Enders Lake Golf Course employs chef; adds additional dinner night

As of Oct. 1, a new chef has been added to the staff at Enders Lake Golf Course.
Dennis Boitnott has 35 years experience as a chef at four and five star hotel restaurants.
He is now retired as a full-time chef and staff manager and taken a position at Enders to “do what I like best—cooking,” he said.
Evening meals will continue to be served from 5:30-8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, said Trevor Amen, owner and general manager.
“This Saturday, we will be serving an evening meal as well for the beginning of hunting season. The difference is we are going to continue serving food Saturday evenings moving forward,” said Amen.
Tuesdays will still be Mexican food night with Fridays and Saturdays featuring prime rib and seafood.
“We are planning on having some fun weekly specials each night as well as the core menu,” Boitnott said.
They are also planning to offer “special” meals for holidays and special occasions, he added.
“We are in the process of updating our commercial kitchen with Chef Boitnott’s recommendations,” Amen said.
They will also be planning more updating in the building in the coming months, he added.
Background on Chef Boitnott
Boitnott was raised on a farm in the rural town of Maybe, Michigan.
“It was just a little bigger than Enders,” said Boitnott.
He received his culinary training in a three-year apprenticeship with Hyatt Regency Hotels where he trained and worked in Atlanta, Georgia, Grand Cypress, Florida and Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Washington D,C.
His first chef position was at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Houston, Texas.
Other chef positions took him to the Caribbean, working  in Puerto Rico and St. Lucia.
For several years, Boitnott owned his own restaurant in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
“The town was Pringle, and it was known as the elk capital of South Dakota. I prepared a lot of elk and buffalo in the restaurant,” he said.
Before coming to Nebraska, Boitnott was the chef at a dude ranch with an 18-hole golf course in Arizona.
He is now living with his daughter, son-in-law and 2-year-old granddaughter in Grant and commuting back and forth.
He also has a son in the Denver area, he said.
Plan moving forward
Both Boitnott and Amen have a mutual vision to “partner” with community producers.
 “I like following a farm/ranch to table plan where I use local ingredients for food preparation,” Boitnott said.
“Using good quality local products and providing community support is our main objective,” said Amen.
They are already using May potatoes and flour from the Wauneta Flour Mill, said Boitnott.
“We are in the process of researching other local commercial-grade suppliers of food items as well. We want to use as much locally as possible,” he said.
It’s all about keeping money in the community, said Amen.
Boitnott looks for veteran-owned companies to give them support, he said.
“One example is a veteran-owned coffee supplier we will be using. I am an army veteran myself, so it’s important to support them for all they have done,” said Boitnott.
“I am so happy to be back in a small town again where I can enjoy doing what I love,” he said.