Startle

The food presentation at The Immigrant Restaurant is as sophisticated as the cuisine is tasty. A dish such as the black truffle asparagus risotto brings unsung heroes like delicate shitake mushrooms to the forefront by accenting the periphery of the rice serving. Unlike many other fine dining establishments, The Immigrant Restaurant has an uncanny ability to hide an abundance of food in a very neat and clean arrangement. The grilled prime-aged tenderloin sits center stage atop a bed of sautéed garlic spinach and beneath a square of seared foie gras. The beef is bordered by two shapely cut pieces of Swiss-style potato rösti, while foie gras cream sauce and black truffle reduction finish off the perimeter of the plate. With savory and sweet menu items alike, the composition of ingredients at The Immigrant Restaurant is not only visually pleasing, but it encourages you to blend the plate’s components in order to highlight the dish’s full-flavor potential.

While the narrow passage that leads past the Winery Bar and into The Immigrant Restaurant conjures King Arthur — think roughhewn stone walls, dim lantern-sconce lighting and regal wall tapestries — the restaurant’s six low-lit rooms decorated in traditional European heritage styles pay homage to the six major early Wisconsin immigrant workers who first helped Kohler build his bath fixture empire.

In each room, the workers’ homelands are evoked through paintings, furniture and antiques collected by the Kohler family over the years. The Norman Room, which is an extension of the French Room, houses the restaurant’s French-centric red wine offerings. The adjacent French room features exposed beams and paintings depicting French royalty. The Dutch Room, with its coveted private alcove booths, is accented with Delft china; while the German Room is outfitted in a huntsman motif, featuring a Roe deer head mounted on the wall and classic beer steins. In the Danish Room, you’ll find a doll that sits on a chair in the corner, which in Danish culture, is a symbolic way to welcome guests; and finally, the English Room is marked by oil paintings of English royalty, an antique English tea set and other nods to British culture. Each room in The Immigrant Restaurant has its own distinct feel and décor, tying the name, cuisine and design style all neatly together.

The Immigrant Restaurant is a rare find for a Four-Star restaurant, considering it’s far from any major metropolis. With its young chef’s forward-thinking cuisine and its historic setting, The American Club Resort’s showcase restaurant presents several interesting features to note:

1) As a visual ode to the Kohler factory town’s roots, The Immigrant Restaurant’s six rooms pay homage to the six major early Wisconsin immigrant groups who helped build up the Kohler bath fixture company in its formative years. The regions represented include French (and Norman), Dutch, German, Danish and English.

2) Chef Matthew Bauer’s five- or six-course tasting menu, which also features optional wine pairings, is a shining hallmark of his culinary talents. An expanded offering of the chef’s pick prix fixe options is in the works.

3) This is no ordinary cheese list; you’re in Wisconsin, after all. The chef has built personal relationships with some of the small artisanal cheesemakers operating out of nearby farms to curate the 40-plus cheeses on the menu.

4) Wine steward Jason Van Auken has built the depth of the wine list with rare offerings curated from auctions and other sources, as well as a good selection of reasonably priced, quality wines for the more casual connoisseur.

5) The Immigrant Restaurant’s young chef has driven the menu toward more seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. With an ample supply of family farms and artisanal growers and producers from the area, this approach has yielded some rare, quality finds.

Chef Matthew Bauer’s menu changes often to keep up with the seasonal and small-batch of artisanal products available, but on a recent visit, we found these to be five of the best dishes on The Immigrant Restaurant menu:

1) Wisconsin artisan cheese flight, specifically, the Evolution of Cheddar. If you’re looking to sharpen your knowledge of cheddar, this flight offers a side-by-side comparison of the cheese as it matures over a span of 12 years. There is a fresh cheese curd from Gibbsville Cheese, followed by three-year, seven-year and 12-year aged sharp cheddars from Hook’s Cheese Company.

2) Game bird confit and Bass Lake chevre ravioli with red grapes, caramelized onions, hazelnut dust and citrus foam. This first-course selection varies based on the availability of game bird, such as guinea hen and duck. This fowl is anything but foul.

