Jim's West offers cheesesteaks on the original site of Jim's in West Philadelphia - The Philadelphia Inquirer

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The ribeye steak hits the well-oiled flat top, kicking up a big head of steam that fogs up the glass partition between Michelle Shaw and her customers at the new Jim’s West in West Philadelphia.

She places slices of Cooper sharp cheese on a sliced roll, which she lifts in one hand as she applies mounds of steak and fried onions. “Want this wrapped?” she asks.

No. This cheesesteak is best eaten here, at the narrow counter across from the grill. That’s the way most people did it back in the day, when Jim’s West was known as Jim’s Steaks, where Shaw worked for decades.

It’s Jim’s original location, and it had an 80-year run before it closed permanently in 2019.

Enter Cortez Johnson, a filmmaker from Delaware County who grew up nearby and whose uncle had worked at Jim’s. Johnson, who had no previous restaurant experience, wanted to revive the neighborhood landmark, said Victoria Wylie-Landers, a business partner. (By day, she is a political and educational consultant and co-owns Smiley’s Flavors, an ice cream truck.)

“We took it upon ourselves to bring back as many of the workers as we could,” Wylie-Landers said.

Through the uncle, Johnson struck a deal with the previous owners. And after a brief legal drama over the name, Jim’s West opened last month. Jim’s West’s black-tied look is the same, as is the menu. They’re again using Amoroso’s rolls, which are on the squishy side — hence my suggestion to eat it as soon as possible after it comes off the grill and soaks up the juices.

Prices are a few dollars below the norm — a plain steak is $11 and a cheesesteak with a choice of cheeses, including Cheez Whiz, American, Cooper sharp, and Swiss, is $12.

There’s a $20 deal that includes a cheesesteak, bottled drink, and — because you need something sweet after housing one of these sandwiches — a half-pint container of decadent, cookie-topped banana pudding from a recipe by Wylie-Landers’ cousin Jennah Landers.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 10 p.m. Sunday. No phone.

A short history of Jim’s

In 1939, Jim Perligni (by some accounts, Pearligni) opened Jim’s Steaks at 62nd and Noble Streets in West Philadelphia. Retiring in late 1965, he sold the business to William Proetto, whose lawyer was Abner Silver.

Silver was not as intrigued by the law as much as he loved the food business. With the Bicentennial coming to Philadelphia, Silver and Proetto opened the second Jim’s Steaks, at Fourth and South Streets, in 1976. (That location is due to come back from a fire later this year.)

Silver, who later opened a shop of his own (Abner’s at 38th and Chestnut Streets), assumed sole ownership of the South Street location after Proetto died in 2011.

Meanwhile, Proetto’s family through the years operated the original West Philadelphia location and opened others, including one in Springfield, Delaware County, which still remains.

The West Philadelphia location closed in 2019.

Cortez Johnson and partners, including Victoria Wylie-Landers, bought the building earlier this year and opened last month as Jim’s West.

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Jim's West offers cheesesteaks on the original site of Jim's in West Philadelphia - The Philadelphia Inquirer
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