Toque of the Town: Claim Jumper Mining the Menu

Brian Okada leads Claim Jumper on the health and comfort trail.

By Monica Rogers, Contributing Editor -- Chain Leader, 4/1/2004

Born into the late ’70s casual-dining boom with an old-time California-mining-town theme, Claim Jumper reached the new millennium due for a makeover. Pitching its saloon schtick out the swinging doors along with the eat-’til-you-pop portion focus, the 32-unit chain recently emerged with a sleek new lodge look and more sophisticated menus.

Claim Jumper Corporate Executive Chef Brian Okada spent months reworking plate presentations for items like Beefsteak Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella, adding height and drama.

New units feature natural rock fireplaces, Craftsman-style fixtures and exhibition kitchens equipped with wood-burning pizza ovens, broilers and rotisseries. Appetizer salads like the best-selling Candied Walnut & Asian Pear, $5.95, with field greens, fresh raspberries, red and yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, blue cheese and citrus dressing, have replaced Claim Jumper’s rambling self-serve produce bar. And the company has updated blasé plate presentations, scrapping the ubiquitous kale and apple garnishes and putting the focus back on the center of the plate.

Watching customers respond positively to the changes—sales are up 12 percent over last year—has been “a dream come true,” says Corporate Executive Chef Brian Okada. Now entering his 14th year with the Irvine, Calif.-based chain, Okada spent the last year pruning 25 to 30 items out of the menu, developing new dishes and reworking plate presentations for an exhausting 90 selections. More than just a needed update, Okada says the changes have all been done with an eye on expansion. “We plan to open our first store in Chicago next year,” he says. It will be the farthest East the chain has ventured.

“Both the elimination of the salad bar and the opening of the kitchen have broadened Claim Jumper’s appeal,” says Phyllis Ann Marshall, owner of FoodPower, a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based restaurant consulting firm. “The new plated salads have a healthy, upscale appeal, and the open kitchen creates an interactive synergy between the guests and the cooks. The new wood ovens and grills produce more contemporary flavor profiles as well. In my opinion, all this, along with their new decor package, will add to their popularity as they expand across the country.”

Every Plate Is a Canvas
From an internal prospective, Okada says evolving the way the cook line works in tandem with the move to an open kitchen has been a huge change. “My goal was to put the food design and plate presentation back in the hands of the people on the cook line,” says Okada. “Previously the mindset was always that an expediter or manager had to make sure everything was right before a plate went out. Giving it back to the guys on the line has really boosted their sense of ownership and pride in what they’re doing.”

Okada likes to tell his cooks that “every plate is a canvas. What you put on it is your artwork. You should be able to sign your name on the bottom and send it out with pride, saying, ‘This is my work.’”

New presentations are more modern, using height and layers to add interest. For instance, in years past, plates displayed a thick, 8-inch slice of meatloaf with a separate side dish of potatoes and gravy. Now cooks cut the meatloaf into two pieces, balance them on a mound of potatoes and ladle a newly formulated, lighter gravy over all. The dish sells for $13.95.

The Beefsteak Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella Salad, $5.25, was formerly served flat on the plate. Now cooks layer vine-ripened tomatoes with red-onion slices and fresh mozzarella in a stack sprinkled with Danish blue-cheese crumbles, basil and herb bread crumbs, cracked black pepper and balsamic vinaigrette.

Wood-Smoked Flavors
Part and parcel of the new emphasis on presentation, the move to exhibition cooking has brought “showmanship and flavor” to the menu, says Okada. “It adds a lot of excitement for customers to see the flames coming off of the new wood-fired broilers, rotisseries and pizza-deck ovens.”

Though not promoted as new menu items, dozens of meat, fish and poultry selections formerly prepared over gas equipment now have new smoky notes added by wood fuel.

Showcasing these smoky notes, Okada added two new burgers with the opening of its Henderson, Nev., store in January. The Roasted Pepper Burger, $9.95, tops a pepper-crusted half pound of ground chuck with jack cheese, wood-oven roasted Anaheim chile, chipotle mayonnaise, sweet onion rings, tomato and romaine lettuce.

The other, a Chili Cheeseburger, is patterned after the classic sandwich served at Tommy’s, a Los Angeles landmark. Claim Jumper’s version—topped with housemade chili (no beans), American cheese, thick-cut tomato, pickles, mustard and chopped onion, $9.95—is a tribute to the original. “There was nothing like the flavor of a Tommy’s chiliburger,” says Okada, who’s been eating them since he was 17 years old.

Good Food Passion
Seventeen was also the age Okada started his restaurant career. “It was a summer job, right out of high school, at a Marie Callendar’s,” he recalls. “I started as a cook right off the bat. And it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the industry.”

The best-selling Candied Walnut & Asian Pear Salad includes field greens, fresh raspberries, red and yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, blue cheese and citrus dressing.

