MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

Located at WillowBrook Golf Club, Boskey’s Grille has offered fresh and innovative food in a family-friendly environment since 2007.

Managing Partner Marshall Murdock says that Boskey’s aims to ensure their food is of the highest quality.

“As much as we can, we make everything from scratch,” said Murdock. “Our steaks come in fresh. Everything’s cut in-house and prepared fresh in-house. Our soups, a lot of our salad dressings, a lot of our desserts and sauces, a lot of that stuff is made from scratch.”

Boskey’s has recently been featuring a 32 oz. Tomahawk Ribeye and has offered sides such as bacon wrapped asparagus or sautéed Brussel sprouts. Murdock says that they aim to bring menu items that are typically found in larger cities to Manchester.

“It’s things like that normally you can only get in Nashville that you can get right here locally, so it’s bringing a little bit of everything that you don’t have to travel two hours to go get,” he explained. “You can stay here locally to get it. It’s being able to offer that to the community.”

One of those items is a Salted Caramel Crème Brûlée that Murdock developed after wanting to update from the caramel pie that they had been offering.

“It’s where I liked something we did and I want to have a variation of that and add it to the menu, so we kind of evolve it from there,” said Murdock. “I wanted to do something different so I did a Salted Caramel Crème Brûlée with a little coarse salt on top so you get a little bit of the saltiness, a little bit of the sweetness of it, the sugar crunch on top, all of it.”

In addition to being a family-friendly establishment, Boskey’s also offers a nice setting for a date night meal where patrons can enjoy a good meal with good atmosphere.

Part of that atmosphere is serving dishes such as a recently featured fresh Chilean Sea Bass with a Garlic Parmesan Risotto that Murdock developed having never made risotto before. Boskey’s also offers extensive top-quality drink options.

Murdock says that Boskey’s ensures that customers are satisfied with their experience there.

“I tell people all the time when they ask me about the food to try it and if they don’t like it, we’ll start over. No charge, nothing,” he explained. “We’ll make it right. That’s something that we’ll do that a lot of places won’t do.”

Boskey’s also sources local items for some of its dishes including their popular smash burgers which come in a classic option with lettuce and tomato, a brunch option with bacon and a fried egg, and a version topped with pepper jelly, cream cheese and jalapenos.

“One of our customers that comes in here has a farm that he’s partnered with that’s a Wagyu beef farm out in Fayetteville, so we get Wagyu ground beef from them, and we do a Wagyu smash burger on the menu,” said Murdock. “It’s farm to table and it’s also helping to support other local businesses.”

Murdock explained that he really enjoys the process of developing dishes and getting customer feedback along the way which is something that he has done for over 30 years.

“I was in high school and got a job at a restaurant,” he recalled. “The first year I washed dishes and then worked my way up from there and took it upon myself to learn everything in the restaurant, front of house and back of house, and just see where it would take me.”

When Boskey’s opened 18 years ago, Murdock was hired as Executive Chef, a role he fulfilled for over three years before moving on to other opportunities. He returned to the restaurant in 2021 as a partial owner with partners John Richarson and Roel Srofe.

Murdock explained that they try to keep the menu fresh by changing things up every few months.

Typically they try to revamp items that aren’t selling as well. Recently they updated their catfish option to a beer-battered fish and chips with fresh cod and beer batter that they make every morning.

“We try not to change it up too much,” said Murdock. “We wanna have the staples that people love, but then some stuff we just, it gets to be too expensive or too unrealistic to execute it. I would love to shorten the menu and cut in half, but we’re not going to because there’s so many things on there that people love.”

“When they come in, they have a good time when they are here, and they come back because they know what they are getting,” he added.

In addition to making sure everything in the restaurant is of high quality, Murdock says the Boskey’s team is also goal-oriented and focused on being a good member of the community.

“I can’t stress enough, we’re trying to be woven into the community,” he said. “We’re five and a half miles off of the interstate, so you’ve got to know about us to come out here. The word-of-mouth is good. We’re doing enough things right now and kind of hitting the nail on the head to where people remember us enough to come out here.”

Boskey’s feeds some of the local sports teams before games and participated in Project Graduation where they donated 10% of the designated week’s sales to the cause.

“I feel like that’s important doing our part and helping out where we can however we can,” Murdock explained. “Wherever we can help out with the local community, we try and do that.”

Murdock says that it feels good to have been voted Manchester’s Finest in so many categories and that he’s glad that the people of Manchester keep coming back to the restaurant.

“It’s easy to get on the interstate and drive here and five miles off of the interstate think ‘Man there’s nothing around here. Why would anyone drive out there?’” he said. “But knowing that they keep coming out here and they haven’t forgot about us. It’s humbling and comforting at the same time. It makes you feel appreciated.”