Featured article in “The Bay” Magazine, February 2010

Openly Private: 195 Franklin is the place to be!

Here’s one for the foodies: 195 Franklin Private Dining Club, a funky, unique little restaurant in Bristol that’s open only two days a month. If the exclusivity alone doesn’t appeal to you the fresh, thoughtful menu and the comfortable vibe definitely will.

Lynne and Ed Turnbull, who run the operation, are longtime caterers who essentially love food and drink and people too much not to have a restaurant. When the recession hit, and it became less feasible to be open on slow nights, they scaled back the operation and refocused on catering, but kept the soul of the restaurant going with the Private Dining Club, which celebrated its one-year anniversary in February 2010. “That’s how we got here,” Lynne explains, “and we’re loving it – I’m having a house party twice a month.”

It’s (sadly) rare to find a dining establishment where the number one priority of everyone working there is genuinely your pleasure as a customer, but 195 Franklin is that kind of place. I said that to Lynne, and her response said it all: “I know it is,” she laughed, “it’s my kind of place!”

They also rent 195 Franklin out for Private Parties such as Rehearsal Dinners, Birthday Parties, Showers and any other special occasion.