Hi,

I was at Frank's Diner around 10 AM on Saturday. For the summer, they have outdoor seating. We were seated inside after less than a 10 minutes wait. Due to the small grill space and high demand, this is not a quick in-and-out place. We didn't leave until after 11 AM.

We were there for breakfast, though our order was a bit weird. We began with a bowl of Hungarian mushroom soup followed by biscuits and gravy. We shared a dried cherry-walnut pancake and a 1/2 pound blue cheese stuffed hand formed hamburger cooked to medium rare. We contemplated having their banana cream pie, then decided there was no room. Everything was very well done and worth the effort to get there.

When I have time later, I will insert the images of our food selections.

To complete the day, we bumped to ChicagoStyleDog at Stein's garden center in Kenosha. He offered us a hot dog that we declined because we were still digesting our meal from Frank's.

Regards,

WOW! Cathy2, you have just about starved me to death now. I have became almost vegan in the past few months trying to reduce a tad and I would die for a No make that every thing on Franks menu.

Thank you ( I think) for the descriptive post.

A volunteer assignment took me to the Kenosha Senior Center on election day. After the mid-morning rush, the head inspector drew me a map and I took off for Frank's.



The locals next to me were discussing Gene and Jude's.

Thanks, LTH! And thanks especially for the warning that half a garbage plate would be plenty!

For all of the laudatory write-ups about the terrific food at Frank's, little mention is made of how much fun it is to eat there. The informal, clubby atmosphere works well and everyone at Frank's seems to be having a good time. Very infectious.

We were a three-generational party of eight with a reservation at noon on Sunday. We were late arriving, so we called ahead. They were great on the phone, alerting us to the fact that they close the doors at 12:30, but very friendly about it. Everyone who was involved with taking our orders and bringing the food was a hoot -- including the Sarah Palin look-alike in drag.

Well worth the trip. Frank's would truly be worthy of a GNR nomination if it weren't the wrong neighborhood.

jimwdavis wrote:Frank's would truly be worthy of a GNR nomination if it weren't the wrong neighborhood.

Frank's is definitely in the neighborhood if you consider it is closer than Ron's Cajun Connection and we already have an out of state GNR in Stop 50 on the Indiana/Michigan border.

Regards,

jimwdavis wrote:For all of the laudatory write-ups about the terrific food at Frank's, little mention is made of how much fun it is to eat there. The informal, clubby atmosphere works well and everyone at Frank's seems to be having a good time. Very infectious.

So true! As a single at the counter, I quickly got into animated conversations with the single on my left and the foursome on my right.

I do want to warn, though, as they do on the menu, that it's not the place for a quick stop. Because of the small grill, and the care with which they cook everything, it probably took at least half an hour for my food to come. For example, they don't have pre-cooked bacon ready to add to the garbage plate. They start from scratch, cooking the potatoes in one spot and the bacon in another, and then assemble as things get cooked. With three skillets for omelets and other eggs, they can maybe work on 8 or 9 orders at once, max--fewer if all the orders are for pancakes or garbage plates. If it takes them ten minutes to cook a garbage plate, and there are 40 people in the place, you can see how they can get backed up.

I also failed to note how it tasted. Great!

My girlfriend and I went to Frank's on a sunday morning about an hour after they opened. I knew from LTH how busy they normally were so I was expecting that. I was suprised that they just had a booth open up not even 2 seconds after we entered.

I have to admit that I loved the atmosphere. Being a person that always wanted to own a diner, it was exactly what I pictured in my minds eye what mine would be.

I ordered a pepper jack and corned beef hash omelet with a half order of biscuits and gravy. The GF had an omelet as well. We both had coffee.

Just before the orders arrived the waiter told us that B&G wasnt started yet, apologized, and asked us if we still wanted it. I figured why not.

The order arrived (B&G arrived 4 minutes later) and everything looked good.

...then we tried it.

The omelets and the hashbrowns (nice and crispy) were kinda bland and were lacklustered. The gravy for the B&G seemed like they made a white gravy and just threw in pieces of sausage into it, extremely bland and had to doctor it up with alot of pepper. The biscuit was excellent though.

All in all, I was kinda disappointed. But Im always one for second chances and will go back for another round, figuring that they were just having an off day. They had on special an andouille (sp) garbage plate that, if they have it again, I will definately try.

P.S. I have to say that its cool that they have Spam as a meat option. I love Spam and not afraid to say it and its nice to see the Frank's isn't either.

