Rockinar
is Blowin Smoke!
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2013
- Location
- Houston, TX
Was up last night and decided about midnight to hit Franklin BBQ in the AM since I have never tried any of the central Texas BBQ joints and they are only 2 hours from me. I need to just get this over with so I know what I'm talking about.
I started with Franklin since it gets the most hype, it will set the bar and I will have something to compare others to in the future.
I left my house at 2:30AM with no sleep, pulled up at Franklin at 4:45AM. There was nobody there, not a car, not a light on, nobody around, it's pitch black outside and really quiet. Just me and crickets. I was thinking "Damn, maybe they are closed today and I did not get the memo?" I could see a note on the door so I went and looked at it. It said "Sorry, we are closed on Mondays". I was thinking "Damn, today IS Tuesday right?"
About that time a Jeep pulled up and people started to get out. So I grabbed my chair and the #1 spot at the door for the 6 hour wait.
Overall opinion. It's worth it. I'm not a big social butterfly, hate crowds, hate lines, etc. But I had fun and glad I did it. You basically just hang out and chit chat with people (if you want), walk around, take pictures, drink beer and people watch. I was #1 in line so I had a lot of people from the back of the line come up and ask "What time did you get here?", and that always started some conversation and killed time. Also all the hot chicks in the apartments across the street walking their dogs in their yoga pants was good distraction for another hour. Some people brought laptops, small tables to play cards, etc. I have seen it described at a "Tailgate party". Maybe some days during festivals, track races, etc it might be like that. Today was pretty low key. People being social, but not what I would call a "tailgate party". Nobody being drunk or loud. Just everyone patiently waiting. About 8 they unlock one of the doors and tell you that you can go inside and take pics, buy tshirts, use the bathroom, buy beer, etc. Around sunrise I saw Aaron go in but that was all I saw of him. While being served the chick behind the counter said they were having some private event or something there after hours and he left to do stuff for that.
Either way, I got brisket, ribs, sausage and potato salad. I thought brisket was 10 of 10. Super tender and covered in sticky rendered fat like you have never seen before on earth. This is no HEB prime packer brisket. Its another level. Even the lean meat was super sticky/fatty. The rub on it, NOT salt/pepper. There's more goig on but I cant figure out what it is. It has a weird hint of something that I have no clue what is. I have seen John Lewis mention dill pickle juice. That's not it. Maybe they did that at LaBBQ at some point, but that's not the case here. Ribs, meh...6 out of 10. This IS salt/pepper with maybe a little something else. But theres an obvious salty/pepper to them. Was not a huge fan. But not BAD, just "good" I thought. I'm not a big fan of sausage but thought it was pretty good. Good snappy casing, flavor was good. No complaints there. I'm a big potato salad fan. Potato salad was straight out of Franklin's book. A mustardy salad with some bits of dill pickles in it. I noticed the restaurant version had little to no pepper in it, which is unlike the book version that calls for a bit too much pepper IMO. Eliminate or severely reduce the pepper from the book and you have made the restaurant version. No clue about the BBQ sauce, I did not even look at it.
Overall everyone will have their opinion on what place has the best BBQ. But I have seen several people claim "Franklin is not much better than Rudy's" and other similar nonsense. These people clearly never had anything except Rudys. I have also never had anyone's backyard brisket even remotely close to this. One piece I got was an end bit from the flat. Normally it would be really dry like beef jerky, crunchy and totally inedible. This piece was still pretty good. I was surprised. I have also seen "No BBQ is worth standing in line for". I don't know what to think about this comment now other than you must just be a grumpy a-hole. You're not really "standing in line". It's like being invited to tailgate before a football game to be social, and saying "No football team is worth standing in the parking lot for". And anyone who calls it "yuppy BBQ" I challenge you to do better.
Its one of those things you just have to do ONCE. It's just a fun experience.
I started with Franklin since it gets the most hype, it will set the bar and I will have something to compare others to in the future.
I left my house at 2:30AM with no sleep, pulled up at Franklin at 4:45AM. There was nobody there, not a car, not a light on, nobody around, it's pitch black outside and really quiet. Just me and crickets. I was thinking "Damn, maybe they are closed today and I did not get the memo?" I could see a note on the door so I went and looked at it. It said "Sorry, we are closed on Mondays". I was thinking "Damn, today IS Tuesday right?"
About that time a Jeep pulled up and people started to get out. So I grabbed my chair and the #1 spot at the door for the 6 hour wait.
Overall opinion. It's worth it. I'm not a big social butterfly, hate crowds, hate lines, etc. But I had fun and glad I did it. You basically just hang out and chit chat with people (if you want), walk around, take pictures, drink beer and people watch. I was #1 in line so I had a lot of people from the back of the line come up and ask "What time did you get here?", and that always started some conversation and killed time. Also all the hot chicks in the apartments across the street walking their dogs in their yoga pants was good distraction for another hour. Some people brought laptops, small tables to play cards, etc. I have seen it described at a "Tailgate party". Maybe some days during festivals, track races, etc it might be like that. Today was pretty low key. People being social, but not what I would call a "tailgate party". Nobