It's not often that party animals and families are both excited about the arrival of a new restaurant, but Fran's Restaurant -- a 24-hour diner opening in the Power & Light District today -- has something for everybody.
"It doesn't matter who you are, you are going to like something on this menu, it's huge," says general manager Kandice Jenkins.
The new restaurant at the corner of 14th and Main is the first U.S. location for the immensely popular Canadian chain (the original Fran's Restaurant opened in 1940). And that means introducing Kansas Citians to the Canadian diner staple poutine (fries, cheese and gravy) and the Canadian ownership of sausage, biscuits and gravy.
"It's primarily brown gravy in Canada. And here it's obviously white gravy. So I said we have to put biscuits and gravy on the menu, it's something that people will expect," says Jenkins.
Breakfast features freshly squeezed orange juice and The Big Breakfast -- two eggs, two strips of bacon, two sausages, two pancakes and homefries. So whether that is the start of your day or the end of your night, it's a pretty serious undertaking.
Lunch is everything from fried pickles to a huge range of wraps, sandwiches (nice to see the Monte Cristo on a menu) and salads. Fran's has famous meat chili (and a vegetarian option) as well as fish and chips and meatloaf.
And over
the course of 24 hours, Fran's will offer two happy hours. The first is
a conventional happy hour from 2 to 6 p.m., the reverse happy hour runs
from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Appetizers will be half price in addition to
draft and bottle specials.
"We're looking to cater to the service industry, so we'll be offering
service industry discounts once we get up and running," says Jenkins.
While Fran's is also known for the Banquet
Burger -- a half-pound Angus, bacon cheeseburger -- it might also be
the only place in Kansas City to offer peameal bacon, similar to back bacon and rolled in cornmeal (anybody know of another restaurant serving it?).
The modern space feels like an updated version of your standard diner -- it's not often that you can enjoy a grilled cheese and a mixed drink while perched on sparkly, gold diner stools at a bar. Fran's opened at 7 a.m. today, and will stay open from here on out.
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