Frankie’s Pizza and Pasta closing after over two decades in Redmond: An appreciation

At the end of next week, one of the most beloved restau­rants in NPI’s home­town of Red­mond will be going out of busi­ness after a twen­ty-three year run in the heart of the city’s com­mer­cial dis­trict — to the dis­may of many cur­rent and for­mer residents.

Frankie’s Piz­za & Pas­ta has been a fix­ture on Red­mond Way since the ear­ly 1990s, offer­ing excel­lent Ital­ian food at rea­son­able prices. Its own­ers announced sev­er­al months ago that the prop­er­ty the restau­rant has called home for many years has been sold to a devel­op­er who plans to build a hotel there.

From their announce­ment on June 8th:

For those of you who have not heard, Frankie’s Piz­za and Pas­ta will be clos­ing our doors in mid-Octo­ber. Our land­lords sold the prop­er­ty to a devel­op­er who will be build­ing a hotel.

We will miss our loy­al cus­tomers and our awe­some staff very much, but as our daugh­ter-in-law Jenn elo­quent­ly stat­ed “Don’t cry because it’s over, cel­e­brate because it happened.”

We have decid­ed not to re-open some­where else as after 23 years in busi­ness we would like to slow down and pur­sue oth­er oppor­tu­ni­ties.

If you or some­one you know would like to car­ry on the Frankie’s name in a new loca­tion please con­tact Frankie for more information. 

Also, if you or some­one you know is look­ing for short-term employ­ment we’d love to speak with you about join­ing the family. 

For more details about our future plans, stay tuned to Face­book or stop by the restau­rant and say hi. Mean­while, come see us a lot! 

Love and blessings! 

Frank & Rhonda

One hun­dred and twen­ty-one days have passed since the announce­ment, and now Frankie’s is enter­ing its final week of operations.

To cel­e­brate Frankie’s run, Frank and Rhon­da have planned a series of spe­cial clos­ing par­ties for Fri­day, Octo­ber 14th and Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 15th. Each of these events have already sold out due to high demand.

The last day of reg­u­lar oper­a­tions will be Thurs­day, Octo­ber 13th. Loy­al cus­tomers have until close of busi­ness on the 13th to enjoy a final tra­di­tion­al meal or two, as the sold-out clos­ing par­ties will fea­ture buf­fet dinners.

As reg­u­lar patrons, the team at NPI is incred­i­bly sad to see Frankie’s end its run. NPI staff and board have cel­e­brat­ed many hap­py occa­sions over the years by break­ing bread over a table at Frankie’s. When we’ve want­ed a piz­za or two to keep us going dur­ing a long meet­ing or call­ing par­ty, we’ve turned to Frankie’s. When we’ve want­ed to treat out of town guests to a fine meal, we’ve turned to Frankie’s. And when we’ve want­ed to serve Ital­ian food at our events, we’ve turned to Frankie’s.

We like to fea­ture dif­fer­ent cuisines at our Spring Fundrais­ing Gala, so over the course of the his­to­ry of the event, we’ve part­nered with dif­fer­ent estab­lish­ments, includ­ing Ohana, Uwa­ji­maya, El Tore­ador, Mediter­ranean Kitchen, and O’Char Thai. Frankie’s Piz­za & Pas­ta present­ly holds the notable dis­tinc­tion as the only estab­lish­ment we have worked with twice on the gala.

Frankie’s lasagna and bread­sticks were so good in 2012 that we sim­ply had to bring them back for this year’s gala.

In ret­ro­spect, that was an extreme­ly for­tu­itous deci­sion. Had we wait­ed anoth­er year to fea­ture Ital­ian cui­sine again, we would not have been able to work with Frankie’s for a sec­ond time.

Frank, Rhon­da, and their employ­ees are some of the nicest, friend­liest peo­ple you’ll meet any­where. The food they serve is deli­cious, and their ser­vice is con­sis­tent­ly great. They sen­si­bly spice up their menu with sea­son­al dish­es while keep­ing clas­sics avail­able for loy­al cus­tomers to order anytime.

They also kind­ly share recipes with patrons, enabling aspir­ing cooks to try repli­cat­ing tasty dish­es like gar­lic parme­san soup at home.

I’ve enjoyed every meal I’ve eat­en at Frankie’s over the years, but like oth­er reg­u­lars, there are cer­tain items on the menu I’m espe­cial­ly par­tial to.

These include:

• Piz­zas: In addi­tion to a clas­sic pep­per­oni piz­za, I’m fond of… 
  • The Ital­ian Stal­lion: Frankie’s describes this as “a true meat lover’s piz­za! Pep­per­oni, Ital­ian sausage, sala­mi, hick­o­ry smoked bacon, and hick­o­ry smoked ham.”
  • The ‘Har­vest Moon’ Pie: Frankie’s describes this as “a unique taste of Autumn in the North­west, fea­tur­ing hick­o­ry smoked Bacon and fresh, organ­ic Wash­ing­ton grown apples with moz­zarel­la, sharp ched­dar and a touch of Gor­gonzo­la cheese, chopped wal­nuts, onions and a Creamy Sun-dried Toma­to Pesto.
  • The Arti­san Veg­gie: Frankie’s describes this as “a deluxe veg­e­tar­i­an piz­za topped with moz­zarel­la and fonti­na cheeses, with sun-dried toma­toes, fresh organ­ic spinach, roast­ed red pep­pers, red onions and black olives. A deli­cious combo!”
• Pas­tas: It’s hard to pick favorites, but If I had to choose, I’d pick… 
  • The Lasagne al Forno: As men­tioned, we have twice served Frankie’s lasagna at our gala. Frankie’s offers the afore­men­tioned tra­di­tion­al meat lasagna on their menu, and they also have pre­pared a veg­e­tar­i­an ver­sion of the dish for our galas. Both ver­sions are first-rate.
  • The Spaghet­ti Napoli: This is one of my very favorite things to order. It comes in four vari­eties: with fresh mari­nara, with rich Sicil­ian meat sauce, with meat­balls, and with chick­en sausage. They’re all tasty.

It’s hard to believe that after next Sat­ur­day, the Frankie’s we know and love will no longer be in busi­ness. Though we wish Frankie’s were con­tin­u­ing on in a new loca­tion, we under­stand and respect Frank and Rhon­da’s deci­sion to pur­sue oth­er oppor­tu­ni­ties. We’ll always be grate­ful that Frankie’s Piz­za and Pas­ta was a part of our home­town of Red­mond for near­ly a quar­ter century.

Gra­zie di tut­to, Frankie’s. You’ll be sore­ly missed.