Up for a good time? As a dining destination, Jimmy G’s Beverly Hills Tavern in Sinking Spring delivers. In the dog days of summer, guests are welcomed cheerily at the outdoor cabana-bar near dining tables hopping with activity, while kids play in a sandy beach set up just for them with pails, shovels, and real conch shells to complete the environment. Inside it’s cool and shady; there’s a long bar with an enormous historic hearth and high tables; a separate dining section with traditional, linen-clad tables; two old-fashioned fireplaces with mantels; and deep-set windows harking back to an earlier century.
Welcome!
Hospitality seems to be Rule #1 for owners April and Jim Giuffrida. They’ve made sure that menus are fresh and affordable, offering everything from hand-built sandwiches to ribs and grill favorites, along with daily specials and a fish “catch of the day”; a separate drink menu explodes with a long list of refreshing cocktails, beers and soft drinks.
Why not start with a Spiked Root Beer Float? This is a thick adult milkshake, prettily prepared: light tan with pure white whipped cream on top, it’s concocted with Pepsi, an ice cream base, Pinnacle whipped vodka and DeKuyper root beer schnapps. It’s sweet — like getting your dessert right up front — as creamy warm vanilla tones purr alongside classic root beer flavor and a zingy cola jolt.
From the double martini menu comes a wickedly potent, super-refreshing cocktail called the Peach Bourbon Old-Fashioned. Made with Maker’s Mark, fresh peaches, mint leaves, simple syrup and a wedge of tangy lemon, this drink is tart and bright with mellow peach accents — a clear winner, perfect for a summer evening.
If you love crab, you’re in heaven here. There’s a steamed crab shack outdoors, and the appetizer menu is loaded: Mini Crab Cakes, topped with lobster meat in a sherry-lobster cream sauce; Colossal Crab and Shrimp Cocktail; a hot-selling Crab Dip; and Beverly Hills Crab Fries covered with Cheddar and lump crab. Entrees include a unique Maryland Blue Claw Ravioli and a Crab Cake Sandwich.
Nachos and wings are standout standards, but for a change, try the Boneless Wings made with scrumptiously fat, succulent white-meat chicken deep-fried in a light batter of perfection and sauced to your heat or sweet preference — or both, if you indulge in the fruity burn of BHT’s strawberry jalapeño sauce.
Go for the Grill
It’s such a treat to have a terrific chef prepare the ultimate charbroiled burger, topped with anything from avocado to roasted red peppers. A combo that cannot be beat is the Beverly Hills Burger on an onion brioche, slathered with deeply dark caramelized onions, applewood bacon and melted gruyere cheese. You’ll be drooling even before you take the first bite; the fresh Angus beef sets it on a pedestal taste-wise, the beefy flavor enhanced by the multiple textures and aromas of smoky-fat and salty bacon, sugared onions, and notes of hazelnutty gruyere. And it comes with Maui onion chips. Mmmm.
A close competitor from the same Sandwiches and Casual Fare menu is clearly the overachieving Jimmy G’s Club. This creation is built on a biting sourdough or honey wheat, layered with Black Forest smoked ham, roasted white turkey slices, lettuce and tomato, applewood bacon, and a dijonnaise dressing to pull it all together. That, plus a mug of beer and a handful of seasoned Sidewinder Fries, and there’s definitely no room left for dessert. Those Sidewinders are plump, curly cuts of prime potato, much larger than French fries and even bigger, it seems, than steak fries.
A full entrée section lifts diners into the realm of Certified Angus Beef Filet Mignons and NY Strip Steaks, Papardelle Bolognese and French Pork Chops. After a hot summer day, the 8-ounce Charbroiled Atlantic Salmon, accompanied by a pure and simple green House Salad, homemade tangy Cole Slaw, and grilled snow peas and carrots, is a healthy, light, protein-filled choice for a satisfying supper. Salmon fillets take well to the grill; just as the succulent fish cooks through, the crisscrossed charcoal top of the fish receives a thin blanket of creamy lemon dill sauce. With each forkful, the piquant citrus softness of the sauce serves to moisturize and complement the deep orange salmon.
The Chocolate Thunder Cake is for certified chocoholics: it’s rich, rich, rich (one for each of three layers), and the frosting contains out-and-out chunks of the dark stuff. Tip: Ask for two forks.
Long after the sun sets, the beach scene outside is still going strong, with music pumping across the sand and a hundred happy conversations going at once. So stay just a bit longer. Why not?
by MARIAN FRANCES WOLBERS | photos by HEIDI REUTER
