At Core 450, Chef Gene Magliaro’s multicultural cuisine vies with the view for diners’ attention
Overlooking the rolling 9th and 18th greens at Cherokee Valley in Travelers Rest, Core 450 may be a restaurant at a golf club, but it’s not your typical golf club restaurant.
Matt and Renée Jennings purchased this course on 170 acres in 2017, intending for the site to be “a beacon for the Upstate to gather,” as Matt puts it. Accordingly, they razed the existing clubhouse and built a new restaurant. “We knew from being in the restaurant industry that the heartbeat of every restaurant is the kitchen, and that’s the core—hence our name,” he says.
Three years ago, Gene Magliaro took over as Core 450’s executive chef. After growing up helping his parents in the kitchen, his defining moment with food came when he was a young teenager. “My dad was struggling to cook my mom’s preferred temperature on a steak, so out of frustration, she sent me out [to the grill] and I nailed it on the first try,” the chef recalls. “Ever since then, I was part of the rotation for making family dinners.”
These days, at Core 450, he continues to fire up perfectly cooked steaks alongside a contemporary American menu with multicultural accents—everything from buttermilk fried chicken to Lebanese kafta. Being Italian American, he includes family recipes such as Momma’s Manicotti on the menu. “Growing up, Italian recipes were big secrets,” Magliaro shares. He pays homage to his heritage by putting his own twist on some of those dishes, receiving high praise from both diners and his family in return.
Chef’s Corner at Core 450
Despite the menu’s variety, many folks come for Core 450’s à la carte steak menu. Steaks here are butchered in-house from the highest-quality beef and—in a surprising tableside presentation—come to the table with a Himalayan salt block fired to 740 degrees. “Chef cooks the steak slightly under, so you can finish your steak off [to your desired temperature] on the salt block,” Matt explains.
While a family can enjoy an approachable and reasonably priced meal here, more adventurous diners can book the Chef’s Corner, four seats at the bar where you put your meal in Magliaro’s capable hands. This, and the Chef’s Table experience is where his creativity really shines. You can pick your desired number of courses, but “most people stick with five to six courses paired with wine, and we rock and roll from there,” says the chef. “No rules, no limits.”
Between the view—come in time to watch the sunset through the large windows that wrap around the dining room—and the food, Core 450 cooks up a celebration-worthy evening. “For me,” Magliaro says, “food is all about bringing people together. My job is to make it an experience.”
Play and Stay
Dovetailing seamlessly into the natural landscape, Cherokee Valley welcomes the public to play its 18-hole, 6,728-yard, par 72 golf course, designed by P.B. Dye. An afternoon spent enjoying the lovely mountain views on these championship greens and rolling fairways dotted with water features makes a perfect prelude to a delightful meal at Core 450. Reasonable rates include green fees, cart fees, and range access prior to your round, and are just one more reason to extend your experience at Cherokee Valley.
Rates for 18 holes range from $60/person on Monday–Thursday to $75/person on weekends and holidays. Lower “Twilight” rates apply after 3pm.
450 Cherokee Valley Way, Travelers Rest, cherokeevalleyclub.com
