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Friday, August 04, 2000
By Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic
I'd like to apologize to the readers who have been telling me for the last two years about Francesco's restaurant, urging me to go out and try it.
I was dubious. Why would anyone put anything more than a run-of-the mill joint in a plain little building along Route 51 on top of the hill just south of Large?
Terrible location. Drivers heading for Elizabeth or Uniontown step on the gas here. They don't pause to scan the many roadside signs, looking for a place to eat.
Besides, there's a center barrier in the road, preventing drivers headed toward Pittsburgh from pulling off directly to the restaurant.
No one in his right mind would put a good restaurant there -- or so I thought.
I was wrong. Frank and Franko Strangis, father and son, were right. Since July 1998, when they started serving crab and feta triangles and Parmesan-crusted veal instead of ice cream cones at the former Hilltop Family Restaurant and Dari Delite, discriminating diners have been finding their way to the restaurant in increasing numbers. Twice recently on weekday nights His Honor and I found Francesco's busy. Tables in both of the small dining rooms were filled.
Francesco is the proper first name for both men, and both are experienced in the restaurant business. Francesco the younger, who was the chef at the Back Porch at Speers for many years, goes by Franko. His dad, the elder Francesco, or Frank, is a former district manager for Denny's.
Fans of the Back Porch who eat at Francesco's will see some similarities in the food. Franko, 34, started as a dishwasher at the Back Porch when he was a teen-ager, gradually moved into cooking and finally became the chef. During those years he also graduated from Westmoreland County Community College.
One of his popular dishes at the Back Porch was Chicken Strangis. Here it's on the menu as Chicken Francesco. No wonder it's popular. Seared and baked chicken breast meat is tossed with zucchini, squash and roasted red peppers in a highly flavored balsamic vinaigrette. It can be served over linguine, or -- our choice -- mushroom-studded polenta. It's a Heart Healthy selection, too. And if you're a vegetarian, it can be served without the chicken.
H.H. had only one objection to the dish (for a change). "Too much zucchini," he said. He'd say that if he found only one chunk of zucchini.
Francesco's does not attempt to be a big-time restaurant. The menu is small, and everything is served all day. There is no separate lunch menu. If you want a burger for dinner, you can have it. (But here it's a fromage burger, a half-pound of ground sirloin, topped with provolone, lettuce, plum tomato and pesto mayonnaise.)
House salads are served family-style in stainless steel bowls left at your table so you can serve yourself. Unless you request a different dressing, the mixed baby greens, mushrooms, sliced ripe olives, hard tomato wedges, sliced ripe olives and homemade croutons are tossed with the house balsamic vinaigrette in the kitchen. A small loaf of hot bread on a cutting board accompanies the salad.
Some menu offerings are traditional and ordinary -- a fish sandwich on a toasted roll, Reuben sandwich, a 10-ounce strip steak with mushrooms, a grilled chicken or steak salad. But why drive to Large for a fish sandwich or a chargrilled strip steak?
More interesting are entrees like the special one night: veal medallions with portobello mushrooms and blue cheese in a rich, dark wine sauce, and maple and soy grilled salmon in a light tangerine sauce. (The salmon was pretty, but too well done for my taste).
Frank (the father) does some of the cooking. Homemade beef ravioli is one of his specialties, and it's one of the restaurant's biggest sellers. He stuffs and cuts the big ravioli by hand, crimping the edges with a fork. They're covered with tomato sauce and asiago cheese, and yes, it's a good, old-fashioned dish. It's served with buttered garlic toasts, made from baguette slices, lined up along the edge of one side of the plate.
Two good appetizers are those crab and feta triangles and the portabella Francais, both big enough to share. For the triangles, bits of crab, feta and spinach are wrapped in filo dough, baked and served with a chardonnay cream sauce. They're made to order, arrive steaming hot and, in our case, still a little underbaked in the center. When customers are waiting, sometimes even experienced chefs take food off the heat too soon.
For portabella Francais, the big mushroom is cut into four pieces, dressed with red peppers, spinach and mozzarella and topped with white wine and lemon sauce. Both appetizers are accompanied by little buttered toasts. (Somebody in the kitchen really likes those toasts!)
Many of the dishes are Heart Healthy, as determined by nutritionists at the nearby Jefferson Hospital. Prices are reasonable (ravioli and a salad is $8.95, a chicken Francesco dinner is $13.95), and the restaurant is rather plain but pleasant. H.H. thinks it looks like a little French family restaurant; it reminds me more of an Irish tea room.
One dining room has a large red brick, gas-fired fireplace, with storage space for wines on either side. Don't worry about the wines, we were assured. The fireplace is well-lined to keep heat from getting to the bottles, and besides, the first row of bottles next to the fire is all empties. H.H., a man who checks the thermometer in his little stash of bottles several times a day, isn't convinced.
The wine list is basic, with bottles from California, Italy and Australia, and prices ranging from $16 to $42. Most are in the $20 range. Several wines are available by the glass.
Some desserts are made by the restaurant, some aren't. The first night we ate at Francesco's we had an excellent, freshly made blueberry pie. Everything on the dessert tray looked good. When we went back, the dessert tray the waitress brought around looked like it had been sitting out a long time and drying out. Even the blueberry pie was so dry-looking I'll bet it didn't tempt many diners.
That -- and the weak coffee -- are easily corrected. Francesco's has so much to recommend it, I hope they do.
P.S. to all readers who recommended Francesco's: Thank you. And what other restaurants do you like?
Francesco's
Chef Franco Strangis and his father share the kitchen duties at Francesco's in Large. (Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette) 
Route 51, Large
412-384-9588
Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Friday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday, 4-10 p.m.; Sunday, 4-8:30 p.m.The basics: American-Italian menu with beef, seafood, veal, pasta and chicken entrees, plus sandwiches, salads and appetizers; many Heart Healthy selections; parking spaces around restaurant, which seats 53; one dining room is no-smoking; full bar and basic wine list; wheelchair accessible; major credit cards; reservations recommended.The last word: 3 stars