New chef cooks up fresh menu for Minuteman Club

  • Published
  • By Karen Guendel
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Thanks to an innovative menu created by The Minuteman Club's new chef, Reid Hannula, the club is hopping for lunch these days. The new menu offers a wide variety of dishes, all made with high quality ingredients and a generous pinch of creativity.

"We're really taking the lunch menu and the catering to a new level," said Chef Hannula. "We have everything from falafel wraps to the Blackbird, which is a pastrami sandwich."

The burger lineup has likewise been renovated, Chef Hannula said. "Before they were using two four-ounce frozen patties; we now use a Certified Angus, eight-ounce, never-frozen burger patty. And we have some specialty burgers like the Black & Blue Burger and the Jalapeno 'Popper' Burger, which has cream cheese and jalapenos on it."

The menu also includes several healthy options. "A lot of people are more health conscious and the growing population of vegetarians and vegans is really starting to make an impact on the industry, so you have to have options for them," said the chef. "We have a Pesto Portabella Wrap, a Black Bean Burger with roasted corn, and the falafel, served in a salad or in a wrap."

In addition to the lunch menu, which is also available in the pub in the evenings, the club now offers an extensive new catering menu, more dinner specials and a variety of themed special events, such as the July 31 Harry Potter banquet. "We want people to come for an event and leave extremely satisfied with the food," Chef Hannula said.

Although many members of the Hanscom community mistakenly believe that the club is private, anyone who has access to the base can use the club, the chef said. "I want people to come in instead of going off base because we're here to support them. And if you haven't been to the club in a while, give it another chance -- you'll find a lot has changed."

Chef Hannula arrived at Hanscom in June, bringing with him a wealth of culinary and leadership experience in both the civilian and military sectors. After receiving his culinary degree at Johnson & Wales University, he worked his way up through the club at the U.S. Army Garrison in Heidelberg, Germany. In 1999 he received the James A. Carroll Award, which is the Army equivalent of restaurant manager of the year, the chef said. After returning to the U.S., the chef opened two award-winning civilian restaurants in New Hampshire.

More information on the club's special events and catering, as well as the new lunch and dinner menus, are available on The Minuteman Club's webpage: www.hanscomservices.com/MinutemanClub.asp.