3) Seared sea scallop and Hudson Valley foie gras with long stem artichokes, truffle and orange vinaigrette. It is served as the third course of Chef Bauer’s tasting menu, and can also be ordered à la carte. You almost can’t be a Four-Star restaurant without some iteration of foie gras on the menu, but The Immigrant Restaurant does the delicacy proud.

4) Ancho chile and coffee-braised beef short ribs with a sweet corn and chickpea empanada, cilantro crème fraiche and natural reduction sauce. It is offered as the fourth course in Chef Bauer’s tasting menu, and can be ordered as an à la carte entrée.

5) Hazelnut mousseline crunch tower with hazelnut tuile and brown butter ice cream. Offered as an à la carte item, the dessert offers an amalgamation of flavors and textures that’ll leave you wanting more and wishing you could order dessert first.

The cheese course is a feature that sets The Immigrant Restaurant apart from other Four- and Five-Star restaurants and makes it a uniquely Wisconsin experience. You can opt to order a chef’s flight, each of which highlights a specific variety of cheese and includes three respective samplings: the Evolution of Cheddar, Tangled Up In Blue, Smoke, All Mixed Up, Hard and the Softer Side.

An artisanal cheese menu also includes a vast number of selections available by the ounce, categorized by mixed milk, cow, sheep, goat and raw cow’s milk. Several of The Immigrant Restaurant’s preferred small cheese producers are Carr Valley Cheese Company, Roth Käse USA Ltd., Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics, Hidden Springs Creamery, Bass Lake Cheese Factory, Saxon Homestead Creamery and Hook’s Cheese Company. Taking advantage of these offerings is highly recommended — Wisconsin is America’s Dairyland, after all, and the explosion of local artisanal cheese labels in recent years is well worth exploring during your meal at The Immigrant Restaurant.

The Immigrant Restaurant unites rich antique elements of European heritage with a highly intimate dining experience to create a romantic environment that spans the Netherlands, Great Britain, Normandy, France, Denmark and Germany. The most sought after corners of the restaurant tend to be those that exude the closeness and nostalgia of Old World romanticism: Normandy is an offset room that houses the establishment’s substantial red wine collection, and the Netherlands comprises two quiet alcoves adorned in classic Delft blue. Dimly lit chandeliers, wall sconces, historic portraits, vintage maps and lush tones of cranberry, cornflower and slate blue provide equally inviting surroundings across the remaining dining rooms. And given the more rustic charm of Wisconsin — a rarity among Four-Star restaurants — we think any weekend getaway at The American Club and its Immigrant Restaurant creates more than their share of romantic moments.

There are no age restrictions on children dining at The Immigrant Restaurant. However, the fine dining experience that the Wisconsin restaurant provides, with its multi-course presentations that often result in two-hour seatings, can prove challenging for your little one. Additionally, the menu’s sophisticated offerings may not always appeal to the wee ones, especially if they’re more accustomed to burgers, pasta and other kid-friendly fare. Parents can rest easy though, because chef Matthew Bauer will custom tailor any dish for his guests of any age — a four-frommage grilled cheese, perhaps? Although, advance notice, ideally one week, is requested to give The Immigrant Restaurant the best opportunity to prepare dishes your kids will love.

You’ll find several rare liquors on hand at The Immigrant Restaurant, with the most exclusive selections in the scotch and cognac categories. Among some of the notable offerings is a Francois Voyer “Tres Vieux” cognac. Only 221 bottles of the liquor were produced in 1936, one of which resides at The Immigrant Restaurant, alongside a Remy Martin “King Louis XIII” cognac. The Immigrant Restaurant also holds a bottle of rare John Walker scotch that predates the Johnnie Walker distillery, and is only one of 330 bottles ever produced. Other noteworthy offerings include a 150-year-old Grand Marnier and a Suntory Yamazaki Single Malt Whiskey, in addition to Glenlivet XXV and Macallan 25 year Single Malt Scotches. Just ask your server or the knowledgeable wine director for suggestions and more information on any or all of the liquors the Four-Star restaurant serves.

