Frankies 457 Spuntino

Let’s give credit where credit is due: Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli, the childhood friends from Queens who swapped fine dining for Southern Italian comfort, were busy making eggplant parm cool while Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone were practically still in short pants. All the old Frankies classics — fork-tender braciola, tomato-sauced potato gnocchi with just the right soft-chewy bite, red-wine-stewed prunes with mascarpone cheese — are as good as ever, and those meatballs are still the envy of all the Italian grandmas in the neighborhood.