Johnny's Hamburgers

Now that the majority of my exams are complete, I'm pleased to be able to update this blog more often with recent food ventures. 

The place I'll be reviewing about today is called Johnny's Hamburgers. Located at the intersection of Victoria Park and Sheppard, this humble burger shop is hard to miss. It's covered in bright orange paint, and has an equally bright orange sign that lights up at night. The whole store is surrounded by nothing but flat and seemingly barren land all waiting to be leased, so it really sticks out like an orange, sore thumb. Since I live relatively close to the area, I happen to pass by the place quite often and would always wonder how it could still possibly be open seeing that all the other stores around it were closed. After eating one of their burgers though, my recurring question was answered. 

C and I had spent the day downtown at Robart's studying for exams...well actually it was just me studying for exams, he was mostly on his mac reading Reddit/Imgur (I think) and keeping me company (♥). Anyhow, when it came to eating time, C knew exactly what he wanted; a Johnny's burger. Apparently he had been craving it ever since he passed by the place on his way home from work, so up we went to go satisfy his burger craving.

Turning into the large cement parking lot, I was shocked to see how many people were inside. There isn't any real sitting areas in the store, only one long wooden bench located along the window pane. The moment you walk in, you are embraced with the deep scent of delicious burgers being fried over charcoal, and a slight feeling of nostalgia. It felt as if you walked into a time portal and walked out into an old-school fast-food burger shop. The menu is located over the counter, and has the same set-up as a fast-food joint, except Johnny's had less pretty pictures to look at. All the staff wore the same uniform; orange polo, royal blue apron, and a white diner hat. I actually found this quite endearing, especially the man who greeted us. He had a husky aura that you'd stereotypically expect of a burger chef.

MOVING ON...I apologize for going off onto tangents! Both C and I wanted something light to eat so we only ordered one cheeseburger and onion rings. The burgers were grilled right in front of us on a simple charcoal grill. Since the place was busy, C and i waited about 10-15minutes before our order was called out. Located on the left side of the restaurant were a couple of bowls that contained condiments and additional burger-luxuries such as tomatoes, chopped onions, pickles, red/yellow peppers... you know, the works. C and I asked the chef to put all of the luxuries (I'm not sure why I call them luxuries...) in, except for the red/yellow peppers, and added both mustard and ketchup. After receiving our meal in a brown paper bag, both C and I walked out to his car, where we sat and ate (hahah I realize how lonely that sounds...but it was fun, really!) 

 Cheeseburger ($TBD..i forgot囧)
This burger was one of the best I've ever eaten...and I'm a really, really, really picky burger-eater. The patty was, to me, the perfect thickness. The meat wasn't at all chewy (like some patties are, particularly 'juicy' ones), and it possessed a very rich and savoury flavor that just kept my taste-buds craving for more. The bun was a little ordinary and had a slight undesirable 'crust-on-sliced-bread' taste, but that's no fault of the restaurant's cooking, but rather their bun-purchasing abilities. Besides the 'dry taste', the bun was what you'd expect for a burger; crispy on the outside, and soft and warm on the inside. Though delicious, the burger was quite difficult to eat since it was slightly too big for our mouths (or at least mine..). Juices were dripping and all the contents were slipping out. But really, there was no one to blame but ourselves for the mess since it was probably the result of our greed to add (almost) all the vegetables offered.Unfortunately,we also ran into the common burger predicament where the bun to patty ratio gets mixed up somewhere along the way and you end up with more bread than patty at the end of the meal (or vice-versa). 
Onion Rings ($2.10)
The onion rings offered at Johnny's were quite scrumptious. Though the rings were served with a heaping helping of hot and rich gravy, the onion rings still managed to maintain their crunch. The onion inside was very sweet, soft, and most importantly, thick, allowing you to actually taste it. None of that burnt and thin crispy-onion business here.The batter of the rings had a slight salty-seasoning. Together with the gravy I found it slightly too salty, but nevertheless very good. I'm even starting to crave for them as I write out this blog... 


Conclusively.  .  . ...

food: 9/10
atmosphere: 7.5/10
service: 9/10 
portion: moderate, a little on the small side
 price: reasonable (<$10)

happy eating!

xoxo,

-A