When northern New Jersey native Tim Tobitsch tasted a hot dog at a Grove City College dining hall during his student days, he suddenly realized why the frankfurter had “such a poor reputation” outside metropolitan New York City, where people take pride in their frankfurters.

Fortunately, Tobitsch, a native of Summit, N.J., met another foodie, Megan Lindsey, at Grove City College. After college, the two joined forces in a food establishment in the former basement bookstore of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Downtown.

Tobitsch and Lindsey named the space Franktuary, merging the name of one of their offerings, frankfurters, with the nature of the site. In 2004, they began providing lunches to Downtown workers five days a week. The partners expanded their operations to a food truck in 2010, but had always wanted to open a full-service restaurant open evenings and weekends.

In January, they achieved that goal, opening the 80-seat Franktuary restaurant in Lawrenceville. Both Franktuary outlets have many menu offerings in common, as well as the slogan, “Redeeming fast food, one frank at a time.” But the new restaurant has deep-fryers and a full bar and can offer french fries, vegan beetballs, alcoholic beverages and other items the church location does not.

“We're trying to take simple foods that are overlooked or taken for granted and make them better,” says Tobitsch, 32, now of Bloomfield. The chefs use “clean ingredients and local resources and have moved away from the fillers used in a lot of hot dogs,” he says.

This pairing of familiar foods with a focus on fresh, seasonal, well-treated plants and animals, is most important to Lindsey. “At the restaurant, we are constantly striving to remove preservatives and processed ingredients from our kitchen,” she says, “and every step we take in that direction gives me a great sense of satisfaction.”

So the Lawrenceville Franktuary offers a New Zealand grass-fed beef frankfurter for $4, a Fishfurter with wild-caught salmon, also for $4, and a Standard, a New York all-beef frankfurter for $3.25.

The restaurant does not have the capacity to make its own frankfurters, but “we did just begin making some of the specialty sausages we carry on our own,” Tobitsch says. “We have direct relationships with farmers and processing facilities, so we are able to oversee production of our franks from start to finish.”

Diners who order franks can have toppings in a dozen styles, ranging from Pittsburgh (with a “smooshed” pierogi and slaw) to Bangkok (with Thai peanut sauce, carrot and cilantro), for an added 75 cents to $2.

“I enjoy menu development because I can bring in all the disparate elements of cooking with staples from other cultures,” Lindsey says. “The Negishi frank, topped with seaweed, sesame, ginger, and wasabi mayo, is named after the neighborhood in Japan where my family lived when I was in elementary school. Eating traditional foods of other cultures, learning about ethical farming and developing holistically healthy leaders are passions of mine, which guide our restaurant's creative inspiration.”

Also available are poutine — French-Canadian fries — which can be ordered in any of four styles. Those include Poutine Quebecoise, with cheese curds and brown gravy, for $7; and Poutine Texan, with chili, cheddar sauce and jalapenos, for $8.

Salads come in small sizes for $6 and large for $9.

Sunday brunch entrees include three gluten-free crepes for $10 or a Good Morning Frank for $12. The latter comprises a local blueberry jalapeno breakfast sausage on a waffle roll topped with a scrambled or fried egg.

“Most everything we do here is made in-house,” says kitchen manager Nick Duarte, 25, of Troy Hill. “We try to do here what the customer wants,” including providing vegan and vegetarian dishes and substitutions.

“In general, we're known for whole foods more than anything,” Tobitsch says.

Duarte is a vegetarian who has tweaked many of Franktuary's recipes.

“It's kind of ironic that I work in a hot dog shop,” Duarte says with a smile.

Also in keeping with the partners' philosophy of offering whole foods, Franktuary offers soft drinks with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup and craft cocktails for imbibers of alcohol.

The restaurant looks vintage and integral to the Lawrenceville neighborhood. It contains carved wooden pews from a Catholic church in Lawrenceville that closed last year, a bar footrest made from the kneelers, and bar shelving built from hymnal shelves. The floor is from Amish fencing that was stored away. A donated antique pump organ doesn't function now, but the partners are considering having it repaired for future events.

But the historical nature of the restaurant's contents and furnishings contrasts with the fact that the building is brand-new. Construction began over two years ago on a lot that had been vacant for 70 years.

“It was a unique opportunity to have so much input into the space,” Tobitsch says.

Sandra Fischione Donovan is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.

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