Bank 2 Night Tuesday night.

In the top picture we have that super pepperoni guy and Fran giving us the congrats gesture with her ice tea. In the bottom picture, Linda is checking out the dining room!

Opening NIght July 11th, 2011

Our very first customer at Italian JIm's Restaurant in Historic Downtown Edmond. Dennis Wheeler and guest!
Also a view of the restaurant and glass blowing studio from outside on opening night.

We Are Open!

Sorry it's been so long since I have posted. I've been pulled so many directions for a long time, I haven't had the time to update my blog. The place is stunning! You should see it! Several people that have come in have said, "It's amazing! It's like it transports us to someplace else like New York, Chicago, San Fransico!" I'll try to get some current pics soon. I can't remember what I did my camera, but when I find it, I will get right on it.

More Progress Pics at the new Edmond Spot!

The first photo is the glass blowing studio. The area behind the concrete block wall is for the cold shop, fabricating shop, and that kind of stuff.

The second photo is looking down the hallway that leads to the the 4 different dining areas. The round metal wall you see is the first dining area that we are calling the "round room".

The third photo is the main entrance to the restaurant. You see more of the round room wall and also an opening that will have a door that will lead from the restaurant directly into the glass blowing studio.

The next 2 photos are taken of the large dining room. You see the circular round booths in front of the "Art Wall". We are extremely excited about the circular booths and the "Art Wall" is tremendous! Each one of the art niches in the wall will house a different genre or "type" of work that we have blown. Each niche has the appropriate amount of lights in it. Each niche has the same number of lights in the bottom as in the top.

"Ascension" Our Largest and Best Project to Date!

We just completed this install Friday night late. The ceiling height was 20' 9". It was a challenge to space all the hanging glass that high up perfectly and not hit any ceiling joists. We are extremely grateful to Shane for his help and expertise! The ladder we were using was 16' tall and barely was tall enough. It got a little spooky holding on to heavy, glass 18' up on a ladder with sweaty arms and threading 1/16" aircraft cable through small hardware and fittings. But hey, .....we're professionals. ;-)

We are so grateful to Richard and Sueellen for choosing our glass to be in their beautiful home!

We call the installation: "Ascension".

Here's a few pics

Some Random Construction Pictures

This is such a HUGE project!! The Edmond Downtown Art Festival is May 6th, 7th, & 8th. We want to be open before then. Is is possible? It is possible!

Progress on our new concept in Edmond

As many of you know by now, we are significantly upscaling our restaurant concept. We have been formerly known for 15 years as Italian Jim's Pizzeria. When we open our new place in Edmond we will be simply known as, "Italian Jim's Restaurant". We are losing the name, "Pizzeria". No, we are not getting rid of our pizza, but we are upscaling our menu and didn't want people to think all we did was pizza. We will be adding a really nice filet mignon, ribeye, salmon, and other signature chef dishes. We are "taking it up a couple of notches!" We will still be "casual" dining, but it's gonna be a really nice place! Things are getting close and it's possible and "preferred" for us to open sometime in April. May is not out of the question, but we want to make it happen in April. Also, we are excited about adding our glass blowing studio to our restaurant. To us, it's a completely natural fit. "Italian-style Art" (For centuries the glass blowing capital of the world had been Murano, Italy) and Italian food. At this point it seems there will be a few limited seats in the dinning room for folks to watch us blow glass from their table while they eat. Also, of course, people will be able to walk right into the studio before or after their meal to watch glass blowing.

We are going to have live and exciting demos of glass blowing and also host special glass events for groups of all sizes. We will be booking special "Romantic" evenings where a gentleman can bring his wife for a special Italian steak dinner (or whatever they want) and then after the exquisite meal, they will have an appointment in the studio with us to watch us create a special something "live" right in front of them and then after it anneals, pick it up and take it home. Business men can bring clients in and have the "experience" of watching something extraordinary created right in front of their clients eyes and then bring it to them later. For the next day or two the client will be highly anticipating the gift thats coming. We will have a video/photo service available eventually and will be able to document the experience on HD DVD to accompany the gift to the client, spouse, or date! Better book your Valentine's Day reservations soon!

I was talking with the owner of one of the major glass blowing supply houses in the United States the other day (I'm pretty sure he told me one time that he's the primary supplier to Mr. Chihuly) and he told me that as far as he knows, there is nothing or nobody in the United States doing what we are doing with the restaurant and art glass studio. We apparently, will be on the cutting edge in our industries!
(Make sure you "click" on the pictures to see a bigger version)
I'm gonna be posting some pictures of "before" and "during". Some will just be "during". Brace yourself, this first set of photos was taken from very close to the same spot. The photo with all the dirt on the floor was taken March 4th, 2011, the other one was taken July 15th, 2010 before we even decided on this property for sure. Then later on, I'll just be posting random shots of different areas in the restaurant/studio. This shot in particular, is taken from the front of the building, in what is now the glass blowing studio. Don't let the booths fool you, they are just hanging out there in the studio until we are ready to put them in the restaurant part. The booths are totally wonderful! Circular booths! Not U-shaped booths! CIRCULAR! Yes, that's right, I think circular is better.

3 New LARGE Redento Raffinatos!

We are thrilled with these new Redento Raffinatos!
We think Janusz would be proud of us!
The Olive and Purple one is 33 1/8" tall, 10" wide, & 6" deep!
The Red and Blue one is 31 3/4" tall, 10 1/4" wide, & 4 1/2" deep.
The Olive and Blue one is 30 7/8" tall, 9 1/4" wide, and 4 1/2" deep.
The photographs are decent, but they really don't do them justice. Much for vivid in person!

COMING SOON! - STAY TUNED FOR AN UPDATE ON THE NEW LOCATION IN EDMOND WITH PICTURES -