Kaddy’s Kitchen & Clubhouse open for business in rural Sterling

STERLING – Heath Warner is hoping his latest business venture is a hole in one.

Warner, who owns The Boulevard Pub and Grill in Sterling, opened his golf-themed restaurant Kaddy’s Kitchen & Clubhouse at 13464 Galt Road on May 6.

“Me being a golfer, I think it’s a cool concept,” said Warner, who played golf at Sterling High School and Sauk Valley Community College. “It’s not just for golfers, obviously, but it’s a cool place for sports, good food and a place to come out and unwind.

“Our slogan is, ‘We’re a destination worth the trip.’ If you want to get away on a weekend for 4 or 5 hours and feel like you’re at a resort, that’s what we’re trying to be.”

It is the same site where Warner operated Kegger’s Tap House for about 1 1/2 years, but that shut down in March of 2020 because of COVID-19. That business was geared more toward alcohol sales, with a long list of craft beers available, while Kaddy’s focuses more on food.

“We’re a restaurant, first and foremost,” Warner said.

The main dining area has seating for 66 and a menu that Warner hopes will please just about anybody. There are 10-ounce burgers, wings, mac-and-cheese and various sandwiches made on Texas toast. He is particularly pleased with the pizza options.

“I know this is a town and area that has good pizza, but this is a different type of pizza,” Warner said. “We do New York crust and New York style. It’s a little flappy on the end. In New York, they fold it up and eat it like a taco. It’s very good pizza.”

Other hits include appetizers and a special dessert.

“Our stuffed jalapenos and stuffed mushrooms have been flying off the shelf,” Warner said. “We make them fresh daily, and people really enjoy them.”

The signature dessert is called the Club Champion. It is a piece of vanilla cake with chocolate frosting in the middle, battered, deep-fried and covered with powered sugar, caramel, chocolate sauce and whipped cream – and yes, it is delightfully fattening.

“It’s not something you’d want to eat daily,” Warner said with a smile.

There is also food delivery available, for those within a 10-mile radius of Kaddy’s.

The north side of the building is The Clubhouse, which serves many purposes. It is an overflow room, if the dining room is full, where customers can have a drink and entertain themselves with two Golden Tee machines, a dart board, a pool table, a bowling machine and eight televisions, including one with a 180-inch screen.

“It’s for the kids, and it’s for the kids at heart,” Warner said.

The Clubhouse also can be rented as a banquet room. With an outdoor patio, up to 300 patrons can use this area.

Between the dining area and The Clubhouse sits The Major Room, where the main attraction is a golf simulator, the Full Swing Simulator, that was a hit at Kegger’s. It has a 120-inch screen and 50 famous golf courses to choose from. It is a top-of-the-line simulator with a price tag of about $60,000 – Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth own similar models in their homes.

“It is very accurate and very realistic,” Warner said. “Obviously you’re never going to re-create being on a golf course, but it’s the closest thing, me being a golfer, that I’ve ever played to replicating going out and playing golf on a golf course. If you play poorly, you’re going to play poorly on the simulator. It’s not going to mask anything.”

Warner plans to have winter leagues on the simulator, and possibly tournaments once a month, with prize money.

There is also a room for smaller gatherings such as birthday parties, showers, business meetings and celebrations of life. It is called Noel’s Trophy Room, named after Warner’s late grandfather, Noel Feather, who died a few months ago.

“He was a world-renowned hunter, so we called this ‘Noel’s Trophy Room’ after him,” Warner said.

With a menu he’s proud of and a relaxed atmosphere, Warner is hoping Kaddy’s Kitchen & Clubhouse is a place people will seek out.

“That’s why we say it’s a destination worth the trip,” Warner said. “I know it’s only 2, 2 1/2 miles outside of Sterling, but some people feel like that’s a 20-mile drive, even though we go to the Quad Cities and don’t think anything of it. It’s really not that far, but it is out here in an industrial area where there’s not a lot of homes.

“We’ve put a lot of time and money and thought into this, to make it nice. There’s a lot of cool things on the walls. There’s memorabilia. There’s autographed things. We have barrel booths, which basically you get to sit in a beer keg and have dinner. Our patio has been very popular. If you want to sit outside, you can. If you want to sit in a barrel, you can. If you want to play a video game, you can. If you want to golf, you can. There’s a lot of things to do that we feel it’s worth a couple extra minutes of your time to come out here.”

Then there is the name, as Kaddy’s Kitchen & Clubhouse was a Plan B. The initial choice was The Kaddy Shak. A lot of work was put into that, as far as signage, the menu, etc.

Warner put the word out on Facebook that he was looking to hire employees for The Kaddy Shak. The next day he heard from lawyers representing Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray, whose corporation owns the rights to the term Caddyshack – the popular 1980 film in which Bill Murray starred and Brian Doyle-Murray co-wrote. A cease-and-desist letter soon followed, as The Kaddy Shak was too close to Caddyshack.

“Bill Murray basically made me change my name,” Warner laughed. “We’re going to put the [cease and desist] letter somewhere in the restaurant, as a conversation piece for people who want to find out about it. I do have a Caddyshack poster in here, signed by Chevy Chase, but we couldn’t do the name because the Murray brothers thought we might steal some of their thunder out here in Sterling.”

Kaddy’s Kitchen & Clubhouse is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, and by appointment Monday through Wednesday for the golf simulator.

Find the restaurant on Facebook or call 815-827-1110 for a menu or more information.