Franklin's is a small microbrewery and restaurant with a casual, rustic feel. They were not terribly crowded when we arrived and I noticed they closed at 9 p.m. (we're out in the suburbs!). Wait staff looked to be high school and college students. The menu was quite interesting, and there were probably half a dozen entrees I would have liked to have tried, from a "PA. Mennonite style" duck to a bratwurst platter, so I'll have to make another trip.
Robert got the pulled pork platter with cole slaw and baked beans. I expected the pork to be in larger pieces with less sauce; what he got looked like what would be placed on a sandwich, rather than a free-standing entrée.
Kevin ordered the cowboy burger, a bacon cheddar cheese burger served with barbeque sauce and some thick-cut French fries. Neither of the guys offered any opinion as to their food, though they both cleaned their plates.
I had the sliced meatloaf on a bed of tasty garlic mashed potatoes and accompanied by a little side dish of a sweet corn pudding. The meatloaf slice had been grilled, giving it a smokey flavor and little crispy bits. Topping the meatloaf was a mound of heavily seasoned buttermilk-soaked fried onions reminiscent of thin onion rings. On one of his passes back by the table, the waiter noticed that my meatloaf was not covered in gravy (apparently it was supposed to have been), so he came back with a little bowl of mushroom gravy.
For dessert, we all split a single slice of the Vesuvius cake. I think the other guys were expecting something more along the line of a chocolate lava cake (warm, molten chocolate on the inside), but this was more of a stylized cheesecake combination. There was a thin cake layer on the bottom, topped by a light white chocolate mousse on the inner two-thirds, and a chocolate ganache on the outer third; caramel and chocolate sauce drizzles and chopped peanuts garnished the slice, with a couple of squirts of whipped cream on the plate. Oddly, the three of us didn't finish the entire slice.
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