Frank’s 231 Takes Midwestern Food Up a Notch

This hidden gem is hyper-local and packed with fresh, creative dishes

By Todd VanSickle | Nov. 8, 2025

“It feels good.” Those were the three words muttered after taking my second bite at Frank’s 231 located at 1779 Garfield Road in Traverse City.

The restaurant’s chef, Dan Compton, has mastered the art of texture and taste in his dishes that are made primarily, if not all, from local ingredients. Both vegetables and proteins are sourced from area farms that are only a short drive away.

Compton’s elegant and flavorful dishes leave the customer feeling guilt-free from gorging on healthy food, including the barbecued cauliflower sandwich with roasted cabbage and dill pickle remoulade on a soft homemade bun. The sandwich is vegetarian, but the taste and texture are more like a juicy top-sirloin pub burger.

The menu caters to all foodies with many options to choose from, including gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and vegan. Some of the menu items are inspired by southern cuisine, including cheddar grits or braised collared greens.

At the top of the ever-changing menu in late October, bratwurst accompanied by kohlrabi slaw and dijonnaise took the lead spot. The second option was smoked knockwurst with roasted cabbage and hot honey mustard.

What will be coming out of the kitchen when you visit?

A Quirky Spot

Frank’s 231 location makes the restaurant feel like it is under the radar, but the cuisine makes it stand out. Three bites in and a guest might imagine they are sitting at a restaurant overlooking a vineyard or taking in the view from a trendy downtown street.

In reality, the restaurant is located in a mini-strip mall sandwiched between a re-sale store and a drive-thru oil change business.

“Do guests have a hard time finding this place?” asks a patron sitting at the bar, who found the restaurant for the first time after shopping at Costco. Co-owner and Dan’s wife, Charlotte, says she gives directions to the restaurant by naming nearby businesses, like Northwest Oil Express next door.

And yet the service and ambience of Frank’s 231 also has the air of fine dining in a casual setting. Guests can either dine in or out by placing an order at the cash register, which gives the restaurant a laid-back feel. However, the limited table service is still full of attention and gives the impression of a high-end experience with cutlery and ornate dishes laid out with precision and care.

The restaurant’s décor is simple, clean, and modern, with a large geometric art piece above the cash register and bar. The restaurant does not have a liquor license; instead, patrons can help themselves to drinks like Casamar Club—a botanical soda made in Detroit.

On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, Lou Reed’s “Pale Blue Eyes” plays as guests chatter softly in the quaint dining area with a high ceiling. Faux orchids and plants line the shelves throughout the restaurant, and a painting of the owner’s paternal grandfather and restaurant’s namesake, Frank, sits above a table near the entrance.

“I always have sausages on,” Compton says, which is another inspiration for the restaurant’s name “Frank,” along with northern Michigan’s area code: 231. “The name kind of just worked. He loved food and he loved cooking.”

The restaurant opened on July 4, and business has been growing with the restaurant starting to attract a regular crowd.

“We are starting to recognize people that come in multiple times. They are with us all the time,” Compton says as he pointed to a table where a couple sat working on a crossword puzzle waiting for their meal. “We really rely on word of mouth. We were a little nervous with this location. It is not tourist central, and it’s a little off the beaten path.”

A Locally-Inspired Menu

Compton and his wife moved to northern Michigan from Chicago about three years ago with the intention of starting a restaurant.

He first found himself working with Farm Club as a chef for a couple of years, where he forged several working-relationships with area farms like Loma near Lake Leelanau, which is associated with Farm Club. Other farms he sources ingredients from include Second Spring Farm in Cedar and Lakeview Hill Farm also near Lake Leelanau. He gets his proteins from Anavery Fine Foods farm just south of Traverse City near Silver Lake.

With that local touch in mind, Frank’s adopts the Midwestern “meat and three” approach. Customers can choose from one main dish (“meat” is versatile here, with many non-meat options) and add multiple side dishes that are similar to tapas plates, like double carrot salad with a yogurt hazelnut dukkah or curry-roasted cauliflower, sweet peppers, chickpeas, and raisins.

The menu is updated frequently with the changing seasons and availability of ingredients. Relying on locally sourced foods year-round can have its challenges, especially in the cold months of winter when produce can be sparse. However, Compton says he likes it that way and has learned some tricks over the years to spice things up.

“I appreciate the challenge of it,” Compton said. “I feel like it would be overwhelming to me as a chef to come up with ideas if I had the entire world’s pantry available to me at any one moment. The strictures can breed creativity.”

He credits a mentor he worked for at a restaurant outside of Chicago for teaching him about pickling and preserving.

“I’ve always carried that on in my cooking,” Compton says. “During the summer’s bounty, you put up a lot of stuff. That way you’ve got some interesting things that you can use to accent your food in the winter, so you’re not just cooking potatoes in rutabaga for six months out of the year.”

Thanks to the pickled treats and other attention to detail, Frank’s 231’s food not only tastes good, but it looks good as well. However, the chef isn’t ready to call it art.

“I would hate to get too pretentious about it, but food brings me great joy, and that’s why I like to do it,” Compton says. “I don’t know if I would go so far as to say it’s art. At the end of the day, it is sustenance. Food, to me, isn’t just fuel—it can make people’s lives better.”

At press time, Franks 231 is open five days a week for lunch 11:30am-4pm with a dinner service until 8pm on Fridays that includes an all-day special that Compton describes as a “little more elevated.” For the past couple of weeks, the special has included Hen of the Woods mushrooms foraged near Grayling.

Find Frank’s 231 at 1779 S Garfield Ave, Ste A, in Traverse City. (231) 252-2335; franks231.com