Hot Johnnie’s — a quick-service restaurant inspired by New York’s famed pastrami sandwiches — is on track to open July 2021 in the Castro, at 4077 18th Street.
The space is the former home of Nizario’s Pizza, and Hot Johnnie’s owner and chef Jonathan Young has also bought up the vacant storefront at 4079 18th Street, formerly Dashing Sole, to use as a storage and retail area, where he’ll sell restaurant merchandise (including picnic blankets, to be used with the pastrami picnic basket on the restaurant’s menu).
“It’s going to be really extra,” says Young, who sold his pastrami to friends during San Francisco’s shelter-in-place order, and is excited to now take his ideas to the next level.
Young first decided to open Hot Johnnie’s — named for Young’s late father, who taught him how to cook — after noticing that, in comparison to the long-hailed pastrami delis of New York City, the west coast was serving up mostly pre-packaged cold cuts.
“Pastrami was never in the forefront of my mind as my first restaurant concept,” said Young in conversation with Hoodline. But once the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, the chef pivoted from a contemporary American full-service concept to, well, pastrami. An admirable pivot, if you ask us.
And it looks like the San Francisco native is going to do right by all of the city’s New York transplants. Reportedly, all pastrami will be brined, cured, and smoked in house, and the menu will feature not only pastrami sandwiches, but unique takes on pastrami hash, benedict, and a special dish Young calls “pastrami fried chicken.”
Hot Johnnie’s is currently under construction at 4077 18th Street, and will move onto phase 2 at 4079 18th Street shortly. Check out the progress on Instagram.
