By Scott Cronick
Anyone who has ever eaten Chef Kevin Cronin’s food knows that he is not just a great chef, he’s an extraordinary one.
His passion to not only present great cuisine, but to elevate it and shape it in his style is what makes him special.
Whether he worked behind the scenes at The Tuckahoe Inn offering comfort seafood at the shore, redefining the gastropub scene in Atlantic City at The Iron Room, or showing that he can make simple Italian food stand out at Rhythm & Spirits, a meal from Kevin Cronin is a memorable one.
But, behind every good chef there is generally a great person, someone who influenced that creativeness and motivates that chef to be who they are on a daily basis.
In Cronin’s case, it was his grandmother Mimi.
So, when he was recently tapped to open his own breakfast and lunch spot in Atlantic City, he didn’t hesitate to name it Mimi’s Café.
And once you eat at the small takeout spot in a parking lot across from the Atlantic City Courthouse, you will realize he has done his grandma proud.
Who is Mimi?
Cronin’s fondest memories of his grandmother aren’t too different from most of us who remember having some of the best meals of our lives in our grandmothers’ kitchens.
“I would sneak in there to see what she was doing, and she would always show me what she was making and how she made them,” said Cronin, who opened Mimi’s Café in alliance with the Cooper Levenson law firm next to where Mimi’s is located. “Her entire life she was in charge of feeding everyone, especially around the holidays. I even lived with her for a while, and I was next to her when she died, and she was the one who pushed me.”
While anyone who ate Cronin’s cooking probably told him he should pursue being a chef, it was Mimi who got in his head.
“She told me, ‘You don’t really seem to care about anything else except cooking and eating, so why don’t you become a chef?’,” Cronin said with a laugh. “And I said, ‘Yeah, maybe.’”
While Mimi never got to see Cronin rise through the culinary world and name a restaurant after her, she did get to eat his cooking and was one of his biggest fans.
“She used to love when I made pork chops because I made them restaurant-style, so you sear them off in a pan and then finish them off in an oven,” Cronin said. “I know it’s nothing crazy, but she just loved that.”
Cronin remembers her making “really good meatballs for not being Italian,” and despite being Scots-Irish, she learned to make Polish and Ukrainian food because of her husband’s nationality, whipping up awesome pierogi and halupki (stuffed cabbage).
“But the thing I remember the most was this crazy tuna cake she made with canned tuna; it was such a ’50s meal,” Cronin remembers. “It was formed with breadcrumbs and egg and whatever else, and she would sear them like a crab cake and then pour condensed mushroom soup over it with green beans. I know it sounds weird, but it was so good!”
Eat at Mimi’s
While you won’t find any canned tuna cakes or pierogi at Mimi’s Café in Atlantic City, you will find Mimi’s inspiration.
“I always had this idea to name something after her, but just didn’t have the opportunity to do it,” Cronin said. “But one thing my grandmother could always make great was a sandwich … all types of sandwiches. So, when Ken Calemmo from Cooper Levenson came to me with this opportunity, naming it Mimi’s seemed perfect. We were going to specialize in sandwiches, so I make them like she did. She always had the perfect amount of mayonnaise and the perfect amount of mustard, and the meat went on the mayo side, and the mustard went on the cheese side with all of the lettuce, tomato and whatever else in the middle. I don’t think she ever made me a bad sandwich.”
And Cronin won’t make you a bad one at Mimi’s, either.
The small breakfast and lunch menu may not have Mimi’s recipes, but the one nostalgic item for Cronin is The Rachel, a deli-style sandwich with turkey, cole slaw, Swiss cheese and house-made Russian dressing on grilled marble rye.
“The Rachel is the thing she would have eaten and loved when she was around,” Cronin said. “We used to get that anytime we went to a deli, and that’s why that’s on there.”
You would think all of the sandwiches on the menu are things Cronin previously would make for himself at home, but that’s not the case.
“The truth is I just came up with this menu and everything on it for this restaurant,” Cronin said. “I would never, for example, make a Rachel at home because I am not eating cole slaw if it’s not on the sandwich, and I am not eating Russian dressing unless it’s on that sandwich, so I would just order that out like everyone else does.”
When you go to Mimi’s, you can’t miss it. The outside of the structure was painted mural-style by local artist Heather Deegan Hires of HeatherArtz with various foods in a bold color palette and features a small structure that doubles as a queue for the restaurant and a spot for the parking attendant. It is attached to the custom kitchen trailer featuring all new equipment hand-picked by Cronin.
