While the gourmet burger craze has swept the city
over the last five years, it's only recently the haute hot dog options
are starting to pop up. Beside El Mocombo, on the diverse Spadina stretch, is Let’s
Be Frank - a cheerful combination of restaurant, bar and overall cool place to
hang out (Bring Your Own Vinyl Tuesdays for the music lovers perhaps).
Their location is ideal for the late night crowd (they’re
opened past 2pm). So, when you’re feeling the munchies and want it paired with
a tall pint of beer, Let’s Be Frank is there. For those who need a stronger
drink, cocktails are also available. The Sour Dog ($7.99) is an
easy drinking, eye puckering concoction of gin, lemon juice and syrup, whimsically
garnished with a sour key.
With over a dozen options on the menu deciding on what to
eat may be difficult. Luckily, they offer almost all their dogs in three sizes (3.5”
slider, 6” regular and 8” big dog) so you can taste from the plain naked dog to
the generously dressed pulled pork po’boy.
The pulled pork ($3.99/$7.95/$8.95) is a meat lover’s friend
with the juicy frank topped with more meat, zingy BBQ sauce (care of Dine Alone
Foods), tangy coleslaw and some hickory sticks to add some crunch. I’d suggest
trying this with the “bed of fries instead of a bun” option, which you can do
with any of their dogs for free. For those who want to skip carbs or meat, you
can also substitute the bun with romaine lettuce and the beef frank with a
veggie wiener instead.
A favourite of owners Christa and Julie (and me) is the
Katsu Dog ($3.49/$6.95/$7.95) where the crunch from the deep fried panko coated
dog goes so well with the soft bun, sweet katsu sauce, wasabi mayo and fresh
green onions. It’s satisfying but not overly heavy feeling, although I would
have liked more wasabi incorporated into the mayo as the slider didn’t provide
that heat as expected.
The corn dog ($2.49/$4.99/$5.99) is where you can savour the
succulent Nathan’s Famous beef frank in its fully glory. Simply covered in a
corn batter and deep fried it's covered with a liberal squeeze of the slightly spicy BBQ sauce. Our table saw possibilities of combining the katsu
and corn dog. Just imagine having the crunchy panko fried frank as the base, a
smear of thicker gooey mac n’ cheese in the middle and then covered with the
sweet corn dog coating. What an amazing texture combination that frank would
be!
If you have a sweet tooth, Frank also offers the Ivana
Banana dessert dog ($4.49) where a deep fried banana stands in for the wiener
and it’s covered with gooey peanut butter, Nutella and a light jelly. Although
I’m not a fan of the peanut butter and jelly combination, this was actually
quite nice. But, the banana itself could be larger to stand up against all the
condiments.
Some snacks you could have include the hot dog “wings”
($5.99 for 6 pieces) which are bite sized deep fried hot dogs tossed in buffalo
sauce and served with a thick blue cheese dip and veggie sticks. For me, these
were a tad salty given the hot dog is already so flavourful and perhaps served
full size on bread may be better.
Let’s Be Frank also offers various sides to round out the
meal. Of course, the tried and true fries are available. But, there’s also a
saucy mac n’ cheese or hot dog gravy poutine (both $4.99 for small and
$6.99 for large) for those who want something more substantial.
What impressed me most was hearing about the perseverance
Christa, Julie and Simon had with starting Let’s Be Frank. The partners dreamt
of a place where they and their friends could meet-up for drinks. But, they
wanted to serve no-fuss food as well and what could be more fun than hot dogs?
 |
| Mac Daddy ($4.49/$8.95/$9.95) |
Although it only opened in late 2014, this business was a
five year endeavour all starting with a catastrophic festival attempt (think no
tent in pouring rain, dropped chili with no backup and tons of unused food at
the end of the night). But, like true entrepreneurs they learned from this
experience and went on to do more festivals, purchased a food truck and did a
pop-up restaurant before settling in their permanent location.
To top it all off, they all had regular full-time jobs
(Simon has now since quit his to focus on Frank)! I can only imagine
the dedication and hard work required to put in 50+ hour weeks and then start
prepping for busy weekend festivals right afterwards. As an aside, the best part of attending media events (other than sampling
food of course) is hearing about each restaurant’s history and meeting the
people behind the brand. I have the utmost respect for restaurateurs as it’s
definitely an industry that takes dedication and skill to be successful in.
 |
| Korean BBQ dog ($3.99/$7.95/$8.95) |
Disclaimer: The above meal was complementary, but rest assured as noted in my mission statement, I will always provide my honest opinion.
How To Find Them
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 460 Spadina Avenue
Address: 460 Spadina Avenue
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Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