Aiming high, Okada then asked for a job at one of the best restaurants in Southern California, the Parkway Grill. “I just walked in and told the chef, Steve Singer, that I wanted to expand my knowledge and learn whatever he could teach me,” Okada says. Singer took Okada in and trained him in all of the positions on the cook line. Singer “really gave me a passion for good food,” Okada explains. “He also showed me that with food, the creative spectrum was as wide as you wanted to make it.”

After six years at the Parkway Grill, where he had assumed the sous-chef position, Okada left to become head chef for Los Angeles-based Crocodile Cafe. He opened the first two of the now eight-unit chain. He then took chef positions at Burbank’s private Riding and Polo Club and Santa Monica’s Broadway Bar & Grill.

Staking a Claim
Hoping to open his own restaurant, Okada sought management experience and went to a longtime friend who worked at a Claim Jumper. “I had a lot of respect for the company and knew it was a great place to gain front-of-the-house experience,” he says.

Meat, fish and poultry dishes such as this salmon have new smoky flavor notes added by wood fuel.

But Okada’s 1992 hire as a manager quickly turned into something more. “They continually asked me for menu guidance,” he recalls. Within 18 months, Claim Jumper named him corporate executive chef.

“I haven’t missed opening my own place,” he confides. “When I started at Claim Jumper, there were only eight units. As it grew, I’ve loved the fact that I’ve been able to make an impact not just on the menu but on the whole concept. I’ve had all the benefits someone gets from owning their own restaurant, but without the financing woes.”

With plans for eastward expansion, the company hired two new research and development chefs in February. It will also build a new test kitchen this year.

Light and Comfortable
Okada has recently focused on developing lighter, more healthful items with some “contemporary comforts” to balance things out.

“For years Claim Jumper has been known for quality food in larger portions. A lot of people perceive value with those large portions, but we knew that customers didn’t always want to bring home a huge bag of leftovers,” says Okada. “We knew we could appeal to a lot more people and increase customer frequency if we added more lighter dining options.”

Salad sales are up 15 percent thanks to a new nine-item appetizer salad section.

The company stopped building salad bars in new units, offering a selection of smaller composed salads for light meals or, for $2 less than the menu price, as an accompaniment to an entree. The nine-item line includes California Citrus Salad, $5.25, iceberg and romaine hearts, avocado, candied pecans, green apples, golden raisins, dried cranberries, Mandarin wedges, blue-cheese crumbles and green onions with citrus dressing; and Crunchy Spinach Salad, $5.95, with crunchy noodles, chopped red onion, tomatoes, bacon, feta cheese, candied pecans, sesame seeds and citrus dressing. The $5.75 Hearts of Romaine Salad is topped with Danish blue-cheese crumbles, bacon bits, toasted walnuts and an herb-balsamic vinaigrette.

Results have been impressive: Okada says 40 percent to 50 percent of customers are adding appetizer salads to their entrees. Combining that with the customers ordering salads as entrees, he estimates salad sales overall have increased 15 percent.

Modern Comfort
Balancing the light items, Claim Jumper created new renditions of comfort classics, such as a “retro ’70s” Sauteed Mushroom Trio, $7.95, portobello, crimini and button mushrooms sauteed in garlic, shallots and Chardonnay, and topped with Havarti cheese and crouton dust.

“[Founder and President] Craig [Nickoloff] loves to go backward into peoples’ mindset to find dishes they loved eating when they grew up,” says Okada. “I work with those dishes and give them a contemporary touch.”

Tomato Basil Pizza is baked in a wood-burning pizza oven in the chain’s new exhibition kitchens.

For example, Claim Jumper’s thin-sliced sweet onion rings and mozzarella sticks are coated in Japanese panko bread crumbs and lightly fried. The signature Cheese Potato Cakes, $6.95, are seasoned with cilantro, dill and onion, mixed with Parmesan, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, coated in panko crumbs and fried crisp. They’re served with a sprinkling of fresh chives and salsa.

“And don’t forget the Country Fried Steak,” Okada laughs, adding that the $14.95 entree “has been in the top five on the entire menu forever.”

Looking ahead for 2005, Okada says he’ll be working on more healthful, low-carb items, especially for lunch. “We’re not going to go out there and advertise the Atkins diet at Claim Jumper,” he says. “But we do want to create a few new options.”

Currently under development are an asparagus salad featuring veggies roasted in the wood-fired pizza oven and a new sea scallop appetizer and entree. “We’re also experimenting with a rack of pork loin on the rotisserie,” says Okada.

He also plans to enhance the menu’s “Favorites” section, which comprises comfort foods like pot roast and chicken pot pie. “We want to look at doing smaller versions of some of the popular dishes, bundling them with soup or salad.”