While there are currently two signature cocktails on the menu at The Immigrant Restaurant, there are also two to three non-alcoholic cocktail offerings that vary by season. The Midnight Rain is made with soda, white cranberry juice, pineapple juice, fresh blackberries and raspberries; The Orange Sunrise also contains white cranberry juice, as well as fresh orange, lemon, and carrot juices. Four additional specialty cocktails made with alcohol can be made without, such as the Blue Caipirinha, Cucumber Mint Mojito, Social Introduction and Southern Hanger-Sphere. If you would prefer a simple non-alcoholic beer, Clausthaler is available in the bottle. Just ask your server or the resident wine director and mixologist at The Immigrant Restaurant for suggestions on what to drink if you aren’t partial to alcohol with your meal.

In keeping with Kohler’s philosophy on quality, every wine on The Immigrant Restaurant list has received a minimum of 88 points from The Wine Spectator or Wine Advocate. You can choose from a number of very special and rare bottles of wine, many of which have been procured at auction. Two varieties of Châteauneuf-du-Pape whites include a 2009 Clos de Papes and 2007 “Cuveé Boisrenand” from Domaine de Beaurenard. Several highly sought-after American cabernet sauvignons are the cult-followed Screaming Eagle 2004 vintage and a number of Oakville Reserves from the Robert Mondavi Winery, as well as vintages from Robert Mondavi & Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s Opus One. If you’re a connoisseur of Burgundy reds, there are three selections from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti with a “Grands Échezeaux” from 2006.

If all these selections sound like Greek to you, don’t be shy; the wine director at The Immigrant Restaurant is more than happy to help you select vintages to pair with your food so that you can get the maximum flavors out of every meal.

Coffee and tea are elevated to a level of connoisseurship at The Immigrant Restaurant. In keeping with The American Club’s tradition of supporting local sourcing, the restaurant features a fair trade, organic, craft-roasted coffee called Weeden Creek from Sheboygan-based Torké Coffee Roasting. Weeden Creek is coarsely ground and served at the table from a French press.

The Immigrant Restaurant tea menu features a world-class selection with green leaf teas from China and Japan, as well as black, oolong, performance, herbal and white teas from around the globe. The rarest offerings are the earthy pu-erh vintage cave-aged teas that include a 1949 private reserve among the oldest vintages to arrive in the United States. You might overlook coffee and tea when dining at a Four-Star restaurant, but we think you’re best served to include a sip of the terrific hot beverages to help wind down after any meal at The Immigrant Restaurant.

The cheese course is a feature that sets The Immigrant Restaurant apart from other Four- and Five-Star restaurants and makes it a uniquely Wisconsin experience. You can opt to order a chef’s flight, each of which highlights a specific variety of cheese and includes three respective samplings: the Evolution of Cheddar, Tangled Up In Blue, Smoke, All Mixed Up, Hard and the Softer Side.

An artisanal cheese menu also includes a vast number of selections available by the ounce, categorized by mixed milk, cow, sheep, goat and raw cow’s milk. Several of The Immigrant Restaurant’s preferred small cheese producers are Carr Valley Cheese Company, Roth Käse USA Ltd., Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics, Hidden Springs Creamery, Bass Lake Cheese Factory, Saxon Homestead Creamery and Hook’s Cheese Company. Taking advantage of these offerings is highly recommended — Wisconsin is America’s Dairyland, after all, and the explosion of local artisanal cheese labels in recent years is well worth exploring during your meal at The Immigrant Restaurant.

Jason Van Auken, wine director and club mixologist at The Immigrant Restaurant, might appear fresh-faced and young in years, but he has a seasoned grasp on the complex world of wine and spirits. Van Auken helped curate The Immigrant Restaurant’s immense collection of wines from around the world that includes a number of special reserves, notable vintages and other rarities purchased at auction. You can request Van Auken’s assistance to select the perfect glass to pair with your entrée, or a half or full bottle to accompany your multi-course meal. His tableside disposition is exceedingly professional yet down to earth, with smart but highly approachable explanations of different wines’ flavor profiles. The results are pairings that please your preferences for taste, regional interests and budgets. You shouldn’t skip out on all the wonderful wines The Immigrant Restaurant has to offer; we highly recommend taking the wine director’s suggestions to get the most of your meal at the Four-Star restaurant.

