We visited Claires in 2021 (you can read that by clicking here) It looks very much the same in the century old train station only I think it’s gotten more popular and the town built up more, so there’s less parking. We sat at a high top table which was one of the options you can pick when you make your reservation. The large bar seemed to be a place for solo diners and walk-ins. Claire Lamborne purchased the property in 2005 and was still there but we didn’t see her polishing glassware this time. Service was efficient, friendly and opinionated. We liked it enough to go back so if you need a fun place to eat when you’re in the area put this one on your list.
Set-up
Food
The Chesapeake Oysters are cornmeal crusted and fried then served with a bloody Mary cocktail sauce. They came out piping hot, 6 to an order. The coating was good with the inside oyster staying very juicy. I really liked the sauce but again it covered up the taste of the oyster – so that’s a dilemma. Hard to go wrong with 2 good choices.
The Depot Roast Beef Dip sandwich was topped with Swiss cheese, horseradish mayo and served on a baguette with au jus. It also came with a side of French fries. The beef was tasty and tender and there was a generous amount of cheese on the entire sandwich. The beef flavor got more intense when you dipped it but it was fine with just the mayo and cheese. The baguette was soft enough to bite and not an overwhelming amount of bread.
The smoked turkey Reuben contained Swiss cheese, coleslaw, thousand island dressing and was a pumpernickel swirl bread with a side of French fries. I think they call it a Rachel when you substitute turkey for pastrami and slaw for saurkraut. Whatever, this one had a ton of cheese, a nice amount of dressing and some tender moist turkey although I was hard pressed to detect the smoke. The good bread was only lightly toasted and not too greasy. It was huge – we should have split one of the sandwiches, it was way too much for one. But this one was good; the favorite of the two. The fries were fine.
One of my many quirks — I ask for saltines with oysters, and put the cocktail sauce on the saltines. (I usually also ask for more horseradish)
I used to eat a ton of cocktail sauce on saltines at a local place that always served them with raw oysters. Thought I was unique but guess not! Yes extra horseradish is always in my playbook but not in my husband’s.