No matter how well the golfers play at the U.S. Open this week, there's going to be a lot of slicing.

The Oakmont Country Club is bringing in some 100 students from the Pennsylvania Culinary Academy to help do all the chopping and cooking required for the 156 golfers and 45,000 spectators expected each day this week, starting with tomorrow's practice round.

How's this for slices: Club general manager Tom Wallace is planning to crank out 3,000 pizzas and close to a ton of beef.

In all, executive chef Tom Pepka and his beefed-up staff will prepare and serve 50,000 meals this week, the number the club serves in a typical year.

Their preparations have been two years in the making and have included expanding two permanent kitchens and adding three temporary satellite kitchens.

They'll be not only feeding the golfers and their families and staffs, U.S. Golf Association staff and guests and club members and guests, but also doing much of the corporate hospitality on course (along with a Maryland company, Ridgewells).

"We're the first club to ever try to do this much food ourselves," says Mr. Wallace, who admits that a year ago, he and his staff were nervous. "At this point we're fairly confident and ready to do it."

He says they hope to "set the benchmark" for other clubs, and not just in terms of quantity. "We're doing [food] at a very high level. The expectations aren't just hot dogs and hamburgers anymore."

They'll set up 300 buffets in 10 dining areas, including one with a champagne toast to the champion after play ends on June 17 or 18. But he and Chef Pepka expect to move a lot of "grab-and-go" fare, such as fruit and energy bars, which are one of the foods they are acquiring locally (from NuGo in nearby Verona). And all unserved food will be donated to local food banks.

Hot dogs and hamburgers and other fare for the golf-watching masses will be handled by another company running concessions set up on the course. USGA spokesman Robbie Zalzneck says that for that company and the national caterer, 50,000 additional square feet of kitchen space has been set up.

The concessionaire alone expects to sell 80,000 hamburgers and 75,000 hot dogs, plus everything from wraps to salads to Mr. Zalzneck's favorite: milkshakes. Not to mention 350,000-plus soft drinks and waters. The concession menus weren't complete, but he promised "some Pittsburgh flair," too.

If you're really well connected, you might be able to score an invite to the "84 Lumber Lounge." That's the name being given, including on signs out front, this week only to what's normally Somma Pizza. It's just across Coxcomb Hill Road from the Oakmont East golf course.

The 84 Lumber company has rented the place for the week as its hospitality headquarters. They'll do some redecorating starting tomorrow and then each day, once the tournament starts, entertain about 100 guests bused out from a Downtown hotel, says 84 Lumber spokesman Jeff Nobers.

From a past job, he knows how other companies have rented fancy homes near big events such as the Olympics. This sports bar was just perfect and much more comfy than a tent.

Atria's in nearby O'Hara is doing the cooking and serving, Mr. Nobers says. "For our customers or anyone who comes in, it's going to be very much like you're going into any functioning restaurant."

Alas, it's all private -- except from 6 to 10 a.m. Thursday, when ESPN's "Mike and Mike" radio show will broadcast live from the Lounge. The public can come in and watch and listen and enjoy a free breakfast.

Even if not attending the U.S. Open, members of the public can get a taste of the excitement at local restaurants, many of which are getting into the swing of things -- and hoping shuttles from the course will bring in more business than the last time the Open was here in 1994.

The Oakmont Tavern is giving away two sets of clubs. Hoffstot's Cafe Monaco is doing a special menu, including organic salmon flown in from Clare Island, Ireland. "Our coolers and freezers are jam-packed," says Chef Brian Leri. As one food supplier told him, "There's going to be more food in this little town than anyplace in Pittsburgh -- it's going to be lopsided."

Oakmont's Mighty Oak Barrel has extended its hours and reservation policy and is featuring wines from wineries owned by Nick Faldo and Greg Norman, which they pitted in a playoff tasting Thursday ("Let's see who we think comes in under par!")

Tomorrow, the place is doing a Retief Goosen night to honor that onetime Open champ with South African wine samples and a gift basket giveaway.

And all week, dinner specials will put the spotlight on a half-dozen international stars and their respective countries. You can sample a Sergio Garcia "Tasca Escalbada Salad" (from Castellon, Spain) appetizer, or a Tiger Woods "California Scallops & Tiger Shrimp" (from Cypress, Calif.) entree. Or maybe you're in the mood for Ernie Els "Beef & Pork Kebobs" (from Johannesburg). Mr. Els won the 1994 Open.

Oak Barrel co-owner Grainne Trainor, herself an Irish-born golf fan who plans to watch some practice play, said she and Lisa Rusak e-mailed some of the players via the U.S. Golf Association and hope some of them will wander in.

"We're just excited to have the tournament in town," Ms. Trainor says. "If we get the players, that's great."

Players would feel at home, as will golf fans, as the women have decorated the cozy space with dozens of practice balls hanging from the ceiling, U.S. Open posters and even an 18th-hole pin and flag from the Oakmont course.

Says Ms. Trainor, "We're doing our best to get into the theme of it."

Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette
Grainne Trainor, left, and Lisa Rusak in their Oakmont restaurant, Mighty Oak Barrel, which was decorated for the upcoming U.S. Open at the nearby Oakmont Country Club.
Click photo for larger image.

First Published: June 10, 2007, 12:15 a.m.