Isaly’s becomes a new restaurant

The restaurant has been remodeled.

By LAURE CIOFFI

VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. — There’s one less Isaly’s in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys.

The famed regional eatery known for its chipped chopped ham and Whitehouse ice cream has lost one of the few remaining restaurants bearing its name.

The New Wilmington restaurant — once called Isaly’s — opened a week ago Thursday under new ownership and the new name of Jimmy’s Corner.

Christou “Jimmy” Dimitrios of New Castle bought the Market Street restaurant about a month ago and has spent the last few weeks remodeling it.

“A lot of people wonder what happened and why we did not keep the name. We wanted something to identify it as ours,” said Dimitrios, who came to western Pennsylvania with his family from Greece six years ago. “We are trying to do something different.”

The menu has changed somewhat adding a Greek favorite of lamb to the menu as well as homemade chili and soups, he said.

Dimitrios said the response from the customers has been good.

Some miss old Isaly’s

But some still pine for the old Isaly’s.

“I miss the old Isaly’s. This will never be Isaly’s. It’s a sandwich shop now,” said David Swaney, a veterinarian whose office is across the street. He was a regular at the old Isaly’s.

Gone are the Isaly colors on the walls and the front meat counter.

Swaney said the restaurant had lost many of its Isaly features over the years as new owners took over, but it still had the feel of the Isaly’s he went to as a child growing up in Ohio. The New Wilmington Isaly’s had retained its name for the last 80 years.

The Dimitrios family has, however, changed the wall color, put in new flooring and reconfigured the seating. They’ve also added more hours remaining open in the evenings.

Previous owner Rusty Smith had the restaurant only open for breakfast and lunch. The hours are now 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.

“It had character,” said regular customer David Ward of the old Isaly’s. “This place will develop character over time.”