Restaurant Revew: An Evening of Apps at The Franklin Café Southie...

Earlier this year I did a blog post round-up of places to go in South Boston.  One of them was The Franklin Café, a place I dined at a lot when it first opened.  I realized it has now been about eight months since I stopped by so I suggested it to my friends for a quick dinner the other night.

The Franklin hails from the South End where the original, teeny, cozy restaurant has been for years and has always been a local favorite. This location is much larger and more open than its sister.  The menu is creative, modern and has a fun flair.  They also do very inventive cocktails and interesting micro brews.  One of my favorites are the grilled mussels that I just can’t get enough of and I was so happy to see they were still on the menu.  

They have a long bar that runs the length of the restaurant and lends itself to more casual dining alone or with a friend.  As there were three of us we decided that table top dining was our best option so we were seated in one of the comfy booths by the cheeky and funny host.  The restaurant was still relatively quiet on this early Wednesday evening.

I raved so much about the Smoky Skillet Mussels to my friends, Kerry and Stacey, they both gave in to me and agreed to share them for our appetizer.  They did not let me down one bit.  I am not sure what they do to them to make them taste so incredibly flavorful.   Plump and sweet with just the right amount of rock salt and fresh parsley.  Dip them into some clarified butter and you will be in a little bit of mollusk heaven.   They are truly gossip worthy.

Smoky Skillet Mussels -
Warm Clarified Butter, Parsley - $10 

Without realizing we all decided to keep going along the appetizer route instead of choosing entrées.  An appetizer each and a salad to share.

I picked the Salmon Tartare.  Fresh, finely chopped, delectable bites of sushi grade salmon with a sharp citrus bite piled onto salty, crisp taro chips made this appetizer absolutely delicious.  I made a good choice. 

Salmon Tartare -
Taro Chips, Ponzu - $9

Stacey picked the Beef Cheek Tacos.  A surprisingly large appetizer of three tacos which she said were really good.

Beef Cheek Tacos -
Salsa Verde, Sour Cream, Pickled Ramps - $9

Kerry opted for the special of the night of Deconstructed Fish Tacos. A bit of twist on the traditional taco with pan-seared white cod fish atop crispy tortilla strips.  Apparently it was delicious. 

Deconstructed Fish Tacos

Between us we shared an interestingly good Quinoa Salad.   This salad was so different and tasty combining sweet olives, strong feta and bitter arugula.  I was scooping it up to the last grain in the bowl.

Quinoa Salad -
Pine Nuts, Candied Kalamatas, Feta, Arugula - $7

I am so happy the Franklin is still a great local restaurant serving wonderful and reasonably priced dishes.  I have said it many times, it is so great to be living in South Boston right now, especially for us foodies.

The Franklin Café is great for large groups and in the summer they have an outside deck, perfect for the leisurely brunch or summer cocktails and snacks.  Franklin is also perfect for a local date night.  I believe we were observing a "Match" date at the bar and all seemed to be going well.

See a link to this review and many more on "Restaurant Talk"...