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"Opened in 2021, Johnson's restaurant occupies a gorgeously gut-renovated nineteenth-century Tribeca townhouse (notably once cited as the fictional embassy address of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Nutopia) and has evolved from an original plan for two tasting-menu floors into a hybrid: the second floor remains reserved for a tasting menu while the third, ground floors and extensive outdoor seating offer a more casual, vibrant à-la-carte program. The menus shift with the micro-seasons and reliably feature house-made breads—sourdough or a well-oiled focaccia stuffed with leeks and mozzarella and showered in Parmesan with a rich tomato sauce for dipping—an abundance of vegetables and salads highlighting snap peas, snow peas, green peas, and favas, and signature preparations such as a stalwart Shaved Fennel of thin fennel curls hiding plump anchovies and soft blue cheese, dusted with crushed pistachios and fennel pollen. On a recent evening I had a Foie Gras Presse paired with rhubarb three ways (gelée, poached, and marmalade) alongside a pull-apart walnut pain de mie with the fluff of a Parker House roll, and a duck breast with perfectly crisped skin that was set against a pool of Kelly-green garlic-scape sauce and an umami-rich emulsion of farm-produced black garlic cured and cooked at one hundred seventy-six degrees for three weeks. Prices reflect the neighborhood—seven-course tasting menu $188, a highly praised double cheeseburger $30, and market tomatoes around $8 a pound—while à-la-carte items run about $16–$46." - Shauna Lyon