Frank’s is an old-fashioned tavern with a long wooden bar and it was full of jovial folks when Ruth, Dan, John and I stopped in on a Saturday afternoon. A guy was regaling his friends with a story about another friend’s Great Dane, which had eaten his Yankees ball cap, which got approving nods from the Red Sox side of our table and scowls from the Yankees side. We don’t agree on baseball, but we do agree on good food — and we found a lot of it at this cozy spot.

We settled at one of the eight tables in the knotty-pine-paneled front room after a quick check of the tiny back room found it filled with families.

We started with soup ($2.95 for a cup, $3.29 for a bowl) and chili ($3.25 for a cup) on this cold day, and both had wonderful ingredients. The cream of asparagus soup was rich with green asparagus tips — an unusual and appreciated touch, rather than the usual gray sections of stem. The chili was packed with beef, beans and vegetables in a perfectly spiced tomato base. Both were a few degrees shy of steaming and would have been excellent if they had been hotter.

The rest of the food was hot, delicious and plentiful. A closed hot meatloaf sandwich was an incredible deal for just $6.95. It was served with fries and a pool of dark gravy, the salty kind we like.

A chicken quesadilla ($7.29) was exceptionally well-made, with red and green peppers, red onions, two kinds of cheese and plentiful chunks of chicken. It was served with a small but fresh salad on the side, a nice touch.

An 8-ounce Angus cheeseburger ($7.29) was a juicy patty, charbroiled for extra flavor and served on a large, fresh roll.

A beef on weck ($7.29) looked lonely on a small oval plate, accompanied only by a pickle spear. But it turned out to be a masterpiece, incredibly tender, as well as tasty and juicy.

Frank’s is open from 11 a. m. to 11 p. m. Monday through Thursday and from 11 a. m. to midnight Friday and Saturday; closed Sundays. It is handicapped-accessible.