You don’t need to hit the links to experience Pierce County’s best new pub

Can a restaurant on a 60-year-old golf course be cool?

With hand-stretched pizza, the edge of the crust brushed with a garlic-herb butter after it’s baked, sprightly cocktails and service, The Edit Social House definitely meets the moment. Add the pleasant chip of a round beginning or clinking to a close on the greens of Oakbrook Golf Club just outside the doors, and yes, it is, in fact, cool.

Golf references dot the menu, although the Birdie Bites being bacon-wrapped jalapenos piped not with the usual cream cheese but creamy feta feel like a stroke — shouldn’t they be the wings? They’re great, though, so order them anyway. But just like the Masters at Augusta National has been doing, also for 60 years, The Edit at Oakbrook slings a pimento cheese sandwich, only it’s not enveloped in a lightweight green plastic bag, it’s not $1.50 (sigh) and it’s boosted by fried chicken and sun-dried tomato aioli.

That’s one of several handhelds emerging from a large commercial kitchen in this remodeled clubhouse, established 1966 as a private, members-only enterprise in what was then unincorporated Pierce County. Each arrives in a red basket with red-and-white checkered paper, — a presentation choice that maintains the new restaurant’s chill but belies the seriousness of the concept — and a pile of tallow-fried tots, fries or house-cut chips.

The smashburger instantly rose to the top of my personal list among the many options in the Tacoma metro. Chefs Andrew Hofstedt and Jason Blessum press portioned three-ounce patties onto the hot flat-top, melting American cheese on one and sharp American on another, then caramelized onions, special sauce and shredded lettuce, toasting the brioche bun for good measure. A bánh mì dip is served quite well by a swim in the dark, deep pho broth, reduced for oomph. And the Caesar with well-seasoned house croutons and lots of parm hits all the right notes.

But it’s the sturdy, tangy, politely coiffed pizza and cocktails — a caipirinha that whispers of watermelon and mint, a yerba mate margarita with pineapple and tamarind, an espresso martini with a fresh shot shaken with coconut and salty agave syrup, a rainbow of spritzes served in tall wine glasses and a mean bloody mary — that have climbed in the rankings.

First, let me tell you why I went out of my way to eat and drink at a public golf course in Lakewood.

Rethinking the golf course restaurant in Lakewood

Oakbrook Golf Club surreptitiously introduced The Edit earlier this year following several months of renovations that began last fall. The space had been home years ago to a casual pub and from about 2020-2025 to The Adriatic, the Italian restaurant from chef Bill Trudnowski, that started by Tacoma Mall in the late 2000s. That run ended Sept. 28, according to Facebook posts, taking its locally famous mushroom soup with it. Trudnowski didn’t respond to my queries, nor did the golf club a few months later. I had unfortunately never visited, and I don’t golf, but I wondered what might come of the clubhouse restaurant. Then in February, I caught a post from a young local chef on Instagram.

While the club’s family owners, led by PGA Tour veteran Ryan Moore, his brother Jason Moore and their father Michael Moore, were redesigning the space, James Padilla was developing a new pizza recipe. He had honed the programs at two, now well-known, wood-fired pizzerias in Tacoma, E9 Brewing Co.’s taproom and Bar Rosa in Hilltop. Not quite 30 years old, Padilla spent some time traveling and studying in Italy before returning to his home in the Bay Area, where he worked at Pizzeria Delfina for a bit, and later moved to Tacoma. I was curious.

Until spring, The Edit’s messaging was mostly nonexistent, with little trace of it online. I tried calling and emailing to no response. In April, another post, hit with bright-white flash, appeared on my feed: good-looking pizza, that bánh mì dip, wings with homemade ranch. It looked strangely cool for a golf course restaurant.

“Out with the old, in with the new!!” read the caption. “Head over to Oakbrook Golf Course for delicious food, handcrafted cocktails, and beer on tap!!”

Good cocktails? A nice beer list and actually delicious food… at the clubhouse? I added it to my list.

