Expensive isn’t on the menu here
Frankie’s Italian offers up pasta and pizza that start at only $10
There’s going out for dinner and then there’s going out for dinner. The owners of the newly opened Frankie’s Italian on Queen St. E. near Logan Ave. want to excel at the relaxed, value-focused former.
“The city of Toronto is so expensive. It’s crazy to charge $22 for a plate of pasta. I didn’t want to do that anymore,” says co-owner Mark Bacci. But when you’ve got a large, set menu and produce prices fluctuate — think $8 cauliflower — even those prices don’t always cover your costs.
He and business partners Suresh Singh and Riyaz Somani ran Lil’ Baci in the same location for a decade, and indeed did price some of their pastas in the $20 range.
They closed for a month and relaunched in late March as Frankie’s Italian. It serves allday brunch and dinner. The dinner menu features affordable salads and sides, 10-inch pizzas starting at $10 and $10 plates of fresh pastas, the choices for which rotate daily.
“The food is better, and it’s cheaper,” says Bacci, noting that his staff, headed up by executive chef Brandyn Koester, make an “insane” amount of pasta.
The new concept embraces people who want to come out for an affordable meal any day of the week. Those who want a fancier night out can splurge on a high-end wine along with their food.
Frankie’s rotating menu helps keep costs down, plus the place doesn’t accept reservations. Staff benefit too: most are paid the same and they pool tips equally at the end of the night. They get to be creative, developing and serving new dishes daily.
The trio of owners met decades ago and launched disparate careers: Bacci works in film and television — mostly out of the U.S., he’s based in Los Angeles right now — Singh is in real estate and Somani in software.
While living in New York City, Bacci helped a friend open a few
“The city of Toronto is so expensive. It’s crazy to charge $22 for a plate of pasta. I didn’t want to do that anymore.” MARK BACCI CO-OWNER OF FRANKIE’S ITALIAN
restaurants. Meanwhile, Singh opened the restaurant Kubo, and then Bacci and Somani helped him with Kubo Radio on Queen St. E. from 2004 to ’08.
They banded together again to launch Lil’ Baci in 2007, setting up systems so the three owners could run the business remotely.
“It’s all about creating procedures for everything,” Bacci says. Somani takes care of all their leases and other real-estate related issues while his wife, Sabina, acts as operations manager. The three talk on the phone to each other and staff in their locations on a near-daily basis.
In 2012, the team expanded with a new Lil’ Baci on Yonge St. north of Davisville Ave.
But in recent years, both the management team and operation staff were getting a little bored. “When you’ve made a dish for the thousandth time, it’s no longer exciting,” Koester says. He joined the Yonge St. Lil’ Baci in 2014 in a junior position and worked his way up.
The team found a new location on Davenport Rd. and Christie St., and began renovating for Annabelle Pasta Bar.
The space next door, a coffee shop, came free around the same time — complete with a large basement kitchen that could act as a commissary — and they nabbed it too and opened Bob Coffee Bar in February 2017, and Annabelle in September.
The restaurant featured a cosy vibe, fresh pastas for $10 a pop — and here is where the partners tried out no reservations and equally paid front- and back-of-house staff.
“It was bananas,” Koester confirms of the immediate success of Annabelle, which does about 200 covers on a Saturday. Customers loved it, and so did staff. The bottom line was better. The team shut down the Yonge St. Lil’ Baci and put in place renovation plans for the Queen location.
Since opening — with a fresh new look and a new pizza oven — Frankie’s has done well, attracting locals keen on affordable but tasty meals. Staff is happier and food costs are more manageable.
Already, Frankie’s owners are looking to open another concept somewhere in the city, borrowing from the best of these success stories and catering to a new neighbourhood crowd.
That’s fine by Koester. “I’ve gotten really good at making a lot of pasta.”