Frankie's sports bar is slated to reopen in Dallas in February 2015. (Sarah Blaskovich)
One of Dallas’ most beloved sports bars, Frankie’s Bar and Grill, closed in Uptown more than a year ago. Come spring 2015, its owners plan to open in a new-to-them neighborhood, downtown Dallas.
Frankie’s will occupy two stories in The Davis Building in the 1300 block of Main Street, says co-owner Bill Katz. The upstairs is slated to be a traditional sports bar — like the old Frankie’s in Uptown — and will be called Frankie’s Downtown. The basement below will be Frankie’s Underground and will “have its own identity,” Katz says. He plans to jam out with live music and offer a more stout cocktail menu.
With both levels combined, the bar will be a whopping 9,700 square feet.
Owners Bill and his wife Johnnie Katz also operate Frankie’s sports bars in Lewisville and Fort Worth, but Bill Katz says the Uptown location was special. He had some patrons who came in five nights per week or more; many lived above the bar or nearby.
“I remember people coming downstairs at midnight saying ‘Hey, man, can I have some ranch?’” Katz says. “I really enjoyed having that relationship with those people. It was like an extended family there. We had a good run in Uptown, we loved it there, and we’re hoping to recreate some of that magic.”
That's not a hat on Bill Katz's head, it's an expert paint job.
He believes downtown Dallas could be the new Uptown.
“Downtown Dallas two or three years ago would have been too early. And two or three years from now will be too late. I think we are poised at the beginning of the wave. This area is going to blow up,” he says.
He might be right: Near the coming-soon Frankie’s, downtown will see a new cocktail bar called the Mitchell, plus a Mudsmith, Londoner Pub and Southpaw’s Organic Grill on Elm Street, and four new restaurants slated to open in the Omni Dallas.
Bar man Eddie “Lucky” Campbell will help craft a new cocktail menu at Frankie’s, and the food menu will get a “60-percent overhaul,” Katz says. Chefs Jim Flanders and Domenico Cannavacciuolo will add new items like ahi tuna and soft-shell crab in addition to the bar’s usual staples such as burgers, pizza and wings.
But some things won’t change. “The Larry Bird: We’re never going to get rid of that,” Katz says. (That’s a sandwich with grilled chicken, barbecue sauce and caramelized pepper bacon — a best-seller after the burgers.)
But will this new Frankie’s have free pizza on Tuesdays like it so famously did in Uptown? No, Katz says.
“The reason we can’t do that anymore is because we upset as many people with it as we pleased. On busy nights we couldn’t get it out fast enough,” he says.
Nostalgic Frankie’s patrons will likely be happy about one tradition that remains, however: Owner Katz will still paint his bald head like he used to on big game days years ago.
“I have such an emotional attachment to the people in Uptown,” he says. “It was like having a party at my house with my friends every night.” He hopes the neighbors will be just as friendly one neighborhood over.
1305 Main St, Dallas. Potential opening date: February 2015.