|
Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 8 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat., 8 a.m.-11 p.m.
Good choices: Penicillin with matzo balls, '50s burger, natural burger, salmon burger, Caesar salad, corned beef hash with eggs, Western omelet, omelette, quesadilla, grilled salmon.
Credit cards: MasterCard and Visa.
Access: Restrooms not accessible.
|
JOHNNY'S LUNCHEONETTE
1105 Massachusetts Ave.,
Cambridge
617-495-0055
Restaurant reviewed 03/25/99 by Sheryl Julian
I went too early, just a couple of weeks after the place opened, mainly because I wanted to see what it looked like. The Johnny's Luncheonette in Cambridge is a nearly perfect replica of a 1950s place, with lots of Formica tables, chrome, big squares of bright-colored linoleum, and roomy booths. There are a dozen of them, some large enough to hold 10 if you all squeeze in. If you knew the '50s the first time around, it'll make you feel young again. There's even a small, low counter at the entrance like luncheonettes used to have.
But this place is still finding its way. Johnny's in Newton Centre, now five years old, is packed from breakfast through dinner; and if you grew up in the neighborhood, you go there to run into your former high school classmates and their kids. And loads of toddlers, who are cute but noisy.
Cambridge is different. The clientele doesn't eat and run,as it does in Newton. And there aren't as many small children. But partners John Furst and Neal Solomon make the same promises: breakfast all day, diner food with updates, and a nice selection of burgers.
The burgers were wonderful, not too large, grilled as ordered. A '50s burger ($5.25), described as coming with "extra napkins to wipe the drippings," was a swell meal, a juicy piece of meat that was tender and full of beef taste, and not too big to manage. The natural burger ($6.50), made with hormone-free beef, was also great, lean, beefy, juicy, and just right. Salmon burger ($6.95) won me right away. A kind of crabcake, this burger was made with freshly flaked salmon and served with a creamy basil mayonnaise.
Penicillin with matzo balls ($3.75 for a bowl; $4.95 for a "shissel," Yiddish for basin) was a warming bowl of rich chicken soup with tender matzo balls that will make anything that ails you better.
The tortilla on the quesadilla ($7.25) was crisp and dry, filled with smooth white bean puree, charred tomato, melted mozzarella, and tender spinach. Homemade corned beef hash with eggs was a little greasy, but boldly flavored with spicy meat and pepper. The eggs, ordered over but lightly cooked, were beautiful. A Western omelette ($5.95) was loaded with ham and peppers, not terribly fluffy but not too dry either.
The home fries on both egg dishes were hard however, and the French fries with the burgers too greasy. When we ordered sweet potato fries as an appetizer ($3.50), a large plate of broken fries arrived. Yet the sweet potatoes with one of the burgers were long, intact, and good (not great) - and not nearly as terrific as they are in Newton Centre.
So something's up with the oil, because the fish and chips ($8.95) were too greasy to eat, though the fish, one piece curled on the plate, looked luscious. Grilled salmon on a bed of greens with roasted peppers ($8.95) was overcooked on one visit. But on a return visit, we asked for it to be slightly undercooked and it was perfect.
So they're listening. And when the little things get straightened out, the wall of booths, which feel quite private, will be jammed all day. The wait staff is friendly, though one night a waiter introduced himself by name, which is neither '50s nor '90s (he'll figure that out). Portions are mostly too large to finish.
But we ordered the blueberry pie and asked if it could be heated. Someone put it into the microwave so it came to us looking like a sad puddle. We were too full anyway.
Tips & hits
