Frankies Caesar by JustAwesome

I’m so excited! I just got my copy of The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual. Frankies is one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, everything we’ve ever eaten there has been delicious. There are two of them, one in Brooklyn and one on the Lower Eastside, they’re both great but we usually go to the LES one because it’s in our ‘hood. It’s on the list of places we take out of town guests to give them a taste of awesome NYC food. And now they’ve put out a book giving away all their secrets! It’s packed with beautiful illustrations and simple but detailed recipes. The tone is sweet and playful, and you get some backstory about how the Frankies restaurants came to be. There’s even an illustrated timeline to help you plan out a Sunday Dinner like you wish your nonna made.

Yesterday I tried their Romaine Hearts with Caesar Dressing salad. I love a good Caesar Salad; crunchy refreshing lettuce covered in strong, funky dressing, what’s not to love? But I’ve always been a little afraid to make one at home, I’m not comfortable cooking with raw eggs. The Frankies dressing was a success, it was absolutely delicious, if you don’t believe me ask Feral, she kept saying, “I can’t believe you made this. This is THE BEST Caesar Salad I’ve ever had.” It was really easy to make. I’m not going to give you the recipe though because you NEED your own copy of this book. You can thank me later.


I served it with our favorite summer pasta dish.

Just heat up some olive oil, sauté garlic, crushed chili pepper and oregano until the apartment smells great. Then toss in some quartered cherry tomatoes, cook just long enough to warm them up and get the juices flowing. Add this to a big bowl of penne. Mix in a ton of arugula, it’ll wilt. If you’re lucky enough to have some fresh basil rip it up and toss it in there too. Add a couple of handfuls of pecorino and you’re done.