Mims to Phoenixville?

[Rich Pawlak]

Heard a very reliable rumor that, after his debacle in Wayne, PA, John Mims is heading to ever-rising Phoenixville, opening Johnny's New Orleans Pizza Kitchen on MArch 13 and then, less than a week later, on March 19th Daddy Mims BYOB at 150 Bridge Street. Go figger.

Anyone have any more details?

[philadining]

This is very odd, because "That Italian Place" (not "That's Italian" as reported in the Inky) is still very new, in fact there are still grand-opening streamers hanging outside the very recently -opened sit-down restaurant part of the operation.

That said, the take-out market and pizza half of their operation has been open a bit longer, and who knows, maybe business hasn't been good, or someone made them a great offer... Still seems very weird.

I only managed to get to That Italian Place a couple of times, largely because they closed at weirdly early hours for a restaurant, especially for a pizza place. (Hmm... maybe there's a clue...) But I had gotten a pizza and a sandwich from them fairly early on, each of them quite delicious.

I drove by there on Sunday, and there was no indication of a change coming, and the Mims pizza operation is supposed to be starting on friday? The main dining room a few days later?? I guess it doesn't take too long to change the ingredients in the kitchen, but you'd think they'd be doing a little redecoration or something.

I'll try to keep an eye on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if the timeline ends up being a little different than has been suggested.

[KatieLoeb]

He'd better check the mileage with a pedometer this time. That's what they got him on last time - still being within the geographic "non-compete" zone.

It's going to be tough to bounce back from all the bad publicity the Wayne story generated. I wish him the best of luck.

[chellie]

This is very odd, because "That Italian Place" (not "That's Italian" as reported in the Inky) is still very new, in fact there are still grand-opening streamers hanging outside the very recently -opened sit-down restaurant part of the operation.

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That Italian Place closed as of last Saturday night (3/7).

One of the restaurants is supposed to open today, the other next week. I've heard conflicting reports as to which is opening first. What exactly is "New Orleans" pizza, by the way?

I'll see about heading down that way later today to see if anything actually opens. That's a fast turn, less than a week from Italian to Creole.

[jdanton]

That Italian Place closed as of last Saturday night (3/7).

One of the restaurants is supposed to open today, the other next week.  I've heard conflicting reports as to which is opening first.  What exactly is "New Orleans" pizza, by the way?

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New Orleans pizza (in New Orleans pre-K anyway) isn't that far removed from Philly/Northeast pizza, thin crust fairly normal. Unfortunately, not many local places are still left.

[Tim Dolan]

Drove by during lunch and pulled to a stop just long enough to make out an "Opening Soon" sign still taped to the window.

[jdanton]

Drove by during lunch and pulled to a stop just long enough to make out an "Opening Soon" sign still taped to the window.

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Pizza place isn't open yet, will be a bit.

Mims opened tonight, my wife and I rolled the dice, and were amongst the first seated. We started with the crab bisque and chicken/andouille gumbo, which were both of New Orleans quality. The gumbo was a nice dark roux, no okra, something straight out of Commanders. No rice though, but I'll cut them a break.

For mains we had the blacked redfish (La. Red drum) with crabmeat and sweet potatoes, and I had the braised pork shoulder with collard greens, and smoked sausage.

Everything was really good--the fish was touch oversalted, but the pork was perfect. The menu isn't that creole, but everything was really good. Another quality BYOB in Phoenixville.

Sorry for the lack of pics, my phone camera isn't working.

Edited March 14, 2009 by jdanton (log)

[percyn]

Cool...will have to check it out.

ETA : Anyone know if they are open for lunch?

Edited March 14, 2009 by percyn (log)

[percyn]

Lst week we decided the try the latest addition to the Phoenixville BYO scene. The restaurant was barely occupied on a Wed at 6:30pm, which is not unusual for the area. We were promptly seated, provided with wine glasses and setup for dinner. John Mims was in the kitchen that night.

They offer a $30 4 course menu, which is what I opted for, while my wife made some al a carte selections. Overall, the food was good, but did not blow me away.

A couple items like the butternut squash and ginger soup and shrimp croquette and crab claws stood out in a good way, while the crab bisque was too salty for our taste and the pecan pie was just pedestrian.

The wild mushroom and smoked Gouda savory cheesecake sounded like a good idea and I have had something similar in New Orleans, but unfortunately this rendition let any subtle flavor of the wild mushrooms be overpowered by huge chunks of smoked Gouda in the cheesecake.

Service was friendly and professional and when we brought certain items to their attention, they were quickly addressed.

The associated pizza place which is going to open in the next few weeks will supposedly stay open from 11am-2am.

