Frank Way has found success in his newest venture, called simply frank. It opened May 12 on the West Cornwall, Conn., property that was known for many years as the Pink House (although it is now a more subtle shade of cream).
The new eatery is in a barn space/carriage house behind the formerly pink building; its owner is a former New York City “branding” executive whose first food venture was frank.food on Main Street in Kent, Conn.
Previously a creative director for major brands, living in California and New York, Way decided he “wanted to do something with more integrity, something more related to being in Connecticut.” So, when a friend suggested Way open a food shop in Kent, he did.
“I’d never owned a shop like that before,” he said. “But, I was just building a brand, and I’d done that my whole career.”
In 2017, frank.food company opened its doors as a breakfast and lunch place and was a wild and immediate success, with long lines out the door. The restaurant maintained its popularity even as the pandemic closed down other restaurants and put an end to “dining out.” With COVID-19, Way adapted by reducing the size of the staff and by catering gourmet meals.
“We survived the pandemic by reinventing ourselves so did not close as a result of it,” Way said.
“I ended up closing the location after Thanksgiving last November because Kent became an over-saturated market. And that gave me the time to fully focus on getting the restaurant open.”
Moving to West Cornwall
In the time before frank.food closed down, the West Cornwall Development Group had asked Way if he’d like to open a restaurant in West Cornwall. He did and began planning for the new, larger eatery.
But as with all renovations during the pandemic years, there were supply chain interruptions that kept pushing back the date of the restaurant opening.
A particular refrigeration glue from China never seemed to come, for example.
However, Way said, “I just got really patient and focused on building the space and making it beautiful.” All in all, he said, “there were delays, but only for about 3 months.”
When you enter the new frank.food, the space opens to a high vaulted ceiling with a welcoming 3-foot tall “HI” in carved letters. Taxidermy and hooked rugs hang on the whitewashed barn walls. For Way, it’s “very eclectic, homey and bright.”
A walnut tree cut down during construction has been transformed into gorgeous wood tabletops.
“I love the local story,” said Way. “We were able turn a tree we had to lose into something really precious.”
Along with 35 seats around the walnut tables, there are eight bar seats. Outside, on a flagstone patio perched above the Housatonic River, there are an additional 36 seats.
The long-awaited opening proved worth the wait, apparently. “I’m doing probably three full seatings each a night,” Way said. “Which is ridiculous.”
Happily, his staff has risen to the challenge. “I’m taxing my kitchen like nothing else, and they’re really performing well.”
John Carlson is the chef for frank.food. Some of the other staff are new to the restaurant world, and are learning together. But they’ve learned enough to stay open for a Memorial Day brunch that had to end at 1 p.m., when the restaurant ran out of food.
First, there is pizza
So, what’s on the menu? Way said, “We wanted to keep the menu really accessible.”
This starts with a Neapolitan-style pizza program, featuring three $16 pies: the classic margherita with just basil, mozzarella and tomatoes; soppressata with hot honey and oregano; and white pizza with lemon ricotta, asparagus and peas.
One favorite item on the menu is the kale salad ($13), which has had rave reviews.
“It was kind of how I paid my rent in Kent,” Way said of the winning appetizer.
Main course choices include the burger on brioche, made with grass-fed beef from Cornwall’s Hurlburt farm ($19); wild cod and chips ($24); and a buttermilk brined chicken ($24).
To finish, Way keeps his customers on their toes, often switching the dessert menu around. He said, “I’ll make devil’s food cake one week or High Five Pies another.”
Brunch keeps the local burger, adding a French toast casserole, avocado toast, a quiche of the day and an omelet of the day. Way plans to soon add a grain bowl with farro, spinach and a poached egg.
For now the restaurant is only open Thursday through Saturday for dinner; and Saturday and Sunday for lunch. The full future vision is to increase hours, and offer a coffee service, perhaps with a light breakfast or a lunch.
For now, Way is focused on establishing the restaurant’s rhythm and spreading the name.
“I feel it’s important that people understand that ‘frank food’ is not about my name,” Way said. “It’s about what it is to be sincere and honest. My food is honest to goodness food, it’s elevated home cooking.”
frank.food company is open for dinner Thursday through Saturday, 5 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Learn more at www.frankfoodco.com or call 860-248-3250.
