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Type: American
Hours: Mon.-Wed. 4-10 p.m.; Thurs 3:30-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 3:30-10:30 p.m. Sun. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Good choices: Fried onion loaf, petite filet mignon, junior NY sirloin, veal parmigiana.
Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diner's Club.
Access: Main floor entrance; restrooms wheelchair-accessible.
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FRANK'S STEAK HOUSE
2310 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
(617) 661-0666
Restaurant reviewed 06/12/98 by Linda Matchan
Once in a while a lady gets tired of all those mesclun greens and sun-dried dishes and angel hair. Sometimes a gal just needs to sink her teeth into a steak. Unfortunately, locating a steak is not as easy as it used to be. There was a time when steak houses - with their universalized accoutrements like oval wooden steak plates and glazed onion soup crocks - were almost as common as pizza joints. But with concern about meat diets and high cholesterol levels, they're less politically correct and less common these days.
``In the '70s, people thought it was a bad idea to open a steak house,'' says George Ravanis, who runs the family-owned Frank's Steak House with his brother, Bill.
So there will always be a place in my heart for restaurants like old-fashioned Frank's, which quirkily claims to be Boston's Oldest Steak House (established 1938), even though it's in Cambridge, and even though there was never a Frank in the picture.
There's a lot about the place that's quirky. There is the menu that exudes personality, full of exclamations like ``Whole mushrooms sauteed in butter served in a crock!'' and ``We are sorry, but we do not accept personal checks!''
And there are the illogical rules of service. On a visit to the restaurant on a Monday, we ordered a bowl of clam chowder but were told it was served only on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. We tried to order one of Frank's ``Famous $7.95 Specials'' on Memorial Day - you can choose from shrimp scampi, London broil, chicken, or roast - but were informed it wasn't available on holidays. Don't bother asking for regular prime rib on Monday or Tuesday, either. You have to wait until Wednesday.
Despite these idiosyncrasies, it's hard not to like Frank's Steak House, even on days like Memorial Day - when the restaurant seemed understaffed and the service was very slow. The waitresses are friendly (they call you ``dear'' and ``honey'') and deal with you straight-on. ``Did I forget your straw?'' ours apologized to one of us. ``Throw something at me, please.''
The restaurant is a favorite among seniors who dine early and younger people who drop in late at the piano bar Wednesdays through Saturdays. Frank's is comfortably furnished with large tables and tastefully upholstered booths, skylights, and ceiling fans. Fancy new china has been ordered, so ``the people from the Lexingtons, from the Winchesters, they don't feel like they are in a diner-type place,'' says George Ravanis. ``They feel like they're in a place uptown.''
The meals, overall, are very appealing, if a bit uneven in the appetizer department. We loved the small hot loaves of bread that precede the meal, and the unusual fried onion loaf ($4.95), a concoction of onion rings deep-fried in the shape of a loaf the size of a small shoebox. (It was a bit difficult to eat, however: Do you attack it with a knife or a chisel?) The garlic bread ($1.95) was tasty, though served on the cold side; and the Buffalo wings ($4.95) were on the spicy side of mild. We thought $3.95 was a lot to charge for a plate of five mozzarella sticks.
The house salad ($2.25), which on one visit was prepared with wilted iceberg lettuce, was too small, served, perhaps fittingly, in one of those tiny parquet wooden salad bowls circa 1950s, the sort now seen only at yard sales. We were more impressed with the $3.95 cucumber salad, a whole cucumber (15 slices, reassembled) garnished with fresh mint leaves.
The menu may not be imaginative but it's perfectly adequate for a restaurant that is content to be a steak house, and you do get a lot for your money. Even filet mignon is not beyond the budget of a cheap eater: a 5-6 ounce ``petite filet'' can be had for $8.95 (although only Wednesday through Sunday) with all the trimmings, and ours was tender and full of flavor. We sampled a ``junior New York sirloin,'' a 9-ounce boneless piece of meat for $9.95, that was done just right. The platter-full of London broil ($8.95) was tender and filling; the chicken teriyaki was a substantial, tasty piece of poultry for $8.95. You can't go wrong either with veal parmigiana, at $10.95; the portion of veal was huge, and blanketed with creamy cheese. We got a second meal out it of the next day.
Burgers ($5.50-$7.95) are also available at Frank's, and the substantial children's menu ($4.95- $7.95) includes scrod and sirloin steak. The dessert menu offers a variety of sweets, all priced at $3.95.
Tips & hits