One Saturday in early May, after a long day working in the yard, we wanted something with bar vibes but good food, where it wouldn’t be uncouth to not have showered after sweating. The drive takes a few more minutes than you’d think it would, as the 6,715-yard course is blocked to the north by Chambers Creek, so you can only enter from the south. As the sun settled in for the night, a few players wrapped up their rounds as we admired the blooming rhodies along the veranda and found the restaurant entrance on the other end of a covered walkway.

With sea-blue walls and golf-centric but not-obviously-so decor, the interior could be set anywhere. Sit in the bar, the main dining room or a living-room-style lounge — that is, if not perched on the patio.

Padilla and James Moore explained their vision in an interview at the restaurant a week later.

“I personally just want to bring something to an area that doesn’t have it,” said Padilla, now managing the restaurant and its team of about 12 bartenders, servers and cooks. In getting to know the other pub-type places in Lakewood, he felt there was a void for a place that felt chill and modern with thoughtful food and especially craft cocktails. (Lake City Pub by American Lake would be my recommendation otherwise!)

Also a bartender, he had become acquainted with Moore through catering for private events.

“He just brought the party,” said Moore, adding that Padilla’s pizza — which Padilla describes as a hybrid of Neapolitan and a sturdy New York slice — was among the best he’s had.

The Moore family also owns The Classic Golf Club in the Graham area, and the brothers own TRUE Linkswear, a golf footwear and apparel brand. At Oakbrook, they were looking to reinvigorate the somewhat dated clubhouse they inherited when they purchased the then-private club in 2012. Back then, membership had dwindled, and the course and the amenities weren’t in the best of shape. The Moores got to work and opened it up to the public.

“Oakbrook can be open to all walks of life,” said co-owner Jason Moore in May.

They’ve done work on the building here and there over the years, and course upkeep is a lifelong pursuit, but post-pandemic, as habits changed, the white-tablecloth setting of The Adriatic wasn’t vibing.

The food at most clubs, said Moore, is “either super fancy or, ‘OK, this is what we get.’ Can we make Oakbrook a place people love to hang out?”

The Edit, which is also family-friendly, is the tangible iteration of change at the 60-year-old club. They chose the name because “it is still evolving,” said Moore.

The crew is in the midst of setting up new patio furniture on more of the grounds overlooking the course while continuing renovations on other sections of the building. The old ballrooms had become sad empty shells, said Moore. They are being converted to casual coworking spaces accessible to course and restaurant patrons that will double as a modern event venue with rooms capable of holding a couple or a few dozen people. Another section will become the new TRUE Linkswear headquarters (moving from Nalley Valley) and the first TRUE retail store, scheduled to open mid-summer. They also anticipate updating other parts of the property for wellness and leisure amenities next year.

“What once felt like an older nursing home,” said Moore with a wry smile, “will feel alive and vibrant.”

Put another way, the family wants to “change the paradigm of what golf can be,” said Moore, and that includes what and where you eat and drink. He pointed to their motto at TRUE of “selfish innovation,” the sense of solving a problem for yourself that, in theory anyway, has value for others, too.

Golf doesn’t have to be confined to the prim and proper. The course restaurant doesn’t have to be just hot dogs and stale buns, or only grilled salmon atop lightly dressed spring mix and a filet mignon with béarnaise. At The Edit, if you want to linger over a meal and a pitcher of beer after a round, have at it. If you need a quick bite and only have time for a spritz, it serves that purpose, too. And you need not be a golfer to relish any of the above.

Oakbrook is on 130 acres off Zircon Drive, surrounded by tight-knit townhomes with well-landscaped yards. It’s a neighborhood, and The Edit is striving to be the neighborhood pub. You might wish it were in yours.

The Edit Social House

• Inside Oakbrook Golf Club, 8102 Zircon Dr. SW, Lakewood, theeditsocialhouse.com
• Wednesday-Thursday 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday-Sunday 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
• Details: new, family-friendly restaurant and bar with lounge seating, dining room and patio next to public golf course; most dishes $12-$16, pizzas $16-$23; beer, wine and cocktails $7-$15
• Happy Hour: 3-5 p.m., $2 off apps, desserts, well liquor, wine pours and $3 off draft beers
• Follow instagram.com/the_edit.socialhouse for updates and events (wine tastings, vinyl nights, etc.)