Late to the Party #1: Frank Gourmet Hot Dogs

Mark Goodwin tries Kenmore's Frank Gourmet Hot Dogs for the first time

Welcome to the first edition of ‘Late to the Party’, a personal food odyssey focused on answering the age old question of “How haven’t I eaten there yet?” 

A little backstory: I grew up in Hamburg, which in the early 2000s wasn’t exactly Paris. We had a few good options for going out to eat, but my family usually cycled through the same handful of restaurants where I’d get a chicken finger sub 99% of the time. It wasn’t until I worked at Picasso’s Pizza and Franco’s Pizza (shoutout Uncle Franco) where my food fascination began. Albeit a pizza place, I learned how much I love food prep, the art and science behind working an oven, and the ability to time up 10 different orders to go out at the same time. To this day, I don’t think I’ve felt the feeling of a job well done as strong as I’ve felt at those jobs.

My last shift at Picasso’s. This was after losing to Bella in the Buffalo Eats Best Pizza Tournament in June 2017

All that being said, I am late to the party in terms of trying a lot of restaurants that Buffalo has to offer. The idea for this series came to be when I first went to Shango in 2022 (pictured below) after saying I was going to make a reservation for years. It blew me away. Sometimes we get caught up in what’s new and exciting, which takes away from the places that have been killing it for years or even decades. Honestly, there’s just only so much time and money one has to be able to say that they’ve eaten at every single restaurant ever. You’ve got to pick and choose your battles. The goal is to try and chip away at my blind spots while giving the restaurant and its employees long overdue respect.

Now that you know why I’m doing this, let’s party.

The Party: Frank Gourmet Hot Dogs (707 Kenmore Ave, Buffalo, NY 14223)

The Party Favors: Nashville Chicken Sandwich, Violet Beauregarde Hot Dog, small french fry, fry sauce, Hayburner. 

The Pics: 

As I walked into Frank’s, I knew I had to order at least three things based on recommendations - the Nashville chicken sandwich, their french fries and the fry sauce. If anyone knows anything about me, it’s that I am a huge slut for french fries. If I was Keith Lee, I’d give the fries a 9.1 but I’d give the fry sauce a 10.0. Definitely a similar to vibe to Raising Cane’s sauce, which I’m not complaining about. A top tier fry in the area without a doubt. The Nashville chicken sandwich had an immediate heat to it, but their b&b pickles (which I had to google because I had no idea what they were) added a lovely sweetness to the finish, along with the juicy cabbage slaw. 

But to be honest, I think my favorite thing I ate was the Violet Beauregard hot dog. Topped with crunchy onion strings and cheddar cheese with a blueberry barbecue sauce buried underneath it. Frank clearly thrives because of their unique menu items like this one, while still nailing the classics. They go that extra creative mile and it makes a world of difference. 

All in all, a great start to the series. Excited to check out the rest of these places on my list and hope you check them out alongside me.