It’s either that or make friends with existing Shady Canyon members. Whatever you need to do to dine or play a round of golf at this delicious showpiece, do it!

The culinary team at the Irvine club boasts Raphael Tuch, clubhouse manager, who is a native of Austria with a local culinary and management background at the Four Seasons in Newport Beach.

Raphael is an acknowledged wine expert, accounting for Shady Canyon’s exciting international wine list boasting added emphasis on California selections. The chef is Michael Patton, an honors graduate of the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, N.Y.

Shady Canyon spirited him away from Brix, a Napa Valley restaurant acclaimed by national magazines for Michael’s seasonal cuisine. He’s also been featured on Robin Leach’s TV Food Network show.

Before his Napa stint, Michael served as executive banquet chef at both the Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara and the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

He also served as executive sous chef at the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. In my meals at Shady Canyon, I caught him going from table to table, sometimes as people ordered, and he seemed to know his customers and even what they liked to eat. A good sign that he cares about relationships.

Indigenous produce and products influence his food and he works closely with local purveyors. Michael also grows his own herbs.

Some other names of note in this fashionable new addition to OC include Bob Leenhouts and Brian Gunson. As fate would have it, we know Bob and were delighted to hear that this veteran of golf club management was going to be the general manager of Shady Canyon Golf Club.

In his 30-year career, Bob’s guided several of the U.S.’s top golf clubs to greatness and hosted numerous pro golf tournaments, including four PGA/LPGA and four Senior PGA events.

Those of you who play golf might well recognize Brian’s accomplishments. For the past 23 years, he’s served on the professional golf staff at historic Turnberry Hotel in Ayshire, Scotland, ranked by Golf Digest magazine as one of the world’s top 20 golf destinations.

Scotland, of course, is the birthplace of golf, where 18 holes was established as the norm for a full round in 1764. See, I learned about more than food in this little foray of mine. Brian serves as director of golf for Shady Canyon.

On to the spectacular layout of this new gated community. It opened at the end of 2002. The developer is The Irvine Company.

The par-71 Tom Fazio-designed golf course incorporates 300 acres of rugged and dramatic terrain, running about 7,000 yards from the back tees.

The gorgeous main clubhouse features both a casual and fine dining restaurant. The style here is distinguished by a notable entry tower, deep-set windows, broad loggias with fine tapestries on display, carved limestone fireplaces, dramatic doors opening to courtyards and terraces and walls of glass providing views of the golf course throughout.

There are spacious lounges and a fine full-service golf shop. The fitness and swim facility is decked out with the smartest and latest equipment.

The term “relax and stay a while” takes on new meaning in this atmosphere.

The community as a whole covers 1,070 acres and features 800 acres of permanently protected open space.

The 400 custom homes will have the mixed design style of Tuscan farmhouse, abodes of Provençe, Andalusia, Santa Barbara and even Spanish Colonial and an Adobe Ranch design.

There also are a limited number of semi-custom villas. Some homes are already built and occupied.

That leaves only the food, which I have patiently curbed my urge to discuss until now. Club food in general is usually pretty simple and straightforward.

Forget that.

At Shady Canyon, the food is as serious as any public restaurant in our sphere. At both lunch and dinner, I have marveled at the tastes and presentations. On the appetizer trail, rock shrimp and calamari fritto misto is superb with its creamy chipotle-flavored dip.

Scottish smoked salmon sits proudly on a lovely potato latke spritzed with lemon crème fraîche. Wild mushroom pizza is a crispy marvel elevated from what we consider a round of thin dough covered with something.

When they say jumbo prawns with cocktail sauce, they mean jumbo. So good.

At lunch, intriguing sandwiches—grilled Portobello mushroom and roasted pepper sliders, for instance—join more classic adaptations, while salads have their own panache.

Entrées at both lunch and dinner are seriously impressive.

Love the layers of flavor in the pumpkin seed-crusted mahi mahi surrounded with roasted vegetable sauce. A creamy porcini mushroom sauce graces the fusilli pasta with smoked chicken and pancetta.

Down home comfort takes over the plate with buttermilk fried chicken, fish and chips and a massive rib eye steak or a full-pound strip steak that is as good as beef gets. Michael always has a fresh fish of the day and a special or two that elevates the dining experience.

And, you never heard it from me, but there’s a swell selection of desserts. Lunch entrées are $7 to $13.50; dinner entrées are $9.50 to $26.25.

Information: (949) 856-7000.