Midtown Lunch

  Back at Reading Terminal, Famous Franks A Lot is claiming to be both famous and the “best of philly”. Frank has a lot going on. The menu is the kind I would be thrilled with as a 7 year old attending my classmates birthday party. Would we call this American-Polish fusion cuisine? Besides the burgers, hot dog, and chicken,  fried pierogies, kielbasa, and various wursts  join the mix.  Platters are $8.15 and come with 2 sides and a buttered roll. All other menu items are priced lower than that.

Under the heat lamp, the pierogies were looking pretty good. Looking back on it, the heat lamp should have been my first clue. But I went forth and ordered the pierogi platter, and feeling super mad at my arteries, I decided to punish them by ordering sides of mac and cheese and onion rings.

I guess I was channeling my inner 7 year old. The huge onion rings were my favorite part of the platter. The mac and cheese was bland and had neither the stringy cheesiness or burnt top layer that I like. The pierogies tasted fine, but nothing that I couldn’t make by pan frying  up some frozen grocery store version. And there was no sour cream to dip them in, which is blasphemous.  On top of that, the roll was bad and not buttered.

 A barbecue chicken sandwich was on display and I thought it looked awesome. Plus Frank does a lot of chicken business, so I figured that would be an easy choice. Unfortunately, the chicken was dry and required tons of bbq sauce to make it taste good. My eyes rarely deceive me, but I will admit defeat when necessary.

Someone tell me what is it exactly that Frank is famous for? Should I have just stuck with the hot dogs?

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Onion rings that eaters of all ages will love

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• If I am ordering pierogies, I want them to taste better than what I can make from a box
• …come to think of it, mac and cheese from a box probably tastes better than theirs
• The bbq chicken sandwich looks way better than it tasted

Famous Franks a lot, 12th and Arch St, 215 625 9991