[philadining]

I picked-up a pizza for take-out from Daddy Mims the other day. They have a pretty wide selection of unusual topping combinations, many of which sound really good, but I was in the mood for something basic. I also wanted to get a baseline pizza to check out their basic technique. So I got a "Johnny's Pie" which is a basic pepperoni and mozzarella thing.

It was a little heavier on the cheese than it needed to be, but it was very tasty, loaded with good quality pepperoni atop an interesting smoky tomato sauce. The crust was nicely baked, not super-thin, but pretty light and airy, with a nice chewy texture. It had a good char on the bottom, which I liked a lot, it really annoys me when places undercook their dough.

I'm definitely planning on checking out some of the more unconventional toppings, now that I'm confident that they make a decent platform.

I had a standard "shareable" pizza, probably the size of an average Medium pizza, which is the only size they currently serve in the evening. Confusingly, for lunch and late-night (11pm-2am on friday and saturday) they also have a smaller personal-size pizza, but for some reason they won't make those in the evening. I think that's a bad idea: I would be very tempted to get a couple of smaller pizzas with different toppings on them rather than one larger one, and therefore spend more money. But who knows, it's early, they may change their concept a few times.

I REALLY hope it works out for them to be open from 11pm-2am on the weekends, I think that's a great idea. I'm a little worried that they may not like being overrun by drunks, as might just happen at that time, but the idea of grabbing a good pizza at that hour is very appealing to me, alcohol or no alcohol...

[percyn]

Philadining's post made me want to try Mims pizza, so I went for lunch and got the Ragin Cajun - duck confit, crawfish tails and taso ham.

There were about 10 people in the restaurant around lunch time and I did not mind the 20-25 min wait for the pizza, since I knew it would be freshly made.

When the pizza arrived, it looked scrumptious, but I was let down by the crust which did not seem to be as crisp as I would have expected (the center as still a bit doughy) and the duck confit which seemed to be dried out and its flavor lost amongst the crawfish and taso.

The prices were decent - $6 for a personal size seen here. They also had a variety of other toppings, salads and sandwiches, which I intend to try.

[SaxChik]

i went on saturday and also had a ragin cajun pizza. i thought the dough was cooked well enough. my duck confit was moist, but the crawfish were a little overly fishy. i wanted to try their red sauce, so the nice waiter gave me a cup to dip my crust into it. it was sweet and herby. i liked it.

my husband got the vitto, which has anchovies, kalamata olives, stuffed olives, mozzarella & pesto. he enjoyed it, but i wouldn't kiss him after he ate it. he also said it was a bit salty, but with anchovies and olives, that was not surprising.

my friend got the spinach and goat cheese salad with spiced pecans and molasses vinaigrette. it was a nice size salad and she enjoyed the fact that there wasn't an excessive amount of dressing.

for dessert, my friend and i hit up the hand crafted cookie company on main street. their oatmeal cookies are TO DIE FOR. they sell baked cookies, as well as cookie dough. you can also call ahead and they'll bake a batch up for you.

Philadining's post made me want to try Mims pizza, so I went for lunch and got the Ragin Cajun - duck confit, crawfish tails and taso ham.

There were about 10 people in the restaurant around lunch time and I did not mind the 20-25 min wait for the pizza, since I knew it would be freshly made.

When the pizza arrived, it looked scrumptious, but I was let down by the crust which did not seem to be as crisp as I would have expected (the center as still a bit doughy) and the duck confit which seemed to be dried out and its flavor lost amongst the crawfish and taso.

The prices were decent - $6 for a personal size seen here. They also had a variety of other toppings, salads and sandwiches, which I intend to try.

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[philadining]

I've had mixed results on later Daddy Mims Pizza visits...

I too tried the Ragin Cajun, with Duck Confit, Crawfish Tails and Tasso, this time in the small individual size.

It was not very good. It was massively overloaded with cheese, to the point that most of it in the middle was barely melted, but around the edges, it had overflowed and burned to unpleasant carbonized black rivulets.

Even though the cheese was burning, the crust itself was undercooked and flabby. There was no evidence of Tasso. There were several large crawfish tails, but they just didn't taste like much. The duck was pretty good, and I ended up eating that off the top, but overall, as a pizza, bleah.

But my first pizza was good enough that I decided to try again. And the results were right in the middle - it was pretty good, with toppings, especially cheese, in better proportions, and no blackened bits, but it was again under-cooked, the crust pale and doughy.

But the flavors were good - this was a "Lotta Meat" with Italian Sausage, Andouille, Pepperoni, and Tasso.

So the jury's still out for me. I'll have to try asking them to cook the pizzas more, and maybe asking them to go light on the cheese. But the ingredients are mostly good, so the flavors are interesting, they just need to be a little more consistent with the execution.

Edited June 9, 2009 by philadining (log)