Until it closes in November, the menu at Prime Meats will offer its greatest hits from over the years, such as the schnitzel and sausages. After that, a few of those dishes will live on, in the new Frankies menu. “You’ve got to have a steak, a real steak, at least one,” Mr. Castronovo said.
When it first opened, the restaurant bought its sausages from Faicco’s Italian Specialties, but the kitchen has been making its own since 2011, most recently a cacio-e-pepe sausage as well as a more traditional mazzafagati, made with pork liver.
The Frankies menu will expand along with the dining room. It will include more vegetarian dishes, some grilled fish and more varieties of Italian-style sausages.
Mr. Castronovo and Mr. Falcinelli will also take over the small building next door to Frankies and expand the restaurant’s backyard so they can cater larger events, both indoors and outdoors, for up to 100 people.
The bar inside Prime Meats will become Franks Wine Bar. The restaurant group’s wine director, John Paterson, plans to pour about 20 wines by the glass each night, most of them French and Italian.
The bar’s sign — big, red, neon — is a gift from the restaurateurs’ friend Jimmy Kimmel, and Mr. Castronovo and Mr. Falcinelli are working with the Springs Collective, the firm that designed Frenchette. They say that once the updates are complete, diners will hear a wider variety of music.
“You’ll hear more than just the Grateful Dead,” Mr. Falcinelli said.
By the end of the year, Cafe Pedlar, which closed in April 2017, will reopen as Franks Umberto, a slice joint in partnership with the Long Island pizzaiolo Umberto Corteo.
