The return of a classic restaurant brings old Italian favorites home again.

For almost 30 years, Franco's has been serving up traditional Italian cuisine in Downtown Pittsburgh, Fox Chapel and Harmar.

The restaurant that is famous for its Italian country cuisine moved from Harmar to Aspinwall this spring.

Franco's new home is in the former Luma restaurant on Brilliant Avenue, a prime location in the Aspinwall shopping district.

In a landscape of chain restaurants, Franco's stands out with traditional, made-from-scratch meals that aren't obliterated by gobs of cheese.

“My thing is, I use fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh herbs,” says chef Franco Gaccetta, a native of Calabria, Italy. “I use nothing frozen.”

One of the owners, Maureen Kolar, says that the restaurant buys its produce and meat from local and regional farms.

Background

Franco's sold its lease in Harmar to get back to the Fox Chapel area, according to the chef.

And for good reason: The same families have been frequenting the restaurant for years with the children of original patrons becoming regular customers, according to Gaccetta.

“Everywhere I go, the same customers follow me,” he says. “I just want to say, ‘Thank you.' ”

In the family theme, the restaurant continues to host wedding-rehearsal dinners, baby showers and fundraisers, Kolar says.

Atmosphere

Franco's decor isn't the typical Italian restaurant with over-the-top decor. It is clean and simple, with white linen tables.

The dining room is spacious and awash with natural sunlight in the day, making for an intimate dining experience.

The bar is framed in polished cherry wood, providing an Old World elegance to the room.

During the warmer months, the patio is among the best perches on Brilliant Avenue to gaze upon the shoppers and Main Street stores.

Menu

Franco's lunch menu features traditional Italian entrees ranging from a Caesar salad with housemade dressing ($7) to veal-chop Milanese ($37).

All the favorites are here, such as chicken Romano and chicken Marsala ($25), filet mignon ($33), shrimp scampi ($28) and crab-stuffed salmon ($30).

On a recent visit to the Aspinwall restaurant, the bowties and salmon in a tomato basil-cream sauce ($20) was rich but not too heavy. The entree struck a perfect and delicate balance between the fish and the basil.

Shrimp cocktail ($18), four shrimp on a bed of lettuce, was not extraordinary but the cocktail sauce — surprisingly tangy but not overpowering — made it sing.

The Caprese mozzarella salad ($13) was clean-tasting and a terrific start to a multi-course Italian lunch. The imported buffalo cheese over three slices of beefsteak tomato slices with fresh basil was smooth.

The house salad was delicious from the presentation to the ranch dressing, which was delicate, creamy and not too rich.

The lobster ravioli ($19) stuffed with minced lobster was mellow. The sweet lobster came through, but the tomato cream sauce could have used a bit more zip.

The limoncello cake was suburb. Not too sweet, and the chocolate shavings on top were perfect.

Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4691 or mthomas@tribweb.com.

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