Like a good neighbor, Frank's Kitchen is there

While I tackled the mountain of bread and meat, Rob wasn't complaining about his consolation prize. The jerk chicken had been rubbed with earthy spice and roasted over allspice wood, so that the smoke would permeate the skin and meat. While the leg was succulent, the breast was verging on dry — but we still managed to pick the bones clean, and we polished off every bit of the sides: a scoop of rice laced with sweet coconut milk and tart-bitter lime zest, as well as caramelized slices of plantain. Frank's doesn't serve alcohol, so I'd ordered an icy strawberry milkshake — which proved to be the ideal dessert.

As we cleared our table, the Bertas engaged us in a last round of conversation, asking how we'd found the place, where we lived, what we did — all part of the canon of questions you ask new friends. We chatted for a minute, then said our goodbyes and waddled out the door.

Dina and Frank Berta have made Frank's Kitchen part of the Whittier neighborhood.

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Frank's Kitchen

2600 High St.
Denver, CO 80207

Category: Restaurant > Comfort Foods

Region: Out of Town

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Details

Frank's Kitchen
Chicken banh mi $7.50
The Crested Butte $7.50
Jerk chicken $8.50
Spaghetti and meatballs $7.50

2600 High Street

303-296-3838

www.frankskitchencolorado.com

Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Sunday. Closed Saturday.

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More About

• Dina Berta
• Whittier
• Styrofoam
• Meat
• Foods

I soon returned, though: I'd seen the spaghetti and meatballs come out of the kitchen that night, and I wanted to try that dish as soon as possible.

Frank got the recipe for his all-beef meatballs from his Italian grandmother, and the densely packed ground meat is loaded with garlic and oregano, as well as other spices that give it a hearty pungency. You can get the meatballs in a sandwich, but I was after that platter of pasta. Spaghetti with meatballs has always been my ultimate comfort food, an easy meal that satisfies in a way that few other dishes do — and I like the non-fancified versions best. Other pastas are for showing off noodle-making skills and delicate sauces; spaghetti is about filling the belly.

And the spaghetti at Frank's hit the spot. A tangle of noodles had been topped with three meatballs and a thick, tangy sauce seasoned with more garlic and oregano as well as dried chile flakes, which added a lip-tingling heat that built as I twirled up forkful after forkful. It came with a little lettuce-and-tomato salad and a roll swiped with butter, which were just as down-home as the spaghetti.

Rob had ordered the banh mi, because he was curious to see what Frank's would do with the Vietnamese sandwich. I'd gathered it wouldn't be a traditional version as soon as Frank started detailing the differences between the rib-eye and chicken; we'd opted for the chicken, whose preparation included the racy Chinese five-spice. Stacked on the Vietnamese equivalent of a French baguette, the chicken had both heat and a definite cinnamon undercurrent, which was delightful against the crisp carrots and radish. I would have liked those vegetables pickled, as is customary in Vietnam: Despite the five-spice, this sandwich was a little dull. Not so dull, though, that we didn't finish every bite.

Fat and happy, we lingered for a moment as we said our goodbyes to Frank and Dina.

"Good to see you again," they said, and waved as we walked out the door.

We'd become part of the neighborhood.