Johnny's on Marion Restaurant

Johnny's on Marion Restaurant
382 Marion St
R2H 0V5
204-237-6219

http://www.johnnymarion.com/menu.html

February, 2021

I live in south St Boniface, which means I drive on Marion a lot.  Quite often, I feel like a local burger so Dairi-Wip immediately comes to mind, and if you ask anyone from St B, they know exactly where that is.  Sadly, it'd be difficult to balance which is worse, the food or the attitude of the owner; thus, I'll never stop there again.  Looking for an alternative, I have overlooked time-and-time again Johnny's, sitting almost perfectly across the street from Wip.  

 

All burgers come with chilli, mustard, onions and pickles; typical with Winnipeg local jargon, the Fatboy adds shredded lettuce.  I mention this often but I've yet to get an answer:  how is it you take a burger loaded with meat and chilli, then add lettuce with literally next to no calories (and sometimes a slice of tomato), and it becomes a "fatboy?"  It doesn't make sense to me. 

What does make sense is upgrading your burger to a fatboy.  I love having some vegetables in my burger.  It cuts through the (often) fatty patty, adds moisture, and gives texture to the package.  Like most foods, variety adds dimensions.

Lingo-wise, Johnny's platter includes fries and coleslaw.  The Marion Burger (what you see below) is a double-fatboy, and the Meech Burger is a triple-fatboy.  For me, the double packs enough of a punch.  The bun (as you can see) comes fresh and pristine-looking, despite the travel home in a Styrofoam container.  I'm glad to see this.  A lot of take-home burgers find the bun becomes a soggy mop, especially when wrapped in foil paper.  Yes, a great burger often entails messy hands (and sometimes messy face), but I would rather get messy while biting it, not grabbing it.

The huge bun doesn't hide a tiny patty.  It's quite the opposite--the thick patty matches the size of the bun, meaning that this is a substantial sandwich.  Even though Johnny doesn't say (and I don't measure), I'd bet this patty weighs in at least a third-pound--keep that in mind when you order.

The subtle but fitting chilli adds life to the burger, while the lettuce extends a crunchy texture.  As you can see in the photo, the lettuce glows with fresh greenness.  

The fries also taste crunchy/crispy on the edges.  The generous amount isn't greasy at all, fried golden brown, just how you like it.  The patty comes nicely fried, seared on the outside and well done without being dry in the middle.

As you can see from the aerial view, they don't hold back on the fries; this container should provide enough food for most eaters.  If you're like me and you prefer to go heavier on the vegetables and lighter on the starch, well, you're out of luck.  You only get a bite of slaw--what you get tastes rich and crunchy.  I just wish for more.

If you're seriously cutting back on the carbs, you can order the burger sans bun.  Here you can see what it looks like without the mask and dressing.  

With no shortage of dressing, the Manhattan Platter comes with an enormous sandwich, with tons of goodness stuffed within the pieces of bread.

All of the meat tastes flavourful, smothered in the combo of HP Sauce and gravy.  Big slices of beef means that every bite has protein.  They cook the vegetables just right, al dente and fresh.  Although the sandwich oozes with sauce, there's isn't enough leftover to sop with the fries.  Being a sauce freak, I would order extra gravy to go on the potatoes.

The Reuben also comes with lots of shaved beef, generous oozy good cheese, and just enough sauerkraut to accent the flavour.  Thousand island dressing has become a standard for the Reuben, but I'm not sure it needs it.  The trio of corned beef, sauerkraut and cheese already blend well together, and the 1000 just seems like an intruder to me.  Sadly, they don't offer the choice of using Russian dressing, the perfect partner.

Dinner Entrees come with garlic bread, soup or salad, and starch.  Starting with the toast--well toast is toast, so I won't spend a lot of time on it.  Nicely charred and buttered, but I resist having more than one bite, seeing the size of my plate.

The soup, minestrone, tastes entirely homemade.  The rich and deep broth tastes like the essence of mirepoix, slow boiled for hours.  Big chunks of vegetables swim in this soup, some soft and some retaining a bit of a crunch.

Jumping off a bit, Johnny's started as a mom and pop place in 1977, opened by John and Georgia.  Both have moved to the kitchen in the sky but the place now continues in the capable hands of the three sons.

Even though it's a generation removed, the boys continue the menu of yesteryear.  From the plain toast to the ubiquitous minestrone soup special, everything looks as it did a half-century ago.  

The main, Veal Cutlet, tastes exactly like you expect it to, tried, true, standard, unsurprising but solid in every way.  Sorry you can't see it here, smothered under the heaping mass of starch.

As with veal from almost every vintage restaurant, the meat comes thin and lightly breaded.  Being thin, it's almost inevitably overcooked, and it is, but the abundance of cheese makes up for any dryness.  

The spaghetti is also the spaghetti of the past, overcooked by today's standards but fulfilling the expectations of the past.  Yesteryear's diners wanted their pastas cooked through, soft and melt-in-your-mouth.  A pasta revolution occurred somewhere in the early 2000s, when the population suddenly wanted their pasta with a chew on it (to the tooth, as they say).  Most of the modern, cutting-edge restaurants will serve al dente pasta, while most of the mom and pops will serve pasta well done.

The wine mushroom sauce tastes suspiciously like the chilli you find on the burger!  It's not bad--don't get me wrong, but chilli powder as the leading spice isn't what you're used to on spaghetti.  Even the sauce's tomato flavour lies submerged below the flavours of the spices and the meat.  Yes, if you like meat, you certainly won't be disappointed by the amount of protein on this sauce.  I would like to see a few more mushrooms but otherwise, this is a fun meal that brings back memories.

Everything from Johnny's on Marion tastes superb.  Right now, during the COVID era where it's all take out, you get to watch the three brothers interact in the kitchen while preparing your meal to go.  You can tell right away they enjoy what they do, and you sure appreciate it in the quality of the food.  If you're anywhere near Marion, ditch the Dairy Wip attitude, and come into Johnny's for a better burger, larger menu, spacious dining room, and owners who are the opposite of rude.

Good food to you!

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Ray Yuen, Pit Master / Grill Master
Certified Kansas City Barbecue Society Judge – Badge #97736
Certified Steak Cook-off Association Judge – Badge #7788
Canadian Barbecue Society Member