Jim's Steaks reopens Wednesday in South Philadelphia nearly 2 years after devastating fire
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It's been nearly two years since a large fire ripped through Jim's Steaks on South Street, but the cheesesteak shop is finally ready to reopen to the public.
When you first walk into the new Jim's Steaks, you might not think much has changed about the shop that's been serving up cheesesteaks on South Street for nearly 50 years, but the building itself barely survived a devastating fire in July 2022.
"The sense of helplessness is what stands out, just watching it smolder and then burn," Ken Silver, owner of Jim's South St., said, "and smolder some more and burn some more."
Silver has spent the past 21 months gutting, renovating and rebuilding Jim's so he can start serving his loyal customers again.
"I have most of my original staff back here, so that's great," Silver said. "And I am looking forward to making sure that when you come in and you're greeted by our staff, it feels just like it always did."
Silver tried to maintain as much of the shop's old identity as possible. He went out of his way to restore or replace a lot of the original features and finishes, including the mosaic-style floor, the white tile walls, the tin ceiling and the gallery of famous faces who have stopped in for a cheesesteak over the years.
"We wanted, when people walked in the door, to know that they were in Jim's," Silver said. "At the same time, we wanted to create a stark difference between the Jim's side and the old Eye's Gallery side."
After the fire, Silver had the opportunity to buy the building directly next door to Jim's, the old Eye's Gallery, which specialized in Latin American folk art.
After he bought the building, he uncovered several authentic mosaics on the second floor designed by famous South Street artist Isaiah Zagar, who created Philadelphia's Magic Gardens just down the street.
Silver said he knew right away he wanted to restore them.
With help from the artists at the Magic Gardens, he successfully restored the mosaics, and now, he can't wait to show them off to the public.
"I'm blown away every time I look at it, I see something new," Silver said. "You're not looking at the Mona Lisa and seeing the Mona Lisa every time. You're looking at this mosaic and you're thinking something different or 'it looks different today' or 'it catches the light a little differently today.' I think this stuff is fantastic."
By buying up the old Eye's Gallery, Silver not only scored some authentic art, he nearly tripled the shop's capacity from 42 seats to 112. It will allow Jim's to feed many more mouths, something Silver's been looking forward to for nearly two years.
"We can cater to school groups and things like that, where we've never really had the capacity to do that before, so that's exciting," Silver said. "Just knowing that people are waiting for us to come back, wanting us to come back, and they're excited for us to come back, as well as well as the rest of the street, because this corner is essential to South Street and I can't wait to be open again and bring this corner back to life."
Fans said they're just happy to have Jim's back.
"Jim's is a staple. I feel like if you're a true Philadelphian, this is where you would come to get a good cheesesteak," Roberto Lopez said.
"They back, I'm back," Gary Rice said.
