The 14 Best New Restaurants in America in 2024 - Eater
"Frankie’s is like the Noah Kahan of restaurants — you know, the man who introduced the world to stick season? Both the musician and Burlington’s hottest new table express their unabashed love for Vermont in a way that makes it impossible for the rest of us not to love it too. Frankie’s is the first solo project from co-owner and general manager Cindi Kozak and co-owner and chef Jordan Ware, who previously worked together at Hen of the Wood, a respected elder statesman of homegrown Vermont fare. At Frankie’s, which they refer to as simply “a Vermont restaurant,” the pair makes the case for Vermont in all its almost cliched Vermont-iness, goat cheese and creemees and all. If not for the sign in the window, it’d be easy to mistake Frankie’s for a residential home whose owners love hosting dinner parties. The dining area is cozy and convivial, with customers tucked into seats in nooks and crannies or by the windows in the sunny front room. In the kitchen, Ware works with ingredients grown on nearby farms, combined with just enough quirks to remind diners that this isn’t the same old seasonal story. The menu does, nevertheless, change constantly: In May, it highlighted asparagus with blue crab, green garlic vinaigrette, and creme fraiche; in September, roasted oysters with poblano-shallot butter and pickled sweet corn. One consistent stunner: a steaming bowl of tender littleneck clams with piles of pickled zucchini and jalapeños (or poblano peppers, or chile flakes and almonds, or tomatoes, depending on the day) tucked into their shells. The dessert menu always features some version of the famous Vermont creemee made with whatever crop is at its peak, like corn and blueberries or lemon balm and rhubarb; and Kozak keeps the bar stocked with beers from sought-after Hill Farmstead Brewery that are otherwise nearly impossible to get outside of Greensboro, Vermont. Opening a seasonal restaurant in New England is not a novel idea, but there’s a reason that chefs and restaurateurs keep trying their hand at it. When it’s done right — and we argue Frankie’s does it extremely right — it’s transcendent. — Erika Adams, Eater Boston editor" - Eater Staff
