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After weeks of planning and rescheduling, my neighbors Alberta and Derick, Edward and I were finally going out to dinner.
Alberta did her undergraduate work at the University of Virginia and earned her law degree at Howard University. Derick graduated from Penn State with a business degree. One day Derick arrived home from work and announced he was going to become a Baptist minister. His wife did not bat an eye.
I recalled Stephen Starr opened another restaurant about two months ago. Aptly named Frankford Hall, it is located in Fishtown and is an American facsimile of a German beer garden. This intrigued me. My grandparents came from Vienna and I grew up on Austrian/Hungarian food.
Frankford Hall is Starr’s most casual restaurant to date. It is so casual that you place your order in a window in the outdoor garden, pay for it and a server will bring your food to you. The window is in front of the kitchen and I sympathized with the woman and the cooks who had to bear with the horrendous heat and humidity.
We elected to eat indoors in the coolest area of the restaurant which appears to be fashioned from an old warehouse. It has looming high ceilings, the original weathered brick walls and a big heavy fire door at the end of the room. Alberta and I found the long highly-polished wood benches to be most uncomfortable. I kept banging my ankle each time I had to get up. The matching long tables, however, were pretty.
The food is served in flimsy, small red and white paper containers. The sour cream sauce on the cucumber salad leaked through. It was difficult to cut chicken schnitzel on paper using plastic knives and forks. That said, dinner was most tasty.
I know little about German beer. I told the bartender I like Victory Summer Love, so he suggested Franziskaner Hefeweizen ($6.50) which was similar in taste to Victory but a little bitter. Edward tried Köstritzer Schwartzbier ($6.50) while our friends enjoyed Hank’s root beer.
Potato pancakes ($6) were dreamy latkes made from grated potatoes and fried to a crisp, golden brown. They arrived, piping hot, with applesauce and sour cream.
The spatzle ($8) were outstanding. One bite and I was transported to my grandmother’s kitchen where I watched her make the egg dough by hand. We ordered these creamy little pillows of dough with bacon. My grandmother would have had a fit, but we all agreed that the crisp, slightly salted bits of bacon put this dish over the top.
Cucumber salad is a favorite. Frankford Hall’s version ($5) is dressed in runny sour cream laced with fragrant dill and includes sweet red onion. It was cool and refreshing but difficult to eat as the sauce dripped all over the place.
Chicken schnitzel ($12) was as fine as mine. Actually, I make my version with thinly-pounded pieces of turkey breast. At Frankford Hall, the chicken breast was pounded like a paillard, dipped in seasoned crumbs and fried to absolute perfection. I am still dreaming of it, that’s how good it was. It came with a small arugula salad.
There are eight sausages on the bill of fare. You are charged $1 if you want it served on a roll. The woman who took our order recommended the Krakauer ($8), which is made with beef and pork. It imparted a marvelous smoky flavor. You get a choice of either red cabbage or sauerkraut. Since my grandmother made her own, I had to try this cabbage. Oh my, it was delicious. It was slightly sweet and had finely grated carrots mixed with the pickled cabbage.
Kudos to the German potato salad ($4). It was ice cold, studded with celery and perfectly dressed. I have to call and get the recipe.
Alberta and Derick tried the Bratwurst ($6) along with an order of fries ($5). All of us cleaned our plates.
Frankford Hall is not a restaurant I would go to on a regular basis. I am trying to keep my weight down and the potato dishes on the menu should not be a regular part of my diet right now. Still, each dish did not disappoint. Care was taken and the ingredients were fresh and tasty.
Three tips of the toque to Frankford Hall. SPR
Frankford Hall
1210 Frankford Ave.
215-634-3338
http://www.frankfordhall.com
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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