Next month, Stoke Newington will gain a burst of Southern California sun with Johnny Boy’s. It’s the latest project by LA-born Julian Denis, the chef-owner behind Hackney’s vegan Chinese restaurant Facing Heaven and nearby dive bar Easy 8, loved for its nightly £1.99 LA-style tacos.
With Johnny Boy’s, Denis – who was born and raised in Southern California to a Portuguese mother and Puerto Rican father – wants to honour the neighbourhood joints he grew up with, which are far from the stereotypical American diner. “As Mexican, Jewish, Greek and Japanese enclaves popped up all over Southern California, so developed a movement of family-run, DIY eateries that became neighbourhood focal points and second homes for many people growing up in these communities, just as they did for me,” Denis said in a statement.
“Greek families made a living cooking Mexican food for their neighbours, and vice versa. Flavours became borderless, blurred, and melded into something greater than the sum of their parts, serving the neighbourhood as a whole and offering something for everyone.”
Often, these eateries were given names like Jim’s to help them to blend in with local Californian culture. Johnny Boy’s is Denis’s take on those venues. It’ll be bright and colourful, with Formica tables and seating boots.
On the menu? Dinner will be served Wednesday to Sunday, with dishes including crab tostada with crab mayo, pea salsa and carrot escabeche; pastrami dip with mustard pickles and consommé; and a Chicken Dinner (fried chicken with mac salad and Hawaiian roll). Drinks lean Mexican, with the likes of the Michelada – a blend of beer, clamato (tomato juice), salsa inglesa and Tapatio hot sauce – and the Carajillo, with mezcal, horchata and cold brew. There’ll be beers like Modelo and PBR, and a short wine list.
It’ll be open for breakfast and lunch on weekends, with a Mexican-inflected All-Day Breakfast, which will include bacon, sausage or chorizo, eggs, tots, beans, cheese and salsa. Naturally, sweet breakfasts will also feature, including French toast with whipped butter and maple syrup, and, in the great American tradition, bottomless filter coffee.
Johnny Boy’s will open at 3 Northwold Road, N16 7HL on July 4.