Happened to be up near Kenosha, though near closing time.. but called in and stopped by Frank's and picked up a Garbage Plate to go (they stop taking orders at 1:30, I called in before that but picked up only a few minutes before 2:00, their official closing time). Was very good, as usual (and their home-made bread/toast is particularly very good).

But what I wanted to mention especially - wanted to also pick up some dessert to go. They had their homemade cinnamon-rolls.. Iam not a huge cinnamon-roll fan usually, but I remember they had good ones. Still, I asked the grill-guy if they had anything else. He said he did, he had his Jackson-Pollock-homage brownie... but I decided to get it anyway (especially when he told me he had made it a few hours ago, it was sort of a big blondie with some nuts and chocolate etc).

Wasnt crazily-hungry, but headed off and sat in the car in the parking lot by the lake (only about a half-block away), and made a large dent in the Garbage Plate, saving room for a bite or so of the blondie/brownie concoction at the end.

And ended up eating it (monstrously large thing too, a 4inch by 6 inch rectangular thingy, couple inches thick), and then promptly stopped at Frank's again (this time at about 2:15, past closing time) and asked if they had any left. They had one more, and so I picked that one up as well

It was really quite excellently good. Sort of a blondie-base to it, nuts, brownie stuff, chocolate, drizzled with more chocolate on top...like a Jackson Pollock painting I guess. Really very very very good.

Id like to heartily (and strongly) recommend this to any and all LTH-ers... but I dont suppose I can, since it isnt likely to be around much, or even often. However, the way I understand it, this is what Frank's does with their "desserts"... they have fresh, home-made, freshly-frosted Cinnamon Rolls every day. And they also have *one other dessert* every day... which the grill-guy makes that morning, depending on his mood (he said lately he's been in a coconut mood, so the past week or two had been heavily coconut-laden-creations, for example). That morning he was thinking of Jackson Pollock, and so decided to make his "homage" to him.. this blondie/brownie/chocolaty sensation.

So... after all that, I suppose my recommendation is this. First, go to Frank's. Second, when you go to Frank's, get their Garbage Plate (or one of the other things that are so good, there are a few.. next time I want to get some meat/egg/cheese concoction on bread, since their bread is so excellent). But save room for dessert, or take dessert to go... and (here is the most important recommentation of all)... ask them what they have for dessert in addition to their cinnamon rolls, ie the dessert that isnt on the menu. Ask what the grillman's inspiration was that day, and ask him to describe what he made... and if it sounds at all appealing, order it. You will likely not regret it (well, not until you step on the weighing scale the next day

c8w

Hi,

There is always something one must be clued into to get. I very much appreciate learning the dessert option at Frank's.

Thank you!

Regards,

jimwdavis wrote:For all of the laudatory write-ups about the terrific food at Frank's, little mention is made of how much fun it is to eat there.

Nice people, friendly, we immediately got into a pleasant conversation with the people sitting next to us.

I liked the garbage plate, though next time its a burger on the well worn griddle for me. A half portion was more, much more, than enough.

Frank's Diner



Garbage Plate, one half portion. Red toothpick signifies extra jalapeno.



I tapped out after 20-minutes, did not seem to make a dent.



Counter section and grill. There are booths on the side and tables in the rear.



Franks is a fun place with tasty fare, will be back for a burger and crisp hash browns.

Enjoy,
Gary

Frank's Diner
508 58th Street
Kenosha, WI 53140
262-657-1017

great pics gary, this is a fun place.
i will be back for other items , though the breakfast is very good

Hi,

I have a feeling you guys didn't have any wait for a seat. It is a friendly sardine can on weekends.

I am always impressed by the volume of food produced on that griddle. There are far larger ones that are not as well utilized as that little one.

Have you tried the Coffee Cup nearby? It is busy, though not as crazy as Frank's. The owners are former Frank's employees. Two wonderful diners less than a mile apart, Kenosha residents can consider themselves quite fortunate.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I have a feeling you guys didn't have any wait for a seat. It is a friendly sardine can on weekends.

We were there around 10am, did not have to wait for a seat. I imagine the place is nuts during prime hours and on the weekend.

I Finally got a chance to check out Frank's Diner over the holiday weekend. We waited about 30 mins or so to be seated, which wasn't too bad. The line went pretty quickly and it helped that the fellow diners waiting in front & behind us were friendly to carry some good conversation. The garbage plate was wonderful! I especially liked their homemade bread. It helped to know what to expect before coming here in terms of wait times (to be seated and also to be served). Thankfully we were in no rush and enjoyed venturing out to this part of Kenosha.