Don’t look for huge pancakes. Sacramento landmark Jim-Denny’s returns with a few differences
N’Gina Guyton’s take on downtown Sacramento landmark Jim-Denny’s, which reopened on Sept. 2, has plenty of differences from the original diner.
The original Jim-Denny’s closed in 2020 after 85 years and Guyton, the former co-owner of Southside Park soul food spot South, has taken over. Hubcap-sized pancakes now are off the menu, replaced by hot dogs laden with mango salsa and Takis. One wouldn’t think to order fish from the original Jim-Denny’s, but the new tempura-battered cod sandwich comes with Havarti cheese and a green goddess tartar sauce on a brioche bun. It now has a spacious outdoor area, dinner service is available and cocktails are on their way once a liquor license is approved.
Missing from the premises: cash.
The all-American restaurant at 816 12th St. only accepts credit or debit cards or mobile payments (Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay). With no room to install a safe in the small lunch counter, Guyton has determined physical tender to be too great a security risk.
“I don’t worry about not being able to serve certain customers (carrying cash) because the life and safety of my staff is more important than an inconvenience to a guest,” Guyton wrote in a text message to The Sacramento Bee.
Jim-Denny’s had a cash tip jar — for two days. That’s all it took before someone broke in and stole the money, said Guyton.
A man who Guyton recognized as an unhoused person who lives in the area came into Jim-Denny’s and tried to pay with cash during the day. Another customer paid for his meal with a card and the man then gave that customer cash, Guyton said.
Shortly after 3 a.m. the following morning, the Jim-Denny’s alarm had sounded. Guyton said she drove to the restaurant in time to catch sight of that same man running away. The inside of the restaurant was a mess, trash was scattered around the patio and the cash tip jar had been emptied.
Sacramento Police Department officers responded to that alarm company’s call, according to a department spokesperson, and found nothing amiss. However, Guyton said she waited at the restaurant for officers to arrive until around 4:15 a.m., when she gave up and went home.
Downtown business owners have come face-to-face with Sacramento’s homelessness crisis for years. The most recent point-in-time count in January 2022 reported 9,278 individuals experiencing homelessness on a given night, more than San Francisco.
Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho sued the city of Sacramento earlier this month, alleging that city leaders had created a public nuisance by not doing enough to stem homelessness.
Jim-Denny’s has had incidents with downtown Sacramento’s significant unhoused population even without cash in the mix, Guyton said. She said she dealt with two incidents of people harassing customers and staff between Tuesday and Friday last week, both of which turned physical.
Progress has stalled on Guyton’s planned midtown restaurant Miss N’Gina, and she’s returning community funding because “the project’s timeline has grown.” Whenever she does open another restaurant, though, it’ll be cashless as well, she said.
“I will never do cash again,” Guyton wrote in a text message. “The risk isn’t worth it with all the ‘un-housed’ people in downtown and the minimal police assistance.”
What I’m Eating
We’ll stick with another modernized take on a Sacramento classic here: Sampino’s Kitchen at Joe Marty’s, which technically opened on Broadway in 2017 but has roots dating back to 1938.
Professional baseball player and native son Joe Marty originally opened his eponymous sports bar on J Street, then moved it near the Sacramento Solons’ stadium in 1951 (a Target sits there today). Joe Marty’s shut down after a fire in 2005, and a 2015 reopening was short-lived.
Enter new owners Bill and Michael Sampino, who brought in some of the city’s best Italian food while keeping the framed jerseys of Sacramento-area natives who made the major leagues. Sampino’s Kitchen at Joe Marty’s is only open for dinner and only Thursday-Sunday (head across the grid to Sampino’s Towne Foods for lunch options), so make a reservation if you don’t want to wait, particularly when dining on Friday and Saturday.
I can’t say enough good things about Joe Marty’s pesto gnocchi ($26.75 and served with French bread, salad and orange sherbet, as with all entrees). Crinkly dumplings made with Yukon gold potatoes were somehow rendered chewy and crunchy all at once, and tied together with a bright pine nut pesto and housemade Calabrese sausage.
The steak puttanesca ($31) was cooked exactly to my father’s medium-well specification while still being tender enough to satisfy those of us who might have ordered it slightly rarer. Served over linguine with truffle oil and chile flakes, it took on a fair amount of tang from the puttanesca sauce’s olives, capers, anchovies and crushed tomatoes.
Some of the Sampino’s Towne Foods sandwiches are offered on Broadway as well, including the flagship Sampanini ($17.85, served with a side salad) and Sampino’s famous meatball ($18.50), both on airy ciabatta. A cornucopia of Italian meats — mortadella, capicola, salami — defined the former, while the latter benefited from the plucky poke of diced pepperoncini.
Sampino’s Kitchen at Joe Marty’s
Address: 1500 Broadway, Sacramento.
Hours: 4-8 p.m. Thursday, 4-8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 4-7:30 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday-Wednesday.
Phone number: (916) 382-9022.
Website: https://www.joemartys.com/
Drinks: Full bar, with an emphasis on Cameron Park-based Due Ragazze wines.
Vegetarian options: A few, including pizzas, salads and ratatouille that can be made vegan.
Noise level: Moderately loud.
Openings & Closings
New York pizzeria Pazza Notte opened its second location Wednesday, this one in midtown Sacramento at 1801 L St., Suite 10. The Italian restaurant specializes in thin-crust pies, and is one of the first to open an outdoor component under the city of Sacramento’s new Al Fresco dining program.
Uncle Dumpling is Roseville’s newest Chinese restaurant, located at 1485 Eureka Road, Suite 150. It specializes in xiaolongbao, hand-crafted soup dumplings filled with pork and sometimes shrimp.
Loyal Legion’s downtown Sacramento beer hall has closed at 921 12th St., The Bee’s Brianna Taylor reported — at least for the time being. Portland-based parent company Chefstable, which also owns Cora Coffee and rooftop event space Aurora in the same building, told the Sacramento Business Journal that the closing was temporary as the business designed a pivot.
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