Anyone who has ever undertaken the task of updating an ancient building can relate to the work underway at the venerable North Shore Inn of Benton Harbor. Inevitably, there are surprises both good and bad on such a project, so for those of you eagerly awaiting the return of your neighborhood burger joint and bar, hang in there. Pearson Construction crews are working tirelessly to get things finished up and allow you to get your hands on the renowned North Shore burger as quickly as possible.
The current target, according to the new General Manager, Anthony Fulton, is March. He doesn’t dare to narrow that down too much, because that can tend to be a fool’s game inasmuch as you’re always dependent on so many elements along the way.
Here’s what I can tell you, however, about the impending return of what has been tabbed thousands of times as “the best burger in Southwest Michigan” — You’ll have a lot more space…you’ll be served far more quickly…and yes, the famous “Bull Wall” will still play a prominent role in the decor. In fact, the original artist is slated to provide some touch up work in the very near future.
North Shore owner Anne-Elise Lansdown and her brother Jay Fettig, who owns North Pier Brewing across the street, are excited about not only the upcoming return, but also a lot of great things for their famous neighborhood intersection in the middle of Harbor Shores.
Fettig introduced me today to the new North Shore GM, Fulton, who brings a strong pedigree in restaurant management having trained with arguably the best restaurant management company in mid-America, Rich Melman’s Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises of Chicago.
Originally from the small town of Eagle, Nebraska, Fulton lived in Chicago for 6 and a half years, Launching new Melman restaurants and running them. More recently he moved to South Bend to help a friend open a new fast-casual restaurant in the city and when that project was complete, Jay found him, “at the perfect time for my ideal passion.”
Fulton married the youngest daughter of Ross & Valerie Smith, so he has become very familiar with the whole Harbor Shores neighborhood, since Ross has been a key professional and management team member there since its inception.
Anthony tells me his passion is simply, “Having regulars, building relationships.” While he loved working with the fast casual genre, it’s not about regulars there the way that “the hometown vibe of small town bars is, like where I first started back in Eagle, Nebraska, a town of 1,000 in the middle of nowhere.”
While they are currently living in South Bend, and he is commuting during the build-out and planning process, the Fultons will be moving here in the spring, and are very excited to do so.
Anthony tells me, “I love the restaurant industry in Chicago, and I learned a ton from Lettuce Entertain You…that’s as good as it gets for a restaurant management company, but I think I got to the point where I pretty much learned as much as I could from them, so it was just the right time to leave the city and live life a little bit more.” He notes, “I’m also an outdoorsman, and I like hiking and fishing and kayaking, so that was one of things I got really excited about for moving up here. Even though South Bend is right outside of Chicago, and has things around it, they’re not nearly as accessible as they are here.”
Fulton’s new project with Anne-Elise and Jay is advancing nicely. While the previous North Shore could handle about 42 or so people, the expansion project will make room for 75 seats inside and 16 on the fenced-in patio porch being installed at the front of the building.
Anthony says, “I’m excited to get this up and running, I just know how much small hometown places like this mean to people, and I’m excited to be able to bring that back and in a safer, cleaner and more efficient way than it was before.”
The primary goal of the extensive makeover has been focused on a dramatically larger kitchen, updated modern rest room facilities, and a focus on considerably reducing service times due to the efficiencies that are being put into place.
While the renovations will make things safer, cleaner, more stable and faster, Fettig says they are working diligently to retain the look and feel of the 25 year old bar and burger joint to make it “capable of being around for another 25 years, at least.”
New glass windows up front will make things more energy efficient, but the entry door is still in the same spot, the bar has been shortened in depth, but substantially widened and will be flanked on both ends by most of the major indoor seating, while the center space will feature high-top tables and a few booths along the back wall where coolers used to reside. All new HVAC and electrical systems have been installed as comfort and safety upgrades.
