are pleased with the response,” he said. “It has been wonderful. The best part of it is how our staff has really embraced it. We have such a great culture with our staff here, and they are a big part of The Roost’s initial success. You can have a great place, but if there’s not that right smile greeting you or if you don’t have a well-made drink and good food to match, your vision just won’t be complete.”
Further evolution
Now, getting back the Harbor Pines’ other projects.
Phase 1, which began for the club’s 25th anniversary, kicked off with a time capsule, announcements of future projects and the opening of a new pro shop and new men’s locker rooms thanks to an expansion. The shop is spacious, gorgeous and convenient.
“The new pro shop has a better location that made it more functional for golfers to check in when they come to play,” Gurwicz said. “It’s also what we needed to do to make space for The Roost. The day after we buried the time capsule, we ripped the grass for the pro shop expansion.”
Now that The Roost was completed in the spring, Harbor Pines will begin Phase 3 on Jan. 2, which will include a major facelift of the banquet space to modernize it and simultaneously beautify it with gorgeous hardwood floors, new ceilings, beautiful chandeliers, new wall coverings, window treatments and a much-needed bridal party suite.
“We are hoping it will all be done in April,” Gurwicz said. “We are going through the rest of the facility to give it a proper facelift of our banquet spaces and lobby. The upstairs will also be majorly renovated with new meeting rooms, and the new bridal suite will be fantastic. Everything we are doing is cosmetic and will offer a very rich banquet space which we feel is a lot more pretty and more conducive to large affairs because we can increase seating and use all of our spaces together.”
Now that there is a new pro shop, updated locker rooms, The Roost and – by next year – a gorgeous, new banquet space, Harbor Pines seems set for another 25 years … and then some.
“I think those who haven’t experienced it yet are in for a surprise,” Gurwicz said. “It has taken on a life of its own. The live music we offer on Friday nights is growing in popularity, and we are seeing more and more people that we never saw here before. But the beauty of The Roost and the future banquet space is that it will complete where the clubhouse really should be. We will be able to run multiple functions simultaneously, or even offer the entire space for one big function, and they will all seamlessly flow together. You can open the doors and have this flow of service with multiple bars, multiple kitchens and use the spaces inside and outdoors. We don’t look at it as the next chapter or the last chapter, we see all of our progress over 27 years as one evolution. We liked our vision from Day One as an upscale, daily-fee golf course, and there’s a point of pride to maintain that. We want you to have a private club feeling at a daily fee club facility, and I think we accomplish that in a great way.”
The Roost is located at Harbor Pines Golf Club, 500 St. Andrews Drive, Egg Harbor Township. It is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Call 609-927-0006 or go to HarborPines.com.
Scott Cronick is an award-winning journalist who has written about entertainment, food, news and more in South Jersey for nearly three decades. He hosts a daily radio show – “Off The Press with Scott Cronick” – 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays on Newstalk WOND 1400-AM, 92.3-FM, and WONDRadio.com, and he also co-owns Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall in Atlantic City, while working on various projects, including charitable efforts, throughout the area. He can be reached at scronick@comcast.net.
