Franklin Unkle

1936 - 2025

News story
By Mike Sigov
Blade staff writer

Franklin T. Unkle, a longtime Toledo restaurateur known for his style and hospitality, died Oct. 4 in Hospice of Northwest Ohio on South Detroit Avenue. He was 88.

The family did not report the cause of death.

"Frank was a showman," said Bruce Saba, son-in-law and manager of the former Frank Unkle's Restaurant in South Toledo. "He was a unique individual and a very good businessman. He could carry on a conversation with anybody, and whoever met him liked him."

Mr. Unkle owned and operated Frank Unkle's from its inception in 1975 to 1988 when financial difficulties forced it into bankruptcy. The restaurant closed and was sold at an auction in 1990 after efforts to keep it open failed.

"He was very flamboyant," said Tracy Saba, daughter and fellow restaurateur. "He loved the restaurant business, and he loved the customers."

"He was also very tough and very shrewd," she continued. "He ran his restaurant with an iron fist, but if you did your job, he was a great guy to work with."

The once-famous Broadway Street restaurant overlooked the Maumee River just north of Walbridge Park.

Mr. Unkle told The Blade in 2013 that the establishment had lasted so long because of its food and personalized service.

At any given time, the restaurant employed more than 100 people, from valet parkers to cooks to servers who created many dishes right at the tables. Many of these tableside dishes were flamed, all part of the customer-pleasing show.

"You came to Frank Unkle's to dine, not eat. You can eat anyplace," Mr. Unkle had told The Blade. "I used to serve very large portions of everything."

Credited with bringing fine dining to South Toledo, he served Beef Wellington, prime rib, Cornish game hen, Veal Oscar, and duck served with both a cherry sauce and an orange sauce.

"He always welcomed everybody," his son, Kent Unkle, said. "When you came in the restaurant, it was like he knew you forever. And he always went up to all the tables and greeted everybody, talked to everybody, and made sure things were the way they were supposed to be."

To add to the flamboyance, every once in a while, Mr. Unkle would hire a skydiver to parachute down into the river outside the restaurant, carrying a bottle of champagne. A small boat was sent out to retrieve both the skydiver and the wine.

The champagne would then be presented to a particular guest, often with the skydiver in tow.

In May, 1977, the spectacle won the National Restaurant Association's award for marketing in the association's annual promotion idea exchange at the 58th annual Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago.

"He wanted everything perfect, and he wanted his customers happy," Ms. Saba said. "We had parachuters jump out of the sky. We cooked food tableside, we flamed coffees tableside. And it was very, very elegant."

When Ms. Saba got married in 1978, The Blade reported that 1,200 guests attended a dinner and reception hosted at the Unkles' home on the Maumee River in Perrysburg. The staff for the event included 22 chefs, nine bartenders, and 48 waitresses, according to the article, and music was provided by a 14-piece orchestra and a strolling-string ensemble.

In 1994, after a near-five-year absence from the restaurant scene, Mr. Unkle bought the former Beverly Hills Cafe on Monroe Street and renamed it Frank Unkle's. The restaurant operated for about a year before Mr. Unkle filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and retired from the restaurant business.

Over his restaurateur career, he had been a president of the Northwest Ohio Restaurant Association and the Lucas County Tavern Keepers Association.

He was active in the Lucas County Convention Bureau and Easterseals Northern Ohio.

Born Dec. 2, 1936, in Toledo to Natalie and Truman Unkle, he graduated from DeVilbiss High School and then worked a short time as a union carpenter and then at the former Lido Lanes bowling alley.

He later ran the former Park Café and owned a gas station for a time before opening his own restaurant.

In his free time, he liked to be with his children.

"He was a great dad," Ms. Saba said. "He loved people and we had a lot of fun together as we grew up."

Her brother agreed: "We had a lot of fun, did a lot of snowmobiling, and he was into the cars, and the dogs, and we hunted," the younger Mr. Unkle said.

Of all the classic and antique cars that Franklin Unkle had owned, it was a 1946 Lincoln Continental that he treasured the most.

"Frank Unkle often has said, 'If you can't go first class, don't go at all,'" Mary Alice Powell, former Blade food editor, wrote in 1978. "The restaurateur has demonstrated that philosophy in his business, his dress, and even in his custom-built automobiles."

He is survived by his son, Kent Unkle; daughter, Tracy Saba; brother, Charles Unkle; sister, Louise Burr; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Also surviving are his ex-wives, Carol Lee Unkle and Sharon Unkle.

A celebration of life ceremony will be held at a later date. Arrangements were by Walker Funeral Home. The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio or CedarCreek Church.