The substantial new space for the kitchen will streamline processes, but both Fulton and Fettig have unequivocally promised, “The North Shore Burger will still be the North Shore Burger! We’re not changing the beef, we’re not changing where we get it from, and the most important thing is we kept the person who makes the burgers. That’s the most important thing. Anybody can make a burger, but to make it – there’s hundreds of thousands of ways to make a burger, even if you’re just going for a classic burger – to make it the same we’re keeping the same purveyors, the same person making it, making it the same way, the same ingredients, and best of all you will be able to get it faster, because we’ll have a substantially larger cooking area.” In fact, the new kitchen is three to five times the size of the old one.
The staff will pretty much double, but Anthony says, “We will have a separation between bartenders and servers. Previously, your server was your bartender, but I think that the cool thing that we’re going to be introducing is to bring a little bit more of the city feel to the place by having an actual cocktail list — nothing overwhelming, just classic cocktails like Old-Fashioneds, Manhattans, a good classic Margarita, and Mojito and things like that — but, we will have bartenders that will be consistent to make it the same way every time.”
While it was not uncommon at all to wait an hour or longer for a North Shore burger on busy nights, Fulton promises that will be reduced to about 15-minutes, “or else.”
The menu will remain “about 90 to 95-percent” the same as in the past, however there will be some new additions on the expanded menu to bring something to the table for everyone including some new dinner salads and such.
The main dining room which featured wood/vinyl paneling is being replaced with all wood paneling to keep the feel. The Jack Nicklaus golf mural on the west wall is being replaced with an updated version depicting the classic Nicklaus 100-foot putt that has been on ESPN and Golf Channel highlight reels since he made that classic play in the 2010 Champions for Change Skins Game at Harbor Shores. While the bar and bar top will be new, the original bar rail will return, and where the bar front was carpeted, a textured tile will work to replicate the feel of the former space.
When renovators removed the defunct staircase from the front of the building they were delighted to find a beautiful, original arched brick window which will give the exterior a distinctive new focal point. Work is underway to reconnect and reactivate the old neon sign, but the stucco will be nicely refreshed with new stucco from top to bottom and there will likely be new signature neon signage in the window keeping the same type font as in the long time logo.
The ties between North Shore and North Pier will be strengthened, as Fulton says, “This intersection is just cool, it’s in town, but it’s not in town…it’s smack dab in the middle of the golf course, which I’ve never seen one with a place in the middle of the golf course like this. We’ll have a little entertainment. Have a meal, have beers, see some live music over here, and lots of events coming.”
Speaking of events, the return of the North Shore will be closely followed by the 2018 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores. Anthony says, “Our goal is to play a bigger role in the Championship than we have in the past. We’d like to bring more people to this little intersection. There’s obviously thousands of people walking around all over the course, and it’s kind of easy for the trolley to bypass this intersection, but we’re going to make it a true destination within the PGA to make it convenient for those who want more food, want to take a break from watching golf, or if they want to really have a good time and kind of enjoy what Benton Harbor has to offer.” He adds, “We’re going to try and draw some more traffic, but the restaurant will run business as usual during the Championship, so people can go in first-come, first-served.” He notes, “We also, with KitchenAid support, will have some really nice outdoor areas, to get some food as well, and provide some entertainment for kids and adults alike.”
Fettig, who operates North Pier Brewing says service there will be quicker and more seamless. Even though we’re separate entities, our goal here is to have it feel like we have our own kitchen and our own menu.” One interesting spin is that there will be some items on the menu at North Pier that will be specific to North Pier. Fulton says, “There will be plenty of things there to get that you won’t be able to get here, at least not in the same style of efficient delivery and such, but there will be a few things here that you won’t be able to get there, and try to tie that in with the beer, do some beer-braising, beer cheese, pretzels, things like that which are really closely entwined with the beer making process and be able to pair some of that stuff, too.”
So…there’s a lot in the works for the popular North Shore/North Pier neighborhood, and for many fans the return simply can’t come soon enough. Stay tuned.
In the photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market, note the beautifully retained brick-arched window discovered when the exterior stairwell was removed.
