Only a few of Philadelphia’s steak shops are famous enough to be considered tourist destinations. There are, of course, Pat’s and Geno’s, D’Alessandro’s and John’s Roast Pork. And there is Jim’s, with its iconic exterior and long lines out the door onto South Street – and sometimes around the corner onto Fourth.
Although I loved Jim’s during my twenties, I haven’t been there for a good number of years and intended to make them one of the final stops before putting out my first top cheesesteaks list in the fall of 2022.
Unfortunately, a serious fire in July of that year got in the way of that plan and led to Jim’s being closed until the spring of 2024. It took a while, but I finally made it back there last week for lunch.
They have expanded by taking over the space that was previously next door.
I arrived early enough to avoid the aforementioned line and had my steak in hand 5-10 minutes after entering the shop. While I usually get Cooper Sharp or American on a cheesesteak, Jim’s is one of a handful of cheesesteak purveyors that is known to specialize in steaks with Whiz. That’s how I always ordered them back in the 80s and 90s, and without a good reason for breaking with tradition, I got this one with Whiz and fried onions. Jim’s never had seeded rolls in the old days and probably still doesn’t. I didn’t bother asking.
The ground floor of the next-door addition has been converted into a sparse dining room, where I found an open table after receiving my order at the counter and unwrapped my cheesesteak.
The old smell of a Jim’s steak that I used to love so much hit me – and I still love it. Although there wasn’t what passes for a lot of meat on there by today’s standards, it was plenty for me.
There have been a couple cheesesteaks that I’ve described as having a sum that was better than their parts. The one I had at Jim’s last week fell into that category.
There were several individual aspects of it that weren’t to my liking. The roll was soft and nothing special; the meat was chopped smaller than I prefer; and the cheese wasn’t blended in with the beef on the grill. Rather it was put directly on the roll before being topped by the meat.
Yet in spite of those complaints, the overall flavor of this sandwich was very good and the meat was more than a little juicy. The beautifully caramelized onions also lent an added layer of flavor. I’d be happy to return to Jim’s, even if it won’t be as often as in the days of Reagan and Clinton.
I’ve posted on my lack of satisfaction with the steaks at Pat’s and Geno’s during my last couple jaunts to the most famous intersection in cheesesteakdom. I also was very disappointed with the last one I had from D’Alessandro’s. As their number two ranking on my last top 20 list attests to, John’s Roast Pork is still fully living up to its vaunted reputation.
Jim’s falls somewhere between that first group and John’s. With a dramatic increase in very stiff competition throughout the Philly region in recent years, they are no longer one of the best, but they at least have maintained their standards well enough to still put out a tasty product if the steak I had there last week was any indication.
BZ Maestro Eats 