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ARTS & CULTURE | KANSAN.COM
Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015
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VICKY DIAZ-CAMACHO/KANSAN
The chili dog at Leeway Franks is made with a beef frankfurter, spritzed with yellow mustard, topped with Texas red chili and a bit more yellow mustard on a poppy seed bun. The order includes a side of fries or tater tots. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
For owner of hot dog shop, a focus on natural
KELLY CORDINGLEY @kellycordingley
The small sausage and hotdog restaurant, Leeway Franks, at 935 Iowa St., is more than another storefront in a strip mall to owner Lee Meisel. It's built on a foundation of memories combined with a desire to bring food back to a more natural state.
"My wife and I have a cabin up in Michigan; our annual trips are very, very special to me," Meisel said. "You get up there and there's funny little snack stands all around. That's kind of the inspiration, and this is really all wrapped up in memories."
Meisel said that since he opened the doors to Leeway Franks on July 17, people have flooded in.
"It's been a little overwhelming. We've been really busy. We're pretty much running out
of product," he said. "This has exceeded my expectations by quite a bit. I expected it'd be pretty steady, maybe serve 60 to 70 people at the beginning then ramp up to 100 to 120 — we're already there."
Meisel, a 2008 Haskell University graduate, said he has always loved working with food. He worked as a butcher at 715 Restaurant on Massachusetts Street for three years as well as at the Merc.
"After being in fine dining for years and it being all intricate, I wanted to strip everything down and make it really approachable," Meisel said.
With so much traffic in only the first week, Meisel said he attributed the success to social media and word of mouth.
"Social media is really the main way [we got the word out] and just being connected in the food scene in town," Meisel said. "This little neighborhood is really cool, lots of people coming and going. They tell their friends about it and our neighbors and the barber shop down the road." Martin Watson of Watson's Barber Shop, located just a few doors down from Leeway Franks, said Lee delivered menus and food samples to attract more customers. It worked.
"Everyone had some, and we really liked it, and we've been here every day since," Watson said. "We're spreading the word."
Watson attributes part of the large crowd to the high quality of the food.
“It's going to go really well for them because it's quick service and good food,” Watson said. “That goes a long way. It's not about a quantity, it's the quality. I look at them being around here. If they leave, it's only because they got a bigger spot.”
All of Lee's meats are free of antibiotics, and he doesn't use
LEE MEISEL
Owner of Leeway Franks
"After being in fine dining for years and it being all intricate, I wanted to strip everything down and make it really approachable."
fillers, he said. He butchers the pigs on Mondays and handmakes nearly 600 sausages by himself.
"It's all my recipes I've developed over the years," he said. "Each individual one looks different than the rest. They're in natural casings, so they have snaps, and some people are divided on it. Some people have never had natural casing, and sometimes the texture is too much."
The natural casings are made of washed pork intestines. Meisel said that making his meat the most natural way possible was important to him because of where he comes from and where he has worked.
"There's no mystery to what I do. I don't ever want it to become a big manufacturer's process," he said. "My background is in butchering. I grew up in a small town in North Dakota — Mandan — and that's where I learned how to grind meat properly."
Meisel said the Classic Coney was one of the most popular items on the menu. It's a beef frankfurter with brown mustard, sauteed onions and sauerkraut on a poppyseed bun. The restaurant tries to avoid using ketchup, he said.
"We try to stay away from ketchup unless your kid still has training wheels on his bike, he can have it, and we don't argue with pregnant women, so they can do that," Meisel said. Leeway Franks is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Meisel employs two people; he worked with one for years at 715 Restaurant, but he said he had thought about bringing others on.
“[I'm] looking at maybe bringing on a couple part-time employees so I can get back to focusing on the sausages, especially if my production increases,” he said. “Right now, between being open for eight hours then being here between eight and 10 hours extra every day, I can do it fine for now, but I don't want to do that forever.”
- Edited by Kate Miller
Downtown treat stand a twist on late-night bites
KELLY CORDINGLEY
@kellycordingley
Whether they're in Qatar, Dubai or Germany, the Chahines wake up every morning to get a taste of the local crepe scene. As they stroll the streets at night of any given city across the world, they stop at a Belgian fry stand to grab a cone of their favorite late-night treat.
But on May 1, Bassem Chahine and his wife, Elizabeth Chahine, opened Crepes and Taters at 1016 Massachusetts St.
"We travel everywhere, and my wife always came with me and her hobby was that she loved to buy crepes in every country we went to. Literally every morning she would drag me to go have breakfast and have crepes because she loved them," he said. "When she saw the opportunity over here, she was like, 'Lawrence doesn't have a crepe store, so let's do one'."
Crepes and Taters, previously Lebanese Flower, which was owned by Bassem's father, operates in the kitchen of Fatso's. When Lebanese Flower closed, Elizabeth saw the opportunity to bring her love of crepes and Belgian fries to
Lawrence.
"Those are the two things we really like to do, especially when we travel," Bassem said. "Belgian fry stands in Europe are like hot dog stands in New York. At night time when we're out strolling and having fun and we got hungry, wed go for the Belgian fries and mornings were for crepes, so that's why we have the two together."
Brooke Magdaleno, the general manager at Crepes and Taters, said she has loved crepes since she began working at IHOP at 16 years old and loved the idea of a crepes-specific place on Massachusetts Street.
"I think it's a really unique thing, definitely meant for a city-type area," Magdaleno said. "If we tried to open this outside of Mass Street, I don't think it would do as well. When we first opened, it was the last week of school so we had a lot of nighttime traffic. Right now we're bringing in a lot of couples and families."
Crepes and Taters offers sweet and savory crepes as well as Belgian fries with numerous dipping sauces. Bassem said the variety of options makes the new business even more exciting.
"It's not any crepe; it's gourmet. It's not just jam or Nutella on a crepe," he said. "This is very local, so we need to let the lunchtime and breakfast people know we exist. Its crepes; everyone loves crepes." Bassem and Magdaleno said they anticipated late night traffic to pick back up when University students come back for the fall semester.
"With summer it kind of died, but when the locals came that's what saved us in the summer," he said. "Right now, we're aiming at the whole population here, whether you're out partying and want to sober up and have a Belgian fry at 2 a.m., or the working people who come to get a crepe in the morning."
Bassem said he thought part of what drew people to Crepes and Taters is the unique name and off-the-wall combination of crepes and Belgian fries. "It's a catchy name; it's something very random," he said. "I hope it's helped business. I think the people who come here are in shock every time, but they love it."
- Edited by Miranda Davis
CREPES AND TATERS, 1016 MASSACHUSETTS ST
Monday - Wednesday
HOURS
8:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Thursday - Saturday
8:30 a.m. - 3 a.m.
Sunday
8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
FRANK WEIRICH/KANSAN The chocolate and banana crepe, from Crepes and Taters on Mass. St. Crepes are a type of thin pancake often with fruity or sweet fillings.
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