Claim Company now open at Northbrook Court

Well, we tried. It's newly open, so it's crazy crowded. Couldn't get my kids to wait 45-60 minutes to eat. Ah well. Anyone else been?

We're you there at lunch or dinner?

Went at lunch time up to the second floor. I had their strawberry milkshake which was alright but nothing exceptional, their french onion soup which was decent and their prime beef hamburger over a pretzel roll. The meat was tasty and definitely good quality was used. You get multiple choices for your bun and toppings (I chose the sauteed onions, avocado, bacon, sauteed mushrooms, mozzarella, lettuce and tomato) as well as a side item (chose the fruit which was so-so). They have a tuna and turkey burger option. My friend really enjoyed the tuna which I may try next time.

http://www.theclaimcompany.com/

I was there today at lunch. Expected a long wait but we were seated as soon as our entire party was there (which, granted, was noon-ish) and while it was bustling by then, it had emptied out significantly by 2.

I didn't grow up at the original so I didn't have the nostalgia factor my friends did. None of us was terribly impressed by the decor...they remembered train cars and an oil rig and were disappointed by the lack of those things. I didn't care, it was EXTREMELY loud in there. I did manage to hear the people at the banquette next to me send back a turkey burger that was raw in the center (I did sneak a peek, it was raw) and while it took some time to bring out a freshly (and fully cooked) one, they did comp it and brought them a dessert for the table as well. Their tortilla soup smelled really good.

Motherlode burger was good, a very generous amount of goat cheese, forgotten bacon and avocado (which was quickly rectified), "chips" were tasty but not as good as the ones I remember from RJGrunts! My friend loved her blackened veggie burger and the other raved about the salad bar. The waiter was very attentive and heard us comment about a birthday so he brought out a gratis sundae which was very tasty.

There was a steady flow of people, lots of familiar looking faces. I suspect they'll do well, and may even cut into the DiPescara business which I think has been pretty good. Different experience but not real dissimilar price points. For lunch anyway.

I'd return.

Thanks for the tips. My now-wife-then-first date with her was at the Claim Company. How's the Salad Saloon?

A few years ago I dragged Pigmon and a daughter along on a day of sampling hamburgers of my youth. It was not a day of good eating, as nothing came close to memories. One place missing that day, surely one of my favorites from my teen years on, was the motherlode from Claim Company. One cannot re-visit what is no longer present. Until now. You can go home again it seems. All day I brimmed with anticipation, and all day my wife warned me that I would be disappointed. No! I said. It would be just fine. Better, I said. The salad saloon would be sourced exclusively from Farmer Vicki's Genesis Growers. How would it really compare? To make it an even happier trip out to Northbrook, my wife allowed me to listen to Dough and OB. This was a very good day.

This is the wrong bread. Look the wrong bread. Could my daughter understand the significance of the bread. Back in the day, I nearly always got my motherlode on the black bread. This first round of nostalgia had to be black bread. And when the sandwich came, the bread was black but damn wrong. The old motherlode, the original motherlode, the right and proper motherlode came on oblong shapped slices of black bread that did not quite fit the burger. Part of the charm, my wife noted, was that illfitting bread. Does not oblong taste different. Besides, this bread was a bit less black, almost a gray bread, and lacked also a heftier share of molasses moisture that makes pumpernickel enjoyable in the first place. The bread was all wrong.

As mentioned above, the decor was just wrong too. Where once they invested millions in creating intimate rooms out of large spaces, rode a fashion wave for neon and otherwise gave it to you ambiance, this Claim Company was slap-dash bare. It reminded me of a deli or a Omega style coffee shop. It really wants to answer the question, do people come for the food or the view.

Maybe it will be for the food. Because after all my harping, I found, bread aside, it pretty much matched my expectations. The salad saloon is turned into a 'U' and an adjunct across from it, so it appears less ample, but it pretty much had all the doo-dads and ephemera that made salads a 1K calorie treat then. From that chilled pewter plate (remember also the prevailing fashion for pewter) on the bottom to those fried onions on top, the salad made it hardly likely we'd have room for the burgers.

I went through a bout 2/3rds of my burger. I should have saved an even half for another lunch, but something kept on making me nibble away. The meat tasted just the way I remembered, primely rich and flavored from a flame grill. Yet, there was something mushy in my bites. Did I, in my elder sophistication's, get the burger too rare. I just could not fathom what was happening. It did not ruin my experience. Still. After I finally put the burger aside I found out what was causing this. My burger contained avocado. Did the original even have avocado has a choice? I like avocado in a few instances, especially my own guacamole recipe. I would never order on a burger. Now more than ever.