The food presentation at The Immigrant Restaurant is as sophisticated as the cuisine is tasty. A dish such as the black truffle asparagus risotto brings unsung heroes like delicate shitake mushrooms to the forefront by accenting the periphery of the rice serving. Unlike many other fine dining establishments, The Immigrant Restaurant has an uncanny ability to hide an abundance of food in a very neat and clean arrangement. The grilled prime-aged tenderloin sits center stage atop a bed of sautéed garlic spinach and beneath a square of seared foie gras. The beef is bordered by two shapely cut pieces of Swiss-style potato rösti, while foie gras cream sauce and black truffle reduction finish off the perimeter of the plate. With savory and sweet menu items alike, the composition of ingredients at The Immigrant Restaurant is not only visually pleasing, but it encourages you to blend the plate’s components in order to highlight the dish’s full-flavor potential.

As the signature culinary experience within The American Club and Kohler Resort, The Immigrant Restaurant aims to please you no matter what your age or dietary restriction might be. The à la carte menu designates low-calorie options with an SPA logo, and low-carb selections are noted with an LC.

Although chef Matthew Bauer’s prix-fixe tasting menu and many à la carte options do not accommodate children, vegetarians, vegans, or those with gluten- and lactose-intolerances and food allergies, the restaurant is willing to satisfy any special requests and even tailor a personalized menu of courses to cater to specific tastes and constraints. Because the Four-Star restaurant stays consistently busy, we highly recommend that you call at least one week in advance to discuss your preferences, limitations and special dietary. Calling ahead also benefits families with fickle young eaters, as the kitchen can arrange to prepare anything from macaroni and cheese to steak and potatoes with a little extra notice.

If you’re unable to plan ahead, there are several options to suit pescetarians, including the pan-seared Tasmanian king salmon and miso-glazed Hawaiian ono, while vegetarians can indulge in the black truffle and asparagus risotto and the spring radish and mixed greens salad with sheep’s milk cheese. Guests abstaining from gluten can choose from items like the seared ahi tuna niçoise and New England lobster and orange-scented quinoa salad. Like we said, it’s best to let The Immigrant Restaurant know in advance to get the best meal for your dietary restrictions; that way, you’ll be able to fully enjoy what the Four-Star restaurant has to offer.

The Immigrant Restaurant menu is currently made up of a five-course prix fixe tasting menu and more than thirty à la carte dining options across four courses — not including the restaurant’s extensive cheese menu. Due to the success of several items on the chef’s tasting menu, the chef has made plans to revamp the entire menu structure to include a grand tasting menu of nine courses and a larger scope of tasting selections. Conversely, the à la carte offering would be reduced to 14 dishes to accommodate the dialed up tasting variety, although you’re welcome to order any of the tasting courses as an à la carte dish. Furthermore, the current course of first, mid, entrée and dessert would be reduced to three courses by eliminating the mid course entirely.

You can currently order a half or full ounce of three different varieties of caviar, served with toasted pain de mie, clarified butter, lemon and chives. First course selections include a Hudson Valley foie gras torchon and tasmanian salmon mousse with horseradish panna cotta, while mid-course selections focus more on soups and salads, such as the English pea and truffle soup, and cherry wood smoked Amish chicken with Belgian endive salad. Entrée dishes range from fish and crustaceans to meats, game and poultry, alongside a seasonal featured item. After the highly-lauded cheese course that has its very own menu, you can sample one of five desserts with flavors like hazelnut, chocolate and passion fruit to wrap up your meal at the Four-Star Immigrant Restaurant.

Chef Matthew Bauer’s menu changes often to keep up with the seasonal and small-batch of artisanal products available, but on a recent visit, we found these to be five of the best dishes on The Immigrant Restaurant menu:

1) Wisconsin artisan cheese flight, specifically, the Evolution of Cheddar. If you’re looking to sharpen your knowledge of cheddar, this flight offers a side-by-side comparison of the cheese as it matures over a span of 12 years. There is a fresh cheese curd from Gibbsville Cheese, followed by three-year, seven-year and 12-year aged sharp cheddars from Hook’s Cheese Company.

