Wine tasting in Lodi? End your day at this new Italian supper club

The Abridged version:

• Jimmy’s, an Italian American supper club from the Murdaca family, opened July 9 at sister restaurant Pietro’s former home in Lodi.
• The menu spans Italian American starters, a raw bar and steaks, including a Wagyu ribeye and a 40-ounce, dry-aged porterhouse.
• Save room for dessert, highlighted by a build-your-own gelato sundae tower.

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Lodi was named America’s Favorite Small Town by Parade and Steller last month. Now the wine region 35 miles south of Sacramento has a new reason for visitors to stick around after the last tasting room closes.

Jimmy’s, a new Italian American supper club, opened July 9 in the building that housed Pietro’s for four decades before the beloved Italian restaurant relocated to the Reynolds Ranch development. The Murdaca family renovated the original space, naming the new restaurant for Pete Murdaca’s father, Jim.

“For our family, this building represents far more than a restaurant,” said Pete Murdaca, president of Murdaca Family Hospitality.

Murdaca’s father, Jim, opened Pietro’s in 1985 alongside his wife, Annette, and the restaurant became a fixture in Lodi. Pete said that for years, regulars didn’t say they were going to Pietro’s. They said they were going to see Jimmy, a reference to his father that stuck with the family and eventually gave the new restaurant its name.

“Opening Jimmy’s is incredibly special to our family,” Jim Murdaca wrote in an email. “When we started Pietro’s over 40 years ago, we never imagined we’d one day have the opportunity to create another restaurant that carries forward the same values of great food, genuine hospitality, and bringing our community together. Watching Pete take what we built and continue to grow our family’s legacy has been one of the greatest joys of my life.”

Walk in and you’ll find a waiting room by the host stand, with a glowing marbled bar that feels like an invitation to grab a drink before being seated. A glass-walled wine display and leather club chairs add to the mid-century mood before a set of frosted glass doors opens into the supper club proper.

The first supper club opened in Beverly Hills in the 1930s, not long after Prohibition ended and going out for a legal drink became its own kind of event. Unlike a typical restaurant, a supper club was built around the whole evening: cocktails, a full dinner, and often dancing or live music. The trend faded by the later 20th century as casual dining took over, though pockets of the tradition never fully disappeared, particularly in the Midwest, and restaurants across the country have started reviving the format in recent years.

Arcanum Architecture and interior designer Jon de la Cruz of DLC-ID, his San Francisco-based firm, are longtime collaborators with the Murdaca family. They also designed Pietro’s new Reynolds Ranch location, making Jimmy’s their latest project together.

For this space, they kept the structure intact, shifting the mood rather than the layout. The traditional Italian dining room gave way to U-shaped booths, wood paneling and lighting that carries the room back to a Rat Pack-era lounge. The dining room now seats 176 across indoor and outdoor spaces. Out back, the same edible garden and fountains landscaper Jeff Gamboni designed years ago are still growing, supplying the kitchen.

“After relocating Pietro’s to its new home, we had the rare opportunity to reimagine the place where it all began,” Murdaca said. “Naming the restaurant ‘Jimmy’s’ felt like the perfect way to honor that legacy while creating something entirely new for the next generation.”

Starters lean Italian American, from clams casino finished with guanciale to crispy squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta. The raw bar covers oysters, shrimp cocktail, crudo and caviar, along with market-priced lobster and Alaskan king crab. From there, the menu moves into mains such as scallops, halibut and chicken on the bone, alongside hand-cut steaks such as a Wagyu ribeye and a 40-ounce, dry-aged porterhouse meant to be shared.

Pasta hasn’t disappeared entirely. Nettie’s Lasagna, a béchamel version, sits alongside the steaks on the menu, a nod to the building’s Italian roots. Sides come family-style: broccolini, scalloped potatoes, gnocchi al forno, mashed potatoes with gravy and a petite salad.

Save room for dessert. The Tower steals the show, a build-your-own gelato sundae kids will love and your inner child won’t be able to resist. It comes with three scoops of chocolate, vanilla or strawberry gelato and multiple toppings ranging from hot fudge to rainbow sprinkles to crushed pistachios and Oreo crumbles.

From martinis to Manhattans, the cocktail list covers familiar ground alongside its own signature drinks, like the Jimmy’s Pink Tuxedo, built on limoncello and raspberry, and the Amalfi, a tequila and Aperol mix finished with basil agave. A nonalcoholic menu runs alongside it with drinks such as a housemade peach-and-basil soda or The Socialite (Ritual NA gin, cranberry, orange and lime). The wine list includes Italian varietals, Napa Valley selections and, of course, wines from Lodi.

“Jimmy’s is the restaurant we’ve always dreamed of bringing to Lodi,” Murdaca said, describing a place built for both special occasions and an ordinary dinner with family or friends.

With Lodi’s food scene growing, Jimmy’s is one more notable addition for Sacramento-region visitors capping off a day of wine tasting.

The new restaurant is open daily for dinner, with lunch added on Saturdays and Sundays. Reservations can be made through OpenTable, and walk-ins are welcome for parties up to eight.

Jimmy’s

Address: 317 E. Kettleman Lane, Lodi

Hours: 4-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday

Website: www.jimmyslodi.com

Vegetarian options: Yes, but the menu is meat-heavy. Options include crispy squash blossoms, endive-and-citrus salad and gnocchi al forno.

Drinks: Full-bar, mocktails, wine and beer

Reservations: Available through OpenTable. Walks-ins welcome as well.

Keyla Vasconcellos is a food and travel journalist based in Sacramento. Her work has appeared in Condé Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, Eater, Forbes and beyond.