Frank and Margie’s may sound like a longtime family staple, but Round Rock is actually about to get a new concept by a highly regarded restaurant group. Scratch Restaurants Group, the team behind the fine dining restaurants Pasta Bar and Sushi by Scratch will debut the new pizza and pasta concept May 16.
Guests will find Frank and Margie's much more casual than those famous existing concepts, but not quite as casual as Not a Damn Chance Burger (NADC), the group's wagyu smashburger concept. (Even the lower-key Scratch concepts have fancy underpinnings.) A press release promises a "neighborhood-style Italian-American restaurant" with thin-crust pizza, pastas, cocktails, wine, and beer.
Like the group's other restaurants, this newcomer has been developed by husband-and-wife chefs Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee — Frank and Margie, if you will. The 100-seat restaurant repurposes the space formerly occupied by Odds Bar + Bistro, which opened in 2025. Adding additional culinary renown, Chef Grae Nonas, known for opening Olamaie and helping define Bufalina, will lead the kitchen.
“[Grae] has worked in some of the most influential kitchens in the world, helped shape Austin’s dining scene, and understands how to bring serious technique to food that still feels familiar, generous, and fun," said Lee in the release. "Frank and Margie’s is going to be a high-energy restaurant, and Grae has the discipline, creativity, and leadership to make sure every dish delivers.”
Lee snagged the space because means the space via professional poker player and co-owner of the adjoined Lodge Card Club, Doug Polk, who he knew through poker. The space has now hosted two TV cooking personalities in a row: Odds was opened by former Food Network host John Green, and Lee initially became well-known competing on Top Chef in 2015.
Now Lee is better known for the success of the Scratch brand. The new concept fits neatly into the story, which weaves all the group's restaurants together.
The pasta at Frank and Margie's draws from the same "inspiration" as the dishes at Pasta Bar, which closed this February, and Kallas-Lee's famous sourdough starter will be used to make the pizza dough. She'll also handle the desserts, including a rotating tiramisu with traditional and seasonal ingredients. The first guests can expect a fig leaf and strawberry rendition with aged balsamic to kick things off.
The pizza menu offers another opportunity to play with ingredients. Of course, the classics will always be there to mellow things out, but departures from the norm will include candied local jalapeños and bone marrow, the latter paired with anchovy tomato sauce and cheddar cheese. The pasta section sounds more tame but still rich, featuring dishes like lamb ragu pappardelle, lobster cavatelli with leeks and hot peppers; rigatoni alla vodka, and more.
On the beverage side, the concept focuses on Italian wines from small producers and local Texas beers. Cocktails will mirror the attitudes that shape the food menu: classics alongside "playful originals." One of the latter, the Strawberry Fields, combines vodka, strawberry, lemon, and prosecco.
“Frank and Margie’s is meant to feel fun, familiar, and a little unexpected,” said Lee. “We’re taking the kind of pizza and pasta people crave and bringing the same level of intention we bring to our tasting-menu restaurants. It’s casual, but the food still has that Scratch quality and point of view.”
Frank and Margie’s is located at 1401 S. I-35 Frontage Road, Ste. 120, in Round Rock. Operating hours are 5-9 pm Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and 5-10 pm Fridays and Saturdays.
