Fred's Restaurant, Franklin, VA
by:
Fred's Restaurant
107 South Main Street
Franklin, Virginia
(757)562-2919
http://www.fredsrestaurant.net/
After breaking down on our way to play the Leon Wilkeson Memorial Concert in Norfolk, and spending the night in Franklin, we asked someone where a good place was to grab a bite of breakfast. The guy didn't need two seconds to tell us the definitive breakfast was to be found at Franks.
Having been flooded out, along with the rest of the town during Hurricane Floyd in the fall of 1999, (waters rose as the river crested 10 1/2 feet. Over 182 businesses lost their equipment, over 100 homes were destroyed) Frank's rebuilt, and looks brand new, although it has been serving fine foods since 1945.
The breakfast buffet ($5.95) was the best I have seen, and true to old South specs. Freshly prepared biscuits, sausage gravy and links, tons of bacon strips, scrambled eggs, breakfast cereals, and of course-GRITS! It was a veritable feast, with coffee, juice, tea...Whatever your choice of beverage to wet your whistle.
I don't know if it was the stress of breaking down the night before or what, but for some reason, this food tasted better than any breakfast fare I'd eaten in a long time. And the servers and staff are great. In fact, everyone in Franklin treated us real special, and we appreciate it!
I should note that the rest of the menu looks mighty good as well, from Fred's Club with Fries ($5.95) to the 12 oz. Delmonico Steak (with salad, veggie and bread, $13.95), it all looks great. And theirs a whole menu section of "Southern Favorites," featuring Fried Chicken, Pork BBQ and Virginia Ham Steak. Yum, yum!
Don't wait until your CV joint goes out. Make tracks to Fred's NOW. And tell him the folks at GRITZ.NET sent you!
-Michael Buffalo Smith