Hot and new can steal the spotlight, but what about longstanding local favorites? Each month, we’ll visit a Richmond-area restaurant that has been in business 15 years or longer.
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Detroit-style pizza with pepperoni and ricotta from Frank’s
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Giuseppe, Frank and Elisabetta D’Agostino Carollo of Frank’s Ristorante & Pizzeria
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Frank’s chicken piccata
In March, Richmond applauded the Carollo family as Frank’s Ristorante & Pizzeria celebrated 35 years. The Stony Point eatery opened in 1991, founded by Frank and Elisabetta D’Agostino Carollo. Now 80, Frank beamed as his son, Giuseppe, who currently owns the restaurant, toasted the milestone at a packed anniversary party.
“Frank’s is one of those places that comes around once every 100 years or so,” Giuseppe says. “I’ve been in places that are not like Frank’s, so it makes me appreciate it more.”
Elisabetta agrees the relationship with Richmond is special. “This area has loved us since the beginning,” she says. “We always focus on quality — good cheese, sauce, tomato.”
The family-dinner vibes are in full effect at Frank’s. Hand-rolled mozzarella sticks, crusted with housemade breadcrumbs, arrive with marinara worth drinking. Mussels in white wine and oregano, plus creamy mushroom ravioli and lobster ravioli in pink sauce, round out the crowd favorites.
Giuseppe tosses pizza dough.
Of course, there are also exceptional pizzas: thick Sicilian pies, light and long Roman trays, Richmond’s “Cute” take, and pans of well-decorated Detroit-style pies (available on Thursdays), which Frank’s has become famous for in recent years under Giuseppe’s management.
Giuseppe comes from a historic pizza lineage. His father got his start in the early ’70s at Royal Pizza in New York after completing a restaurant training program for Italian immigrants. He eventually came to Virginia, and in 1978, Frank and Elisabetta bought Brother’s Pizza in Willow Lawn, launching a legacy that includes some of Richmond’s most beloved bygone Italian eateries — Conca D’Oro, D’Agostino’s and Boca Toscana — and the long-running Frank’s and Frank’s West. Giuseppe later trained under Rosolino “Jerry” Cracchiolo of the famed Sal and Jerry’s Bakery in Long Island.
Today, those experiences shape a menu of classic, comforting Italian dishes, from eggplant rollatini to veal parmigiana, chicken marsala and shrimp scampi — staples that have kept Richmond families coming back for generations.
