Home Place: Jimmies of Savin Rock in West Haven CT

If you haven't made it to the Connecticut shoreline for some good food and salt air yet, there is still plenty of time to enjoy some warm late summer / early fall weather down at Jimmies of Savin Rock!

Jimmies was established in 1925 as a teeny little hot dog stand that stood at the outskirts of the famous Savin Rock Amusement Park featuring hot dogs "split down the middle" and cooked on a flat top grille.

Even after the amusement park closed "The Rock" was the place to go on a warm summer night, and Jimmies' parking lot would fill up every evening with cool cars and even cooler teens. Hot rods, motorcycles, loud music - it was every teen's dream hangout...and every parent's worst nightmare!! (Although most parents really loved it there just as much as we kids did!!)
Oh Happy Days!

Everyone who grew up in West Haven remembers walking up to the counter and ordering a hot dog and fries and hearing "one up" - "one order" - Jimmies lingo for a hog dog and fries.

It soon grew to the place to go for hot dogs and fried seafood, evolving from a hot dog stand, to a "drive-in", to a full scale restaurant.

A co-worker had recently gone there and reminded me that they had the BEST STEAMERS EVER! And even though I wasn't in the mood for steamers...I decided that a trip to Jimmies before the summer officially ended was certainly in order.

Jimmies features a full menu and offers plenty of daily specials.

The cowboy and I got there pretty early for a Friday night, at about 5:30 and were able to be seated right away. We were told by the hostess that there was a 45 minute wait for a patio table, but when I went out to take some pictures it appeared there were lots of tables available. (Hmmm).

Disappointing, but regardless, we were seated promptly and although not at a window table, we still had a great view of Long Island Sound. Yes folks. Jimmies is right on the water!

We both went with each of Jimmies' famous platters. The cowboy had the hot dog platter, two hot dogs with choice of salad or cole slaw and potato ($7.95). I ordered the lobster roll platter, a single hot lobster roll served on a grilled hot dog bun with choice of salad or slaw and potato ($17.95).

The cowboy ordered the salad, and I went with the cole slaw. The pictures below of the salad and slaw are after we had already eaten half! (Note to self: Remember to take pictures before eating!!!)

The cole slaw was actually heaping over the dish and the salad was in a HUGE bowl. Great portions!

We both opted for Jimmies french fries with our platters. The french fries taste the same as I remember from 50 years ago! Absolutely. Delicious. The cowboy agrees.

The cowboy was disappointed with the hot dogs. (Could it be because they weren't Hummels??)

But my lobster roll was fabulous! Again, just as good as I remember!. Fresh and buttery, but not overly buttery-greasy. YUM!

We finished up and took a quick walk outside and down the West Haven boardwalk. A great way to spend one of the dwindling summer nights.