The mix-up of toppings; that was supposed to be my daughter's avocado (my daughter who loved the wealth of old and new school topping choices) was just one example of the lousy service we got. They are surely feeling there way around. The service, however, did not matter much to me. The wrong bread and less than snazzy decor mattered, but not enough to me. The motherlode was back. The Bears won like 1985 too.

Thanks for the report. While I'm not a bread connoisseur, it sounds like the meat made up for it. I'll wait a bit for my sentimental return until the service issues get settled down.

sujormik wrote:Motherlode burger was good, a very generous amount of goat cheese, forgotten bacon and avocado

When I first read this, I thought "forgotten bacon" was some ultra-trendy new ingredient like forbidden rice. (Lard perdu?)

I used to love the Motherlode as a teen back in the day. I look forward to it, but I don't expect it to be what it used to be (a pretzel roll bun like Kuma's?). Then again, I have been to so many great burger joints in the long time since the restaurant closed that it may not be a big deal.

Didn't the owners of the old 41 North have something to do with the Claim Company. I could swear their burger there was very similar to the Motherlode.

I'm a fan of DiPescara's burger, and I like racking up Lettuce Entertain You points, so Claim Company's burger will be in direct competition for my Northbrook Court eats.

Ram4 wrote:Didn't the owners of the old 41 North have something to do with the Claim Company. I could swear their burger there was very similar to the Motherlode.

I think they were former managers, not owners. They also run (and I believe, own) City Park Grill in Highland Park.

=R=

HI,

41-North's owners were once managers of Claim Company. Allegedly, there were other former Claim Company managers who ran Copper Kettle in the Lake Forest-Vernon Hills area. From what I understand, both took a lot of inspiration from the Claim Company concept.

41-North's owners opened City Park Grille where the Metropolitan once was. On Wednesdays, they have their 41-North-Motherlode burger for $5, but I would call it verify if this deal is still offered.

I always felt 41-North's hamburger was a Motherlode.

Regards,

Glad to hear that, decor aside, there are vestiges of what this place once was. It was a favorite spot, long ago, in a different life. It's strange to even think of how many things have changed since I went to the Claim Company last. I look forward to a return trip.

I ate at Claim Company tonight with a large group. All I can say is "meh." I had the motherlode burger medium rare with cheddar, avocado, and fried onions. The meat was good, but not spectacular. The black bread was okay. The chips were really good though. They reminded me of 41 North. Actually, the whole experience reminded me of 41 North--okay casual all American fare where the most memorable part of the meal is the potato chips and yet insanely popular and loud. There must be a connection. I would have been happy to pay 50% more than what I paid to get a better burger at Prairie Grass.

Ridiculously long wait to get in? Any service issues? How's the salad bar?

Dave148 wrote:Ridiculously long wait to get in? Any service issues? How's the salad bar?

Some things never change...it always took over an hour to get a table back in the day. Savy North Shore-ites would call from their car "We're getting off the Edens, would you put us on the list?"

CCCB wrote:I ate at Claim Company tonight with a large group. All I can say is "meh." I had the motherlode burger medium rare with cheddar, avocado, and fried onions. The meat was good, but not spectacular. The black bread was okay. The chips were really good though. They reminded me of 41 North. Actually, the whole experience reminded me of 41 North--okay casual all American fare where the most memorable part of the meal is the potato chips and yet insanely popular and loud. (snip)

That's because 41 North was a reincarnated Claim Company, run by a couple of the same former management staff. Funny that you like the chips (cottage fries) because in the '80s people tended to either be indifferent to them or hate them. (Miss, can I get regular fries with that, not those chip things.) And the Motherlode was not hand formed on site, they came in pre-formed (huge ovals) and frozen. Not that the beef wasn't good but things aren't always what they seem.

How's the bar? Did they reincarnate the '80s blender drinks, too? Can you still get the (then) novel Claim Kicker (vodka, lemonade, triple sec over crushed ice)?

Then there was the salad staff called the Yuppie Dream...who can remember what the menu called it: Boston lettuce, pine nuts, dried tomatoes, goat (!) cheese and a tarragon vinagrette

Whitefish was pretty good, though ("And make sure it's the tail piece!")

Sorry I didn't respond to questions that seemed to be posed in response to my post. I was out of town and not on the Internet for the last few days. I didn't try the salad bar or drink alcohol the night I went. My feeling about this place is that time has passed it by. I don't understand the restaurant's popularity, but I didn't understand 41 North's either. The wait was long the night I went, but I was in a group of eight, which turned out to be lucky because they seated a large group before lots of smaller ones.