Join The Lakeville Journal for a community celebration, featuring local nonprofits and businesses, festive family fun, great food, and engaging activities.
What to Expect:
See you at the Lakeville Journal Street Fair!
If you have any questions, please email streetfair@lakevillejournal.com
Cobbler n’ Cream
5 to 7 p.m.
Freund’s Farm Market & Bakery | 324 Norfolk Rd.
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Cocktail Party
5 to 7 p.m.
Douglas Library | 108 Main St.
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Boot Drive
8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
North Canaan Fire Co. | 4 E. Main St.
3rd Annual Fly-In
8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Triumph Airfield | 547 W. Main St.
Canaan Railroad Station Museum
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
New England Accordion Connection
9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
Canaan Carnival
3 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Berkshire Resilience Brass Band
5 to 8 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
Barbecued Chicken Dinner
5 to 7 p.m.
St. Martin of Tours | 4 Main St.
Canaan Fireman’s parade
6 p.m.
Rosa setigera is a native climbing rose whose simple flowers allow bees to easily collect pollen.
After moving to West Cornwall in 2012, we were given a thoughtful housewarming gift: the 1997 edition of “Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs.” We were told the encyclopedic volume was the definitive gardener’s reference guide — a fact I already knew, having purchased one several months earlier at the recommendation of a gardener I admire.
At the time, we were in the thick of winter invasive removal, and I enjoyed reading and dreaming about the trees and shrubs I could plant to fill in the bare spots where the bittersweet, barberry, multiflora rose and other invasive plants had been.Years later, I purchased the 2011 edition, updated and inclusive of plants for warm climates.
On the cover of the new edition, a quote from Adrian Higgins of The Washington Post boasts, “Michael Dirr is the oracle of ornamental horticulture. I trust his judgements implicitly.”I heartily disagree with Mr. Higgins:I blame this book — and my poor use of it — for some of my worst tree and shrub choices.
I realize some readers might find this declaration inflammatory. The book still occupies a place of high regard among experienced and novice gardeners alike, so please allow me to explain.
In addition to giving the reader his opinion on the aesthetic worthiness of the woody plants included in the book, Mr. Dirr makes good on the book’s title with a review of each species’ hardiness. What makes a tree hardy?It thrives in its intended site, resisting disease with leaves and bark not readily eaten by insects and other critters.
Non-native plants make up the majority of the recommended hardy plants in the book.And here is why:Native trees and shrubs are, by evolution’s design, food source and host to our native fauna — critters large and small. There is no substitute equal to the fauna’s co-evolved flora.A native caterpillar cannot eat a kousa dogwood leaf, as it has not evolved to digest it.Non-native plants seemingly have the advantage if the lens we look through values pristine, uneaten leaves.
In the days when there were sufficient thriving ecosystems to maintain local habitats, a non-native specimen tree here and there was just fine.But where we live in Northwest Connecticut, our woods, meadows, marshes and other natural areas have, for a couple of decades, been severely compromised by invasives that have almost entirely removed the food sources for native insects. It is up to us — now — to plant native plants to save the food chain.Without insects, not only will native animals die, but human food sources will also be at risk.
The security of our food pipeline seems a worthy exchange for some caterpillar-eaten leaves — and to be clear, we’re not talking about non-native infestations such as spongy moth, but rather native caterpillars, which are the singular food source for nesting birds.
My issue is that, in being a trusted source for plant selection, Dirr’s book should give equal — if not prioritized — space to information on ecological impact.For example, it would be good to know when selecting a tree, that a native oak provides food and other ecosystem services to more than 400 native animal species, while a native tulip poplar supports fewer than 30 — though that includes the Eastern tiger swallowtail. Including information on the birds and insects attracted to a given plant would enable reader to weigh these factors in choosing what to grow.But this information is not mentioned at all.
Dirr makes no mention of the role some of these plants have played in the degradation of our natural areas — an omission that is highly relevant, as many of the plants featured in his book are, in fact, invasive culprits. Plants like barberry, porcelain berry and tree of heaven are showcased for consideration alongside native plants without recognition of the devastating infestations they can manifest. Tree of Heaven is now responsible for hosting the spotted lanternfly, which is devastating crops.