“We are there to primarily serve the law office and the courthouse and City Hall employees, but we really want this to be the place where the neighborhood goes for great sandwiches,” Cronin said. “We want to get into the offices and be the place they pick for catering and platters and special breakfast and lunch events. But when someone comes to town, we want to be the place they go to get cool sandwiches that are consistently well made. A lot of places have built a reputation on a certain item or a certain sandwich whether it’s a sub at White House or whatever, and we want to have items that we are known for like that. When people come visit here in the summertime, Mimi’s should be one of their stops for a place to get a great sandwich.”
Cronin is already well on his way to making that happen.
For starters, you will never break the bank at Mimi’s as all breakfast and lunch items range between $9.50 and $14.
For breakfast, check out Mimi’s Little Monster, which lives up to its name thanks to scrambled eggs, sausage, peppers and hashbrowns all chopped up together with melted Cooper sharp and placed on a long roll. It’s as good as it sounds.
Then there’s the basic Breakfast Sando with two fried eggs and choice of bacon, sausage, pork roll or scrapple with Cooper sharp on a brioche; Feta Fried Egg featuring grilled Texas toast with avocado, pesto tomatoes and sunny-up egg for the vegetarian crowd; a Breakfast Burrito with egg whites, onion and tomato, hash browns, sour cream and avocado for a healthier option; Breakfast Tacos with fried eggs, chopped bacon, pickled red onion, cilantro and house ranch on corn tortillas; and a French Toast Platter made with grilled Texas toast served with butter, syrup, hash browns and choice of bacon, sausage or ham.
On the lunch side, The Big Salad offers mixed greens, Romaine hearts, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, red onions, radish and choice of dressing; The S.L.T. brings out that Texas toast for thick-cut scrapple, lettuce, tomato and mayo; the signature Cuban panini could be the sandwich that makes a name for Mimi’s with sliced ham, pulled pork and Swiss; another contender is the Banh Mi(mi) Panini with pork belly, ham, spicy mayo, carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, jalapeno and – with or without – liverwurst (but you only live once so go for it!); and tuna or egg salad sandwiches.
There’s also sides like thick-cut steak fries, side salad, hash browns, cole slaw and chips, plus coffee and soft drinks.
“The menu is approachable, but I think it’s different enough,” Cronin said. “I know who my primary customers are, and I want to serve them the best I can, which means offering pretty much straightforward sandwiches in a great way.”
When Cronin is feeling extra creative, he doles out some pretty awesome specials like a kimchi grilled cheese and a pastrami wrap with cole slaw, mustard, Russian dressing, and Swiss grilled like a burrito so it’s brown and crispy on each side.
“We will always be moving things on and off the menu to keep things seasonal and fun; it’s just who I am,” Cronin said.
Mimi’s future
Cronin says the response has been awesome even though Mimi’s Café has only been open about a month.
“There are no rules here,” Cronin said. “If you want to take it home, take it home. If you want to hang out and eat at the counter, hang out and eat it at the counter if it’s nice outside. We are seeing a lot of repeat customers, and they seem appreciative to have something like this in the neighborhood.”
Cronin, of course, has a vision for Mimi’s and his career. He says he would like to have another crack at an Iron Room-like restaurant where he can create upscale food to fit his cooking personality, but he can also see Mimi’s being anywhere and everywhere.
“As a chef you are never satisfied and always looking for what that next challenge is,” he said. “I would really like to see more of these places and maybe even evolve Mimi’s into a full diner concept. I know the diner culture is dying out there, but I think there’s a way to revitalize it because you are offering food that everyone grew up on and loves, whether it’s meatloaf or fried chicken or a great soup. These are all the things Mimi made me wonderfully when I was growing up, and this is my take on it.”
Mimi’s Café is located at 1124 Arctic Ave., Atlantic City. Hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. Call 609-572-7320.
Scott Cronick is an award-winning journalist who has written about entertainment, food, news and more in South Jersey for nearly three decades. He hosts a daily radio show – “Off The Press with Scott Cronick” – 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays on Newstalk WOND 1400-AM, 92.3-FM, and WONDRadio.com, and he also co-owns Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall in Atlantic City, while working on various projects, including charitable efforts, throughout the area. He can be reached at scronick@comcast.net.
