Beach Blog Restaurant Spotlight - Jimmyz Original Hibachi House: Bringing the Hibachi Back Home
By Becky Billingsley
The real original Jimmy of Jimmyz Japanese Hibachi is back in business.
Jimmy Miller is the chef/owner who opened the first and highly successful Jimmyz in 2000 in Myrtle Beach, and then he sold the restaurant in 2004. There are four Jimmy's Japanese Hibachis around the Grand Strand area now.
After selling Jimmyz, he was a partner in another short-lived Japanese restaurant in Surfside Beach. The place had terrific food, but for various reasons it closed, and then Jimmy was off the restaurant playing field for a while.
But now he's back, and he and his wife, Kenza Mazouz Miller, have the restaurant at 6108 N. Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach that was previously Dairy Barn, Lexington Barbecue and Dairy Queen. Today the restaurant is Jimmyz Original Hibachi House.
"I missed the people," he said. "I missed giving good quality food that's very economically priced. I'm trying to be fair with prices. When I go to restaurants and see a price of $30 for something I know costs very little, I'm [sad]. Especially in these times. I just try to help my customers out."
Jimmy's customers span Generation Y to Baby Boomers, from kids on skateboards to doctors in Porsches.
The restaurant no longer looks like a Dairy Barn. The exposed ceiling is black, and inside the walls are grain mustard yellow and muted tangerine. Tables are stained a dark cherry, and Shaker-style chairs are black. Outside there's an enormous and roomy covered patio with a fine view of Kings Highway.
At the Surfside Beach restaurant, a menu favorite was the bulgogi (Korean beef) made by his mother, Kyong Woodle. She always said she would bequeath the recipe to her son, but Jimmy talked her into giving it up early, and now it's on the Jimmyz menu.
Jimmy fans can drive through, dine in or take out his hibachi lunch plates ($4.50-$6.50), fried rice lunch bowls ($3.85-$4.50), noodle lunch bowls ($3.85-$4.85) and low-carb veggie lunch bowls with onions, zucchini, mushrooms, green peppers, celery, carrots and tomatoes, with a choice of teriyaki chicken, hibachi steak or hibachi shrimp. All the beef is Sterling Silver Premium Meat.
The dinner menu kicks in at 3 p.m. with a variety of hibachi choices ($7-$13.75), dinner rice bowls, noodle bowls and veggie bowls. There are also appetizers including Vegetable Spring Rolls, Panko-crusted Tempura Chicken, Jimmyz Special Chicken Wings, Yakitori sticks, and sushi.
Sushi choices include a handful of rolls: California, Tuna, Spicy Tuna, Crazy and Volcano. For dessert you can have Fried Cheesecake in Raspberry Sauce or soft-serve chocolate or vanilla ice cream.
A new dish that diners are buying a lot of is the unique Hibachi Burger.
"It's enclosed in a pita with onion and zucchini, and it's served with sweet potato fries," Jimmy says. "And we have Yakitories, which are like Asian pockets; a hibachi wrap on flat bread."
This year fans of the Myrtle Beach Seahawks will get to enjoy Jimmyz dinners, because Jimmy is bringing his mobile unit to the home games. They can also take pleasure in his ecologically-friendly food containers that are reusable, microwavable and made in the U.S.A.
Jimmyz Original Hibachi House is at 6108 N. Kings Highway, and the number is (843) 839-8008. They're open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily in the dining room, and the drive-through is open an extra hour until 11 p.m.
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