Frank's Steak House

[plumtreeblossom]

beowabbit and I ate sooo well last night. Now we know where Camberville's Old Guard goes for their steaks, chops and martinis.

Last week we wandered into Frank's Steak House on a quest for grilled flesh for the Meatasaurus Wabbitus. They were too busy to seat us without a long wait, so we made a date to come back and try it, this time with a reservation. It's on Mass Ave., in that stretch right behind Davis Square.

So glad we did. This is one of those old-school dinner institutions that is completely off the Davis-Porter hipster map. In the lobby are framed, autographed pictures of famous people who have eaten there, few appearing to date from less than 25 years ago (I think the wall filled up around 1980). The clientele was primarily long-time resident types, pre-senior and up, and we got the feeling that a lot of them probably come here as a weekly ritual. Nice jazz, nice booth, nice older waitress who said she likes working there so much that she drives all the way in from Reading (I think it was Reading. I'd had some wine.)

The steaks were tasty and inexpensive. We both had filet mignon with tarragon butter (mine petite, his full). Nothing fancy or off-beat, just plain good steak. The garlic cheese bread we had at the beginning was perhaps the best I've ever eaten. Salad and potatoes came with our meals (his was less that $20, mine was less than $10). The portions weren't hulking and wasteful, which I really appreciate. It was the amount of food a person might have been served in, say, the 1970s. Even with 4 cocktails on our tab, the bill was very reasonable. (My gallant sweetie treated me as a surprise. :-))

If you like simple, old-school dining in a semi-casual atmosphere (not dress-up-y per se, but don't bring your kids in their wet bathing suits), give this nice old place a try.

Comments

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that sounds more like what I've experienced the two times I've been there. For a similar, but in my opinion, much better steak, I'd recommend Jimmy's, up Mass Ave in Arlington. But these days we usually go to Outback, mostly because we love their salads.

[beowabbit]

Ooh! I’d forgotten that place. Noisy, but fun, and the food was good! I used to go there pretty often when I lived in Malden.

[ron_newman]

Where is 'Outback' ?

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

There are several around. We usually go either to the one in the mall at Wellington Circle in Medford, or out to the one on Rte. 3 in Burlington, depending on which direction we're heading before or after.

The funniest one we've ever been to was in Lisbon, Portugal, where they weren't actually serving steak, because HQ had deemed the meat they had been getting not up to company standards and they had yet to work out a new supplier. The salads were still good, though!

[moonshadow.livejournal.com]

I like Jimmy's food better, but I generally find them to be pretty noisy and crowded and sometimes not great about stuff like food allergies. So in my opinion, they kind of balance each other out.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I can't speak to allergies, but the trick for the crowded/noisy is to go after 8pm. Their clientele tend toward the senior citizens, who are a much earlier crowd.

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

i went to jimmy's once and loved the food -- i had (? was a bit ago) grilled or sauteed scallops, which were fabulous, and teriyaki steak, which was also fabulous. i'm not sure why we haven't been back again, yet. hmmm. (sorry to hear about the food allergies!)