A friend took me to the Claim Company for my birthday last Monday. We were going to go to Bluegrass, but it was closed on Monday. My friend heard all the buzz around the Claim Company, and wanted to try it. It was around 7 PM and a 30 minute wait for 2 people. The décor was nothing special, and we were seated at a booth style table that reminded me of the old Howard Johnson / Denny restaurants. We were excited to check out the salad bar, since we are both big fans of a great salad. Both of us looked it over and were very disappointed. Nothing special. The only “unique” item was edamame beans. Nothing looked particularly great or fresh. By recommendation from the waiter, we both ordered the Motherlode “Gourmet, Build-Your-Own-Burger”. My friend ordered the veggie burger, and I ordered the chicken breast on the ciabatta bread with sauteed onions, mushrooms, avocado, lettuce, tomato, cheese, with the sweet potato fries (nothing great). The mushrooms on the burger reminded me of canned mushrooms; yuck. My friend said the veggie burger was o.k., but ate less than half. I had about 3 bites of my chicken sandwich, some fries, and asked for the rest to be wrapped. I don’t know why I thought it may taste better as leftovers. I eventually threw it away after several days in my fridge. The food was just bland. My friend and I agreed that we would not go back, and do not recommend wasting time or a meal there. There are too many good places to try. Oh yea, the kids menu did not look like anything great. I’d rather cook at home.

I was excited to be going to the Claim Company this past Monday night. I was always a big fan of the first incarnation, going to the Oakbrook location quite a lot. I had been to the first Northbrook location only once, so my review below is based on my recollections of the Oakbrook experiences.

I was really disappointed by my experience at the new Claim Company. I have always been a salad bar fanatic, and the old Claim Company was about the best there has ever been, IMHO. The new CC salad bar is only a shadow of the former one, probably only a quarter of the original one. The contents aren't much better than the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday. But my biggest problem was the way they handle the salad bar on the menu, and the pricing.

The salad bar by itself is $12.99. This is a crazy price for what you get. To again use Ruby Tuesday as a measuring stick, the same thing would set you back $8 or $9. You can however order a Motherload burger (more on that later) and get the salad bar for $4, which is fine. However, here's where the cheeziness of this restaurant kicks in. They've only been open two months and they've already got pasted over information on their menu. The add-on salad bar is "one trip only". And big and bold on the menu it notes that there are "salad bar sheriffs watching", so no sharing, splitting, or multiple trips, otherwise you'll be called on it. What a ridiculous thing to tell customers, about a salad bar no less! Figure out the proper unit cost. It's not like these owners haven't run a restaurant before, especially this restaurant before.

The Motherload burger was pretty good. The meat was tasty, cooked well, and the onion bun was soft and absorbent of the juice, all of which I like. For $9.99, it's a good deal. The chips that came with it were crispy and tasty, also a hit.

Bottom line for me: I won't be back. The only reason to go to the Claim Company, at least for me, is the salad bar and that's been handled poorly. The burger is good but I can find one similarly good in a lot of other places.

Went there this evening after catching a movie. Again, only went for the sentimental factor as that was then-girlfriend-now-wife's first date spot. It was about 5:15. No line.

My experience was similar to the previous posts. The burger and black bread along with toppings were good, nothing special. Chips were good.

I did a quick recon of the salad bar to verify the previous posts. Definitely took a pass. Rather skimpy and pricey.

Overall, an OK experience. Will I go back? Probably not. Plenty of better burger options in the area.

I finally made it to the new Claim Company. It's been a long time since I was at the old Northbrook Court location, so all I could compare it to was 41 North. The decor is ok, nothing special. I got a Motherlode on a pretzel roll with bacon. It was very good, big and pretty tasty. Chips were great. I was pleased to have an appetizer that I used to get at 41 North - Wonton wrapped Mozzarella sticks. I don't usually do salad bars, so I could care less about all that. I'd still probably rather go to DiPescara in the mall as I like their burger a lot, love their caesar salad, and can accrue Lettuce Entertain You points, but I'd go back to Claim Company again.

It was probably close to 20 years between visits for me, but last night's visit made me feel as if I had not been away from the Claim Company for so long. The salad bar was huge, good and fresh, just as it was many years ago. And the Motherlode was just as big a hit too - a perfect medium rare, not tightly packed and well seasoned. The egg bun was fresh, but nothing special. I made a mixture of the Claim Sauce and teriyaki like I did back in the day . . . it was all good.

My lone complaint concerns the Claim chips. These used to be thicker cut and irregular in crispness - some very crisp, some soft in the middle, some a bit chewy. Now, they seem as thin as potato chips and uniformly crispy. I liked them much more as I remember them from the old days, even if there's nothing particularly wrong with them now.

