Laura Fox hears it all the time on the phone. “Is this the Hunt and Grunt Club? I haven’t been there for a long time, but it says Huron River Club.”
“Yes,” Fox admits, “it is, but that’s a slang name that developed on the street. If you’re going to look us up on Google Maps when you’re trying to get here, it’s the Huron River Club.”
Fox came from the restaurant world where patrons would say, “Cash us out, we’re going to the Hunt and Grunt.” She says it was “the endearing name for this place because you were going to get overserved in food. It was the Hunt and Grunt because the portions were so large.”
Fox is in her 19th season as general manager of the dining and social club that sits on a quarter-acre at 22575 Farmington Rd. in Farmington Hills. Founded by Eugene and Rhoda Rennard on June 14, 1923, as the Huron River Hunting & Fishing Club, it first occupied a two-story cabin on a 153-acre riverside site in Livingston County’s Green Oak Township. In 1934, the club moved to Farmington Road and the Grand River cutoff, as the location was described in those days. The new quarters were a similar cabin-style clubhouse of logs harvested on-site and towed into place behind the Rennards’ Cadillac.
That building was eventually condemned and then replaced, in 1971, by architect John Allen’s discreet, low-profile lodge of logs cloaked in wooden shakes and adorned with stone. Subsequent additions followed, the last being in 2000.
Today, the Huron River Club has 26 employees who provide dinner from Tuesday through Saturday evenings and lunch on Thursday and Friday from September through May. The roster of 475 members is divided among three service levels: Regular, Intermediate, and Corporate. Regular memberships come at a one-time initiation fee of $1,500, with annual dues of $900 and a food and beverage minimum.
A look at a 1943 menu shows that a large porterhouse steak for two was $3.75, and pie was 20 cents. By 1994, an entrée of rack of lamb was $34 and surf and turf was $57.70. These days in the premium 150-seat Fireside Room, a 26-ounce portion of steamed king crab legs is $160, a two-pound portion of rack of lamb is $145, and the 32-ounce king sirloin is $92.
“When this food comes out, people just look,” Fox says. “It’s amazing, with large portions of food. It’s presented beautifully; we do a wonderful job. Your food comes hot to your table, not lukewarm.”
The “wow factor” — enhanced by the big-game taxidermic specimens throughout the lodge — extends to members’ friends and clients who request the club as a primary destination after landing at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. “The Asian population loves our beef, and they want the largest steak we have. They can’t wait to eat it because they don’t have that available to them in their countries.”
A significant moment in club history was the birth of an annual car show about 35 years ago. Held on the first Tuesday in June, it gave members such as the late Richard and Linda Kughn a chance to display prized trophies from their vast collection, such as the 1948 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet the couple showed in 2015.
Another major event is the annual summertime cigar dinner, held outside for the last 25 years, for which Fox flies in a “real deal” Cuban Canadian cigar-roller. A Labor Day clambake finishes off the summer season.
Indoor events of note are the Halloween and Christmas luncheon celebrations for kids, which include meticulously organized crafts programs, a magician who visits every table, and a photographer who captures special moments. “Next thing you know it’s two o’clock, time to go, and we have to clean it all up,” Fox says. Easter and Mother’s Day brunches also are featured.
Besides the Fireside Room, a second dining room is called the Hunt Room. The menu in this informal, 100-seat space offers lighter, less-expensive fare. Fox characterizes it as an innovation. “If you say, ‘Well, I don’t want this big food that you offer — we don’t eat like that,’ then enjoy the Hunt Room menu.” It helps in retaining younger members, who can still meet their F&B minimums this way.
With a 14-seat table, the elegant Rennard Room is suitable for business occasions and offers the Fireside Room and Hunt Room menus.
Rhoda Rennard served on the club’s board until April 22, 1946 — longer than any of the other founders. Her husband died in 1961, and she followed him 12 years later. To this day, though, the Huron River Club is imbued with their spirits and the commitment to quality and conviviality they originated.