2) Game bird confit and Bass Lake chevre ravioli with red grapes, caramelized onions, hazelnut dust and citrus foam. This first-course selection varies based on the availability of game bird, such as guinea hen and duck. This fowl is anything but foul.

3) Seared sea scallop and Hudson Valley foie gras with long stem artichokes, truffle and orange vinaigrette. It is served as the third course of Chef Bauer’s tasting menu, and can also be ordered à la carte. You almost can’t be a Four-Star restaurant without some iteration of foie gras on the menu, but The Immigrant Restaurant does the delicacy proud.

4) Ancho chile and coffee-braised beef short ribs with a sweet corn and chickpea empanada, cilantro crème fraiche and natural reduction sauce. It is offered as the fourth course in Chef Bauer’s tasting menu, and can be ordered as an à la carte entrée.

5) Hazelnut mousseline crunch tower with hazelnut tuile and brown butter ice cream. Offered as an à la carte item, the dessert offers an amalgamation of flavors and textures that’ll leave you wanting more and wishing you could order dessert first.

On weekends during golf season, larger parties of animated revelers fresh off the green can raise the noise level at The Immigrant Restaurant to fairly boisterous levels. Fortunately for you, though, with the way the Four-Star restaurant is partitioned into six distinct rooms, it’s unlikely that the noise will become too disturbing. However, if you’re in search of a quieter, more conversation-friendly atmosphere, you’ll have options. You can make a reservation in the calm, earlier part of the evening or request the Normandy Room, which is located at the far end of the restaurant near the entrance and only connected to the French Room and the rest of The Immigrant Restaurant through one doorway.

Steps down the hall from The Immigrant Restaurant, the Winery Bar incorporates many of the same wines, cocktails, cocktails, martinis and bottled beers that the restaurant has on its drink menu. You can order select food items from The Immigrant Restaurant’s menu in the Winery Bar as well. Unlike the Four-Star Immigrant Restaurant, the bar menu includes five sampling portions, with dishes like sushi, carpaccio and bruschetta. Rather than serving bottles of wine, the Winery Bar sells it by the glass and carafe. Still, there’s an ample selection from which you can choose: champagne, chardonnay, riesling, pinot blanc, sauvignon blanc, rosé, pinot gris, viognier, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir, syrah, Nero d’Avola, port, sherry and dessert wine. And for added ambience, the bar at The Immigrant Restaurant also has a grand piano.

While the narrow passage that leads past the Winery Bar and into The Immigrant Restaurant conjures King Arthur — think roughhewn stone walls, dim lantern-sconce lighting and regal wall tapestries — the restaurant’s six low-lit rooms decorated in traditional European heritage styles pay homage to the six major early Wisconsin immigrant workers who first helped Kohler build his bath fixture empire.

In each room, the workers’ homelands are evoked through paintings, furniture and antiques collected by the Kohler family over the years. The Norman Room, which is an extension of the French Room, houses the restaurant’s French-centric red wine offerings. The adjacent French room features exposed beams and paintings depicting French royalty. The Dutch Room, with its coveted private alcove booths, is accented with Delft china; while the German Room is outfitted in a huntsman motif, featuring a Roe deer head mounted on the wall and classic beer steins. In the Danish Room, you’ll find a doll that sits on a chair in the corner, which in Danish culture, is a symbolic way to welcome guests; and finally, the English Room is marked by oil paintings of English royalty, an antique English tea set and other nods to British culture. Each room in The Immigrant Restaurant has its own distinct feel and décor, tying the name, cuisine and design style all neatly together.

The Immigrant Restaurant is a rare find for a Four-Star restaurant, considering it’s far from any major metropolis. With its young chef’s forward-thinking cuisine and its historic setting, The American Club Resort’s showcase restaurant presents several interesting features to note:

1) As a visual ode to the Kohler factory town’s roots, The Immigrant Restaurant’s six rooms pay homage to the six major early Wisconsin immigrant groups who helped build up the Kohler bath fixture company in its formative years. The regions represented include French (and Norman), Dutch, German, Danish and English.

2) Chef Matthew Bauer’s five- or six-course tasting menu, which also features optional wine pairings, is a shining hallmark of his culinary talents. An expanded offering of the chef’s pick prix fixe options is in the works.

3) This is no ordinary cheese list; you’re in Wisconsin, after all. The chef has built personal relationships with some of the small artisanal cheesemakers operating out of nearby farms to curate the 40-plus cheeses on the menu.

4) Wine steward Jason Van Auken has built the depth of the wine list with rare offerings curated from auctions and other sources, as well as a good selection of reasonably priced, quality wines for the more casual connoisseur.

5) The Immigrant Restaurant’s young chef has driven the menu toward more seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. With an ample supply of family farms and artisanal growers and producers from the area, this approach has yielded some rare, quality finds.

The Immigrant Restaurant’s cozy, dignified Normandy Room is perfect for group dining — from birthday parties and anniversaries to company outings. The intimate space, adorned with walls of wine racks and rustic lantern-style wall sconces, is separated from the rest of the restaurant, which provides you with some privacy. The Normandy Room can comfortably accommodate 20 to 30 people, while tables in other rooms of the restaurant can also be reconfigured to accommodate groups of varying sizes. You should note, however, that due to The Immigrant Restaurant’s modest size and increased demand during the high season, you should make your group reservations well in advance.

When you sit down at a table at The Immigrant Restaurant, you’ll find that the table settings are fairly traditional in terms of a fine dining experience. Expect starchy white tablecloths, an elegant kerosene candle encased in a glass vessel (casting a flickering romantic light across the table) and a vase of simple fresh-cut flowers. Linen napkins, polished flatware and an Austrian-style decorative metal plate with The Immigrant Restaurant name and tree emblem embossed across it mark each place setting. As a nice added touch, servers offer you a convenient removable handbag hook to attach to the table’s edge so that your stuff doesn’t have to sit on the floor while you dine at the Four-Star restaurant.

While reservations are not always required at The Immigrant Restaurant, they’re strongly encouraged. With only 25 to 35 tables available in the cozy space, staffers suggest booking your table one week to 10 days in advance, when possible. The restaurant draws a fair number of local diners from nearby Sheboygan and other towns, while also accommodating large groups booked at The American Club Hotel, so the place could fill up quickly on any given night. Friday and Saturday evenings, especially during summer months and the holiday break, can prove to be especially difficult times to land a reservation.

Additionally, if you want to make special requests for dietary restrictions, such as gluten-free, kosher, vegan or vegetarian, you’re strongly encouraged to notify the staff at least one week ahead of time for the most delicious results. However, every effort will be made to customize your dish, regardless of needs and advance notice.

If you wish to make a particular seating request, such as the popular Dutch alcoves or the more private and romantic Normandy Room, you should phone as far in advance as possible.

While there is no formal cancellation policy, The Immigrant Restaurant’s staff — like most service industry professionals — do appreciate advance notice on nixed reservations. Receiving an early warning on cancelled reservations could free up space for other would-be diners vying for a table, especially on weekends during the high seasons, such as the summer golf rush and over the winter holidays when tables may be especially scarce. Advance phone calls are appreciated.

During high season — otherwise known as golf season — May through October, The Immigrant Restaurant at the luxury American Club Resort is open for dinner five days a week, Tuesday to Saturday from 6 to 10 p.m. During low season, November through April, the restaurant remains open Friday and Saturday evenings only. Hours are extended again during the busy winter holiday season, usually Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, when crowds descend on Kohler and The American Club Resort to hunker down in the Kohler Waters Spa, Wisconsin’s only Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star spa, or to take advantage of winter sports such as cross-country skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing and shooting sports.

The Immigrant Restaurant is nestled in the heart of Kohler, Wisconsin, in the former factory town’s legendary centerpiece, The American Club luxury hotel. Just minutes from Interstate 43, west of Sheboygan, The Immigrant Restaurant is accessed by entering through the Tudor-style American Club’s stately grand entrance, where attentive doormen dressed in early 19th century knee-high golf knickerbockers await. About a one-hour drive north of Milwaukee and a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Chicago, The Immigrant Restaurant’s address at 419 Highland Drive is hard to miss, thanks to The American Club’s striking presence and dramatically lit façade.