I finally made it in earlier this week and I thought it was completely unremarkable. Everything was fine but nothing really stood out, either. The world has changed a lot since the days when CC's Motherload was a true stand-out. It remains entirely respectable -- beefy, juicy, coarsely-ground and cooked as requested -- but hardly a destination burger, with so many other great burgers available all over Chicagoland. Heck, there are several simlarly-styled burgers that are as good or better than the Motherload within minutes of Northbrook Court.

I suppose the nostalgia factor is a draw for some but I didn't get it. For me, knowing that I wasn't really in the same space (and that the restaurant had ceased to exist for no small amount of time) diminished that value quite a bit. The food is close to the original but not so exact that it triggered any taste memories. The salad bar was reminiscent of the old days but didn't exactly hit the target, either. This new incarnation may actually be better than the original but I found that largely irrelevant. There were more offerings and they were mostly perfunctory. Salad dressing technology has advanced considerably since the original CC closed its doors and the selection here was overwhelming. The cold, metal plates that were in use decades ago did cause me to grin but the stress of having to cram my one-trip-for-$3.99 salad onto that tiny oval caused more frustration than joy. Guacamole Nachos embodied every silly thing I hate about typical North Shore dining. A pile of tortilla chips were served with melted cheese atop them and every other component -- refried beans, salsa, sour cream and even the guacamole -- was served on the side. What self-respecting guacamole nachos are served with the guacamole on the side?! (this is a trick question because nachos are never self-respecting) Simply put, this was a nachos kit.

The weeknight crowd was light and mixed. My son joked that CC was God's waiting room but there were plenty of screaming infants and giggling pre-teens mixed in with my kvetching, zocor-taking brethren. We skipped dessert. Dessert shooters -- whatever the f*ck they are -- were available for $1.99 but we headed down to the Apple Store instead.

If zombies ever take over Northbrook Court a la Dawn of the Dead, this might be a good place to hole up. If I'm ever exhausted from shopping and cannot leave the mall without eating first, CC might be a good choice. But leaving the real world for the sole purpose of eating here is a concept simply too baffling for me to comprehend.

=R=

I agree 100% with your perspective on the visit. How much did your visit to the Apple Store cost you?

Dave148 wrote:How much did your visit to the Apple Store cost you?

Less than dinner. The Apple Store was actually our destination. We decided to give Claim Company a shot because we knew we'd be there, anyway. Again, it wasn't horrible but it wasn't anything that would compel me to come in if I weren't already going to be there.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Heck, there are several simlarly-styled burgers that are as good or better than the Motherload within minutes of Northbrook Court.

If I am in Northbrook Court and I want a really good burger, I like the one at Di Pescara a lot more than Claim Company plus I get Lettuce Entertain You points for it. Even the cottage fries (more like potato chips) they serve at Claim Company are a letdown. I do like their wonton wrapped mozzarella sticks. There is also a 50% off any appetizer deal after 8pm Monday-Friday that isn't a bad value.

Ronnie, thanks for the review, sounds like a lot is how I remember it being. "Everything was fine, but nothing really stood out"

CC was never really a "destination" restaurant for us. I don't think we ever left the house saying "let's go over to Claim Company for dinner". It was always there in Northbrook court or Oakbrook mall, and if we were hungry when we were done shopping we would stop by and see how long the wait was for a table. If it was more than a few minutes wait, we almost always chose to go somewhere else.

thetrob wrote:It was always there in Northbrook court or Oakbrook mall

By the time CC was in Northbrook Court and Oakbrook Mall, its glory days on Clark Street were far behind.

From an email sent to me from a friend:

"We will be closing after Dinner service on Thursday August 29. The Claim Company – whose history in Northbrook Court dates back to an original location four decades ago – will be leaving its current site on Aug. 29 and heading to a new home this fall near Mariano’s, at the intersection of Skokie Boulevard and Dundee Road in Northbrook."

It's an insult to my childhood that this shithole is still open. And now it's going to be right across the street from my office and I'll have to see it on a daily basis.

They should at least change the name so we don't have to associate it with the original.

Dave148 wrote:From an email sent to me from a friend:

"We will be closing after Dinner service on Thursday August 29. The Claim Company – whose history in Northbrook Court dates back to an original location four decades ago – will be leaving its current site on Aug. 29 and heading to a new home this fall near Mariano’s, at the intersection of Skokie Boulevard and Dundee Road in Northbrook."

So will it become "41-North" again? Kind of ironic of them going over to that area when their former managers were there with the Bizarro Claim Company aka 41-North.

shakes wrote:It's an insult to my childhood that this shithole is still open. And now it's going to be right across the street from my office and I'll have to see it on a daily basis.

They should at least change the name so we don't have to associate it with the original.

I knew they'd have to close or move because their part of the mall is about to be torn down.