FISH CREEK - Taking the place of a local icon isn't easy. Just ask Green Bay Packers quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and (maybe?) Jordan Love.
But Chef Chris Wiltfang said he doesn't feel the pressure of filling big shoes as he opens his latest Skaliwags restaurant — his first permanent one in Door County — in the downtown Fish Creek space that formerly housed The Cookery, which husband-and-wife Dick and Carol Skare and their family ran for 44 years before they retired in early June.
The Cookery was one of Door County's more popular dining establishments, and any business that's been running successfully for 44 years will have faithful clientele and powerful name recognition.
But Wiltfang hopes and expects Skaliwags, which quietly opened June 22, will make its own mark on the peninsula's dining scene through the combination of upscale recipes made with fresh ingredients in a casual setting.
"(The Skares) did a wonderful job here, we're super-blessed to take over. But our food stands on its own," he said. "We're looking forward to 44 years of Skaliwags."
For now, the menu that's posted outside and written on chalkboard inside isn't as extensive as it will be later this year, and it will change daily. But diners can be sure items will fall in line with what Wiltfang and his son and daughter, chefs Marshall and Alexa Wiltfang, have whipped up at their previous Skaliwags and other restaurants in Northeast Wisconsin, with fresh seafood, steaks and pasta dishes making up most of the dinner offerings. The meats will even be smoked on site— that's the job of Bevo, the copper-colored metal bull residing on the front lawn outside the restaurant.
A week after opening, lunch featured a basic cheeseburger and pulled meat sandwiches along with unique items such as a crab cake BLT — Marshall emphasized the crab cakes are the chunky, meaty kind with no filler, not the mealy kind — and the Pudgy Pie, a burger with cheddar, pickles, peanut butter and bacon jam. Wiltfang said the sandwiches are a combination of ideas from his food truck and Skaliwags' two Burger Company locations in Algoma and downtown Green Bay.
"When COVID hit, the only thing we had was the food truck," he said. "It forced us to create exciting stuff that we could pull off in a small space and at a rapid pace."
The dinner menu wasn't yet offering pastas, but seafood (including shrimp and cheesy grits with andouille, Chilean salmon with pesto and parmesan, and Cajun-seasoned, seared scallops) and filet mignon were available.
And, while Wiltfang hasn't done breakfasts at his previous establishments, he's doing one in Fish Creek, offering items including pancakes with Georgia peaches and biscuits with she-crab gravy.
The menu will expand as summer moves on — especially the dinner entrees once the upstairs dining area is ready to reopen under Marshall's direction as executive chef.
"We'll continue to add new items until we feel we're at a point between having ample choices and being able to do the volume it takes to run a Door County restaurant in the summer," Wiltfang said. "Realistically, it's Marshall's version of Chef Chris. Marshall took Skaliwags' and my menu and made it his own."
As at Wiltfang's previous establishments, the emphasis will be on using the best and freshest ingredients that can be found and putting them together to create an upscale yet comfortable cuisine with a Southern influence that won't be heavy on the sauces and seasonings, letting the main ingredients come to the foreground.
"Lots of places buy bad food and try to make it taste good," Wiltfang said. "We buy the best ingredients we can. We don't over-sauce anything because we don't have to. We can let the food stand on its own."
"We grew up on a little island in the ocean (St. Simons Island, Georgia), so we're used to that fresh Southern comfort food," Marshall Wiltfang said.
Diners don't have to get dressed up to have their fine dining experience. Wiltfang calls the atmosphere he's aiming for "cowboy casual."
"I think our family not only shows its love through our menu, but we also circle our restaurant all the time," Wiltfang said. "We wanna know who they are. We use our Southern hospitality, and I think it shows. I think people feel welcome here, and the food is pretty life-changing."
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Skaliwags began making a bit of a name in Door County over the past few years, with its food truck often visiting Sturgeon Bay,but it's well-established in other parts of Northeast Wisconsin.
Along with his food truck, Wiltfang opened his first Skaliwags in Algoma in 2011, with the restaurant branded as "Food that's five-star in a crazy little dive bar," and later opened Uncorked by Skaliwags in Kewaunee, Skaliwags by Chef Chris in the Green Bay suburb of Suamico, and the two burger places.
In a roundabout way, the Suamico location actually is what brought Skaliwags to Fish Creek. That restaurant was planning to move into a new building, but their landlord sold the development and bought the property that includes The Cookery.
Which worked out well for Wiltfang, who said he's had a Door County restaurant in mind since moving to Wisconsin from St. Simons Island.
"I think I've been dreaming of Door County for as long as I've been here in Wisconsin," Wiltfang said. "I can still remember making that right turn into Fish Creek 10 years ago. It reminded me of the islands I grew up on."
To make his Fish Creek location work, Wiltfang closed all his other restaurants, at least temporarily. The Kewaunee restaurant closed in 2018, but the others were operating until the COVID-19 pandemic sent them into hibernation in March 2020. The Algoma location opened for a couple of nights this spring, the food truck made a few appearances and Wiltfang said he has a couple of catering obligations left on the schedule, but the focus now is totally on Door County.
"Everyplace else is closed so I can concentrate on this one," Wiltfang said. "This year, we're just concentrating on running the restaurant well and providing the best food in Door County."
That choice also gave Wiltfang the opportunity to work more closely with Marshall, Alexa and others, instead of having the family members working at various Skaliwags locations.
"I felt the need to have family up here," Wiltfang said, "to bring them all together so we can cook together, run the restaurant together and hopefully enjoy success together."
Like other restaurants, Skaliwags was hit hard by having to close during the pandemic, and Wiltfang said the effects still are being felt, both with food supplies (especially higher-end foods) and staffing, as many former restaurant employees across the country who were put out of work by the pandemic haven't returned to the business. Skaliwags retained four former Cookery workers and has seven others on staff.
"We feel lucky to have avoided bankruptcy during the pandemic," Wiltfang said. "It was maybe the roughest time I've ever seen in the business. We're still finding that food is tough to find, and I've never seen a lack of employees like this ... When you run a restaurant of this size, three meals a day, seven days a week, (11 people) is a pretty lean staff."
But Wiltfang and family are ready to offer resident and visitors to the county a new dining experience, now and in years to come.
"We feel super-blessed to be in Door County," Wiltfang said. "We've been welcomed by the town and the people. We look forward to an incredible summer."
FYI
Skaliwags restaurant is at 4135 Main St. (State 42), Fish Creek. It is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (later if necessary) daily. Reservations are not necessary. For more information, call 920-868-3634 or visit facebook.com/skaliwags.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.