Stonewall offers members and guests golf in its purest form. The impressive 36-hole layout, split into two courses aptly named Old and North, twists through the Chester County, Pa. farmland. The championship-caliber links are sure to work up an appetite for anyone. For nearly three decades, Executive Chef Gina DiGiacomo satisfied that hunger.
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In early January, DiGiacomo left Stonewall after 29 years. She continues her career as culinary director at a Lancaster, Pa., based restaurant.
“[Stonewall] has been like my heart and soul,” DiGiacomo, 57, of Lancaster, Pa., said. “Paul [Mauer] (Stonewall’s General Manager) sent out an email to all the members letting them know that I was leaving. I’ve received over 100 emails, text messages, [and] phone calls from members wishing me well and telling me how sad they are to see me go.”
“[Gina] has meant a lot. She was close to the members as well as the staff. Her temperament was fabulous, [and] she was a pleasure to work with,” Mauer, 69, said. “She’s a great person, and I wish her the best of luck.”
Now at the outset of a new culinary career, DiGiacomo reflects on her early years in the industry and her time at Stonewall.
“I grew up in Bucks County, and I started working in a restaurant when I was a teenager. I’ve always had an interest in cooking,” DiGiacomo said. “I went to culinary school at what used to be called The Restaurant School, now Walnut Hill College, and I just went from there. I’ve never done anything else.”
After her graduation in 1988, and a brief stint as chef at a pub-style bar and restaurant, DiGiacomo spent a year in the kitchen at Bent Creek Country Club. An intermingling between administrators of Bent Creek and Stonewall led her to a tenured executive chef position at the then newly-developed Stonewall. The pairing proved as harmonious as white wine and seafood.
“This was probably the largest facility [I worked at] even though we were such a small membership when I joined,” DiGiacomo said. “It was slow at times, but they gave me a lot of freedom here as far as the menu.”
DiGiacomo’s responsibilities at Stonewall included overseeing operations at all three of the club’s dining facilities. The Old Course halfway house, commonly known as Harry’s, is tailored to serve light fare to players as they finish the eighth hole and stroll to the ninth tee as well as lunch during the season. The main clubhouse at the Old Course offers dinner service daily during the season, and also accommodates banquet events. Lunch menus change seasonally, while dinner menus refresh weekly. The most novel of the dining experiences is The Barn, a rustic and laid back pub-style eatery situated beyond the North Course’s 18th green. Here, players enjoy a 19th-hole style atmosphere complete with TVs, small plates and cocktails.
“We changed our dinner menu on a regular basis. It’s a small menu. We didn’t do a large dinner volume so I tried to mix some things up,” DiGiacomo said. “I tried to do a little bit of a balance and tried to always have a fresh fish, a couple different meats, a pasta dish [and] a couple different appetizers.”
DiGiacomo cites inconsistent dining volume as an early challenge when she started at the club.
“We would have some nights where we would have one table. It’s difficult,” DiGiacomo said. “I tried to do my best to not run out of things, but to not have too much at the same time.”
A DiGiacomo signature dish doesn’t come to mind. Ethnic foods, soups, sauces and salads represent some of her favorite culinary pursuits. The 2017 edition of GAP Magazine highlighted DiGiacomo’s fall creation for the club; seared scallops with pumpkin salsa and vanilla beurre blanc.
But it wasn’t the food that kept her at the club for so long.
“We have a great staff here. A lot of us have been here for a long time and everybody is close. We all get along. Everybody works hard,” DiGiacomo said. “The membership is great. They’re very supportive. A lot of them have been here a long time.”
GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The organization’s 345 member clubs and 125,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland. GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve, and protect the game of golf.
