We knew him as Dad. He immigrated from Peru to NYC in his teens and initially did not have plans to join the family restaurant business (his dad, our “Gong-gong”, opened one of the first pollo a la brasa restaurants in NYC in 1973).  Instead, he studied engineering and went on to teach at a city college and also worked for the Parks Dept. (at one point helping to design the penguin exhibit at the Central Park Zoo!).  After facing discrimination in the workplace and realizing that there was a ceiling to working for someone else, he decided to follow in his dad's footsteps and opened his first restaurant and, a few years later, opened a second.  Johnny had dreams of expanding even further throughout the country, however he passed unexpectedly at a young age and never got to actualize his dreams.  Over the years, all of our customers that knew him would tell us the same thing - that Johnny was the greatest friend and he always had a smile on his face.  Johnny's is our homage to our dad and we are excited to serve you the way our dad would have - with a friendly welcome and a warm smile.  

We hope to see you soon!