Before chicken and waffles started popping up on brunch menus in nearly every city and state, before cheffy takes on the sweet-salty staple involving red pepper jelly, thyme, and coffee stout syrup, even before KFC and Chick-Fil-A hopped on the golden-battered bandwagon—there was Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles. 

The storied chicken and waffles chain in Los Angeles has served everyone from Stevie Wonder to Snoop Dogg to President Obama for nearly fifty years—and it’s also where Frank Willis, the owner of Frank’s Famous Chicken & Waffles, would return time and time again for his fix of the distinctively American classic.

It’s the spirit of his LA favorite that Willis brought to his own chicken-and-waffles joint in Albuquerque, which grew from operations out of his sister’s apartment to the spacious sit-down space it is today. “I got tired of wanting to go to LA to get Roscoe’s all the time,” Willis says. But at Frank’s, a laid-back spot bursting with flavor, the dishes are their own.  

The menu features soul food classics like shrimp and grits, chicken-fried steak, and a catfish platter. Then there are the namesake chicken and waffles, available with wings or tenders. The chicken tenders come juicy and hot, with a satisfyingly thick layer of crunchy batter. Frank’s serves them with round, relatively thin, American-style waffles. Still fluffy, they’re expansive enough to collect all the accompanying syrup and cinnamon butter in tiny pockets that, unlike the pockets in Belgian-style waffles, aren’t so big they have to be cut in half to take a bite. 

Sides run the gamut, from red beans and rice to fried pickles, okra, green beans, and mushrooms. The macaroni and cheese is smooth and gooey, without macaroni’s frequent loss of structural integrity. But the real star is the smoked turkey greens—tender collards simmered with generous flakes of smoked turkey in a deeply savory broth that could be a wholesome meal all on its own. 

Willis grew up in Los Angeles, and, in 1991, was recruited out of high school to play for the UNM Lobos. He didn’t know anyone in the city at first, but he met his partner here and ultimately decided to stay beyond his tenure as a Lobo, putting down roots and starting a family.

Basketball may have brought Willis to Albuquerque, but his first love was music. This is clear to anyone who sets foot in the Washington Street restaurant, where what looks almost like a shrine to Prince adorns one wall—complete with a Prince symbol guitar and a Purple Rain poster. The rest of the wall space is packed with more tributes to the greats: B. B. King, David Bowie, KISS, Lauryn Hill. In their previous location, record sleeves made a grid that blanketed more than one wall in album art.

From 1997 to 1999, Willis worked as a DJ and radio host for what was then Wild 106, a hip-hop station. He also produced R & B and hip-hop through the years. “Music and food—that’s what I’m about,” Willis says.

Frank’s Famous Chicken & Waffles started in 2012 out of a two-bedroom apartment Willis was sharing with his sister, his girlfriend, and her kids. “It was a lot, but I just took a leap of faith, and just took my last little bit of money and told them ‘Hey, let’s try this. I want to do chicken and waffles,’” Willis says. “And they didn’t understand it, but you know, I went to Walmart and got what I thought we needed and started from there.” The business started gaining steam, and with a little help from Facebook and some news coverage, they quickly outgrew managing orders from the apartment.

Less than a year after starting the business, it was time to look for a brick and mortar. They initially landed a location on San Mateo and Copper, and six years later moved into the bigger building on the corner of Washington and Coal where they’ve been operating since 2019.

When COVID-19 hit shortly after, Willis says they moved to mostly to-go orders, cut their payroll by half, and got by. “We had some good landlords, and we had some good customers still supporting us, so we were able to get by without losing too much during COVID,” Willis says.

There’s only more growth ahead for Frank’s. Their food truck is popping up at events around town, and Willis just introduced the Temptation Roll, an egg roll stuffed with the fixings from their Temptations Platter: chicken tenders, greens, macaroni and cheese, yams, and gravy.

Then there are the music lover’s plans to open a record store above the restaurant. (Who knew there was an upstairs? “Nobody does,” he says. “They’ll find out now.”) Called the Wrecka Stow after the much-memed scene from Prince’s directorial debut, Under the Cherry Moon, it’s expected to open in the fall. There are even plans to revive Willis’s old internet radio station.

“I really didn’t expect a lot of this stuff when we first started it,” Willis says. “But you know, I enjoy the people, we love what we’re doing, and we’re able to bring a quality product to people and stay consistent with it.”

Not least, Frank’s is also one of a dozen or so New Mexico restaurants destined to serve travelers in a revamped Sunport. Along with the chile, blue corn, piñon coffee, and local brews, Frank’s seems like just the right ingredient to welcome the rest of the world to the Land of Enchantment.

📍400 Washington SE, Albuquerque, 505-261-9458