Johnny's West Adams

Ok,this place has been reviewed to death so I’ll just chime in with a few thoughts of my own.

Had Johnny’s as part of a Tripp’s Burger bang x2.

This was definitely not Jewish food. It was a smoked brisket place with a slight “ode to Jewish dishes” on the menu. Kind of like if I took over a Tex-Mex place and made cornbread with a hole in it and called it my Tex-Mex Bagel.

PASTRAMI

First the pastrami. My wife could not get past it not being a Jewish-style pastrami, coming from Miami and then New York (she did like the potato salad :yum:). But for me, I just looked at it is a really good smoked brisket sandwich. I liked the bread. I happen to like crunchy crusted bread like that. Again, completely not pastrami. So smokey, you wouldn’t know there’s pastrami seasoning on it and that it’s brined except for the black pepper and color of the meat. If you eat it and accept it just as it is, no expectations or comparisons, it’s delicious!


PASTRAMI RUEBEN

I don’t think I liked it as much as the pastrami with just mustard. It was dripping with Russian dressing, which was ok but even with the kraut and cheese it tasted too much like it was trying NOT to be a smoked brisket sandwich which really was what it was.


(What they call a) KNISH

The knish was NOT a knish. It was more like a stuffed croissant. @TheCookie may be more accurate comparing this to pot pie crust. Flaky puff pastry is definitely not anything I’ve ever had as a knish. That’s not to say I didn’t like it. It was very tasty, surprisingly moist filling. I personally couldn’t taste any of the pastrami or the sauerkraut, just potato. but the pastry was so light that I really enjoyed it. I didn’t bother with the gravy. Plain.


BURNT ENDS

My favorite thing at Johnny’s: BURNT ENDS!! Dipped in the whole grain mustard. $7. I’d be fine with just this. Juicy, heavily smoked, tender. The fat was really really terrific.


DRINKS WITH LAWN TRIMMINGS

The house soda shrub drink was tasty. Like someone cut their hedges and put it in an agua fresca. F—- paper straws. Less then 3 minutes in, it was completely collapsed and useless.


SOFT-SERVE S’MORES

Kid got the soft serve s’mores. Chocolate soft serve, cookies, chocolate sauce, torched fresh marshmallow. He loved it.

Got a Green goddess salad for wifey to take to work tomorrow. I’d have taken a photo but the kid threw it out with the garbage :man_facepalming:

BTW, two hours later and several blasts of hand sanitizer and several handwashings and my hands STILL smell like they were in a smoker.

I would go back for sure. But not for when I crave pastrami. But when I want BBQ.

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