March 2018 Issue #15 March 2018 Issue #15, 4GUYS | Page 22

Yellowing press clippings are posted to one wall; one, dated 2003, po- sitions this place second-best in the city, out-shined only by Lick’s (ha, how Toronto’s burger landscape has changed). Another clipping (2006) ranks Johnny’s ahead of Apache Burger in the west end. Amusingly, the most recent thing on the wall is a stark white pest control certificate. . The familiar takeout counter is remarkably well-preserved. The backlit menu board bills hamburgers ($3.05), cheeseburgers ($3.50), cheese dogs ($2.85); steak ($6.30), veal ($3.40) or fish ($3.80) on a kaiser; milkshakes, fountain sodas and sides of fries ($2) and onion rings ($2.10). It smells good inside - meat on a charcoal grill always does. The counter is well-manned and service is efficient. I order up one burger and fries, one veal on a kaiser and onion rings. Toppings are applied to order and include a line-up of standards; relish, mustard, ketchup, tomatoes, pickles and on- ions, both raw and sautĂŠed. There’s no lettuce, but that’s always been their thing. The whole order is packed into a bag. The cute cardboard boxes are gone, and since seating is scarce and it’s too cold to sit on the curb (the picnic tables are long gone), we take the whole thing to go, as everyone else must do, too. The steam rising out of the bag smells awesome, and everything about this burger experience is promising - rght up until the first bite. 22