Jim’s Steaks on South Street planning to reopen May 1st after devastating fire
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - Jim’s Steaks is a South Philadelphia mainstay, but a devastating fire shuttered the iconic shop nearly two years ago.
After rebuilding from the terrible fire, Jim’s is planning to come back better than ever.
"33 days. We’re definitely counting," said Kenneth Silver.
The reopen date is May 1st.
Jim's Steaks fire: Firefighters get multi-alarm fire under control after four hours
Firefighters responded to a multi-alarm blaze on the 400 block of South Street, inside the building that houses Jim's Steaks. Fire officials say it took four hours to get the fire under control and additional units had to be called so responding firefighters could get rest due to the heat.
"Hopefully, the lines come back and they’re as long, if not longer," said Silver.
People know the southwest corner of 4th and South for the long line of people from not just all over the city, but all over the world.
"I’m not sure we appreciated it as much as we should have," said Silver. The iconic Jim’s Steaks is making a comeback.
"We hope that people come in and are just wowed by what hasn’t changed and by what has. Because what has changed is really something," said Silver who is the president of Jim’s Steaks. He says it’s going to be bigger and better. He acquired the building next door formerly Eyes Gallery. It’s owned by artist Isaiah Zagar and his wife Julia who relocated the business because of the fire that forced Jim’s to close and damaged the gallery.
"It’s the corner plus one. And we added 67 percent of our capacity, so we’re going to be able to seat almost 100," said Silver.
Inside, the classic white tiles and the ceiling are up. The restaurant equipment will be installed soon and the most import thing will arrive next week.
"The griddle is going to be in the exact same place that it was except now it’s going to be 12 feet long instead of 10 foot long," said Silver.
During a tour, an opening leads to what used to be Eyes Gallery.
"This is going to be seating. Stainless steel standup counters so you’ll be able to eat your sandwich here and look out," said Silver.
The walls will be the preserved original mosaics. The second floor will be the original Jim’s layout with more tables. But in the back area something new - the seating area also has walls of original mosaics by Isaiah Zagar.
"There’s a certain amount of pride knowing that you were able to salvage the business and you were able to salvage two buildings," said Silver.
And we can’t forget to talk about the cheesesteak.
"We stayed true to our product. We haven’t changed anything. We’ll just keep serving cheesesteaks as best we can," said Silver.