By Jillian Lesinski
Opening the creaky door into Papa Frank’s Restaurant on the circle in Winooski, Vt is like walking into little Italy. We started with half a basket of garlic bread. The bread came out in an old style basket with steam rising causing our noses to be filled with the sharp garlic aroma. The bread is golden brown on the edges and soft and buttery in the middle. It is garnished with parsley flakes that sprinkle some color into the beige dish.
After a short wait the waitress then brought our ziti pasta and meatballs to the table. The food was scalding hot and served in cream-colored larger ramekins that reminded me of dinner at a family member’s house rather than a restaurant. Golden brown on the outside and tender in the middle. But the ziti pasta was overcooked to the point where the pasta was falling apart and it started to taste like paste in my mouth.
I had a Caesar salad for $9.95. The fresh shaved parmesan cheese looked like the first snowfall of the season with the green of the lettuce peeking out from under. That first bite of the salad hit me with tanginess and creamy dressing. Some of the iceberg lettuce was so white and crunchy it was almost translucent. The croutons added a nice bite to the simple salad, but they were not homemade.
My friend Ashley got an order of mozzarella sticks for $4.95. Biting into the stick took me back to the pastey pasta. There was no crunch and it felt as though the cheese absorbed the outside and it turned into mush. The mozzarella sticks were served with a cup of the marinara sauce which was the highlight of this dish, warmed up with chunks of real garlic cloves in it.
Papa Frank’s took me out of college life for a little while and gave me an affordable meal that felt like a trip to my grandmother’s house for Sunday dinner.
Rating: 3.5 stars