Similarly Euonymous alatus (winged euonymous) and Actinidia arguta (hardy kiwi) — two highly invasive plants touted in the book — have been banned or are close to being banned for sale from nurseries in the state of Massachusetts. To his credit, Dirr does point out the invasive nature of Ligustrum sinense (Chinese privet), calling it “a terrible and devastating escapee that terrorizes floodplains, fencerows and even open fields, reducing native vegetation to rubble.” Yet Japanese honeysuckle gets an understated warning, with Dirr describing this massively invasive shrub as “bullying their way into understory and open areas.”
The latest edition of Dirr’s book devotes seven pages of copy and photos to various Berberis species, about which Dirr waxes poetic. He notes the addition of “30 new cultivars” in the latest revision and complains that “this species is under assault for its aggressive invasive nature.” He refers to Berberis thunbergii — Japanese barberry, the most invasive of them all — as “the species of major importance in garden commerce.” This plant has already been outlawed for sale in New York, Pennsylvania, New Hamphsire and Maine.A few weeks ago, a bill was passed in Connecticut recognizing the harm of a broad group of invasive plants. Under this new legislation, barberry will be phased out from sale or transport by October 2028.
In understating the invasive nature of many non-natives and de-prioritizing the importance of native species, Dirr’s widely used reference may be partly responsible for many a devastated woodland, forest, meadow and marsh in New England — if not across the U.S.Certainly, the evolution of species, and scientific knowledge about the environment, is changing faster than new editions of books can be printed. I can only hope that if a new edition of Mr. Dirr’s reference book is in the works that it will account for this criteria we now know to be vital in plant selection.
Which brings me back to that quote on the cover from The Washington Post and the larger issue it suggests:Should “ornamental horticulture” get a pass when it comes to ecological survival?I think we can agree — it should not.The consequences are simply too destructive.
Dee Salomon ‘ungardens’ in Litchfield County.
Foxtrot Farm & Flowers’ historic barn space during UAW’s 2024 exhibition entitled “Unruly Edges.”
Art lovers, mark your calendars. The sixth edition of Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) returns July 17 to 21, with an exciting lineup of exhibitions and events celebrating the cultural vibrancy of the region. Spanning eight counties and over 130 venues, UAW invites residents and visitors alike to explore the Hudson Valley’s thriving creative communities.
Here’s a preview of four must-see exhibitions in the area:
1. Wassaic Project (37 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic)
“So It Goes” is a powerful group exhibition curated by Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino, Jeff Barnett-Winsby, and Will Hutnick. The title, drawn from Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five,” signals a reckoning with how we process the horrors of the world. Through play, reflection, and immersive scale, 43 artists respond with urgency and imagination. Installations can be seen throughout the town of Wassaic at Maxon Mills, Gridley Chapel, and Luther Barn, each space transformed by this deeply thoughtful show.
2. Foxtrot Farm & Flowers (6862 Route 82, Stanfordville)
“Queer Bestiary,” a group show curated by Charlotte Woolf, is inspired by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian’s book “Forest Euphoria.” The exhibition investigates queer ecology and human relationship to land through the work of 10 artists using painting, sculpture, textiles, and photography. The exhibit is accompanied by a variety of interactive experiences including tattoo pop-ups, karaoke, book readings, and pick-your-own flowers.
3. ChaShaMa North/ChaNorth (2600 Route 199, Pine Plains)
ChaShaMa North (ChaNorth) will have open studios all weekend and has partnered with Paradice Palase, a platform for emerging artists, to mount a site-specific sculpture exhibition featuring 20 artists entitled “Alone, You Are Heard.” On Saturday evening, July 19, stop by for Weird Music Night for an audio-visual synthesis of experimental music, performance art, and unexpected happenings. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience an eclectic lineup of acts that redefine the boundaries of performance.
4. Millbrook Arts Project(3 Friendly Lane, Millbrook)
The Millbrook Arts Project is hosting a curated exhibit entitled “Generated Utility” at the newly renovated gallery at the village library. The exhibit will feature the work of artists Natalie Beall and Kathy Greenwood. Additionally, visitors will have access to 12 open artists studios across town. The weekend culminates in a free outdoor concert on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at the Millbrook Bandshell. Enjoy the Indie-Folk sounds of Strawberry Runners and She Keeps Bees.
For more information and a complete list of participating artists and locations, visit: upstateartweekend.org
