By admin 
What do you do when you move one of the Central Valley’s most iconic restaurants to a new location after more than 40 years? For Pietro’s in Lodi, the answer is you transform the old space into something even more remarkable.
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The updated venue, a supper club simply named Jimmy’s, has shed its upscale trattoria guise in favor of a transportive experience that blots out the modern world.
Entry has been moved to the garden, where you’re greeted by a hostess who escorts you into an antechamber with a bar, and you’re invited to order a pre-dinner cocktail. It’s a liminal space, a way to shrug off the rigors of the outside world before catapulting back in time.
Jimmy’s has a terse list of house craft cocktails, all $17 a pop. The Comeback Kid fuses Elijah Craig whiskey, Averna, lemon, ginger, ginger beer and mint into a more sophisticated sort of mule. The bar has also thoughtfully crafted some spirit-free drinks at $13 each, such as a peach and basil soda.
The dining room has been radically reinvented by San Francisco designer Jon de la Cruz. Gone are the wicker chairs, light wood and airy vibes, replaced with a darker, moodier space that speaks to an era gone by.
“We found a lot of inspiration going to New York City and understanding the supper club and just how it pertains to American cuisine. (We liked) the playfulness of it, but also the elegance of being in a metropolitan city,” said owner Pete Murdaca.
Vintage-styled lamps spotlight plush green velvet booths in the otherwise dim room, creating a sense of intimacy. Wood paneling warms the space. Sinatra and Dean Martin croon softly on the speakers (until the occasional Charli xcx track sneaks in). If you squint, you can almost see gentlemen in sharkskin suits and skinny ties and women in A-line skirts striding about. Almost.
Each table is presented with a complimentary basket of garlic bread and a plate of housemade mozzarella with coarse salt. The menu leans into old-school continental classics, and everything is suitable for sharing.
Jimmy’s offers East Coast-inflected raw bar fare, including Alaskan king crab legs (market price), oysters ($26 per half dozen) and a shrimp cocktail ($32) with six Nigerian tiger prawns so massive they require a fork and knife. If you’re indecisive, you can get the works as a half market ($135) or full market ($195).
The mozzarella makes another appearance as an appetizer in the form of mozzarella sticks ($26), chubby breaded torpedoes paired with prosciutto di San Daniele and a fig preserve. Once a seasonal delicacy, Jimmy’s sources squash blossoms ($25) year-round, stuffs them with ricotta and Parmigiano-Reggiano and lightly batters and fries them.
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A standout appetizer is a sort of deconstructed clams Casino ($30). Unlike the traditional baked dish of littlenecks stuffed with bacon and breadcrumbs, Jimmy’s version comes as a bowl of thumbnail-sized Manila clams tossed with guanciale, compound butter and breadcrumbs. The flavors ring true, just in a different form.
One holdover from the previous establishment is Nettie’s lasagna ($33), a robust slab of bechamel and noodles smothered in cheese — pure comfort food.
Steaks, such as a 16-ounce Snake River Farms wagyu ribeye ($78) are presented unceremoniously on an oval white plate, without so much as a sprig of parsley, much less a sauce. The cook speaks for itself; ours was a perfect rosy pink throughout with a dark, salty sear.
Desserts are as classic as they come, yet elevated, such as a mini-bundt carrot cake ($17) swimming in a pool of caramel sauce and dolloped with cream cheese frosting, topped with crisp carrot shavings.
Service is high-touch, warm and attentive without helicoptering over the table. Thanks to the coffered and baffled wood ceilings, noise levels are buffered and kept to a pleasant rumble.
Prices may seem a little exorbitant, but the portions are more than generous. Each dish could easily feed no less than two, if not up to four. Still, Jimmy’s is positioned as a special occasion place, and on any given night you’ll see several desserts come out with a lit sparkler. While festive, they do leave a lingering acrid smell when snuffed, a minor quibble.
The name is an homage to Murdaca’s father, Jimmy, who ran Pietro’s for 35 years. According to Murdaca, everyone knew him by name.
“Instead of saying ‘let’s go to Pietro’s,’ it would be, ‘let’s go see Jimmy,’ and so it just felt like the right name for the space,” Murdaca said.
Jimmy’s
Address: 317 E Kettleman Lane, Lodi
Hours: 4-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 4-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Phone: 209-654-9665
Website: jimmyslodi.com
Vegetarian options: Basically just salads and sides
Noise level: Moderate
The meal referenced in this story was provided by Jimmy’s as part of a media event. The Bee provided no guarantee of coverage.
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