Dinner looks a little different at the Old Milwaukee Club.

That’s by design.

Owner Jeff Feltmann decided to try something new during the off-season that would be more of a dining experience than simply a meal. To that end he recently added a multi-course meal in an executive dining room for groups of six to 12 people.

The effort brought a vintage dining experience that many people no longer be familiar with to a club that has plenty of history.

“It’s been here forever,” Feltmann said. “Most people know it as Ideal Corners.”

The Old Milwaukee Club, on County Road 39 in Ideal Corners, has been around since 1928, Feltmann said. It started as a grocery store/gas station. During the following decades there were multiple add-ons. Patrons have included Paul Newman, who stopped to eat there when he was racing at Brainerd International Raceway.

Feltmann said the atmosphere is low key in an up north ambiance. Feltmann first considered the multi-course menu when his son became a chef and thought the winter season created the best opportunity to give it a try. His son went on to the Hotel Sofitel, Bloomington, but the idea stuck with Feltmann. He created a partnership with Tom Johnson of American Gourmet Catering.

“A lot of people looked at me with one eybrow raised,” Feltmann said of his plan. “We’ve gotten away with different all our lives.”

Feltmann bought the Old Milwaukee Club in 1996. It has seating for 102 in the dining room and has a 50-seat bar area. It’s know for its “all you can eat fish fry.”

With the multi-course menu, Feltmann said reservations are required in order to prepare for the group.

The cost is $45 per person. The group chooses one selection from each course of appetizer, salad and desserts and two from the entrees so people may pick lobster and beef, for example.

Another option makes the meal a mystery as the chef chooses each course after consulting with the group for any food allergies.

Appetizers include grilled Ahi tuna on Wasabi crisps, roasted tomato torte, beef carpachio, shrimp and lobster sausage. Soups include roasted red pepper bisque with pan-seared scallop, lobster bisque and a trio of autumn squash with caramelized apples.

Salads include arugula in white chocolate-chipotle vinaigrette, cracked pepper tuile cookie, patron and rosemary infused melon with a ripe cheese.

Entrees include butter poached lobster, beef tenderloin, salmon, beef short ribs, cider cured pork tenderloin, braised Asian pork belly and breast of chicken Champignon.

Desserts include roasted plum and mascarpone torte, chocolate hazelnut dacquoise, pistachio semifreddo and smoked chocolate ganache, or chef prepared tableside bananas foster.

“I’m trying something different and it’s just something for people to do up here,” Feltmann said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at 855-5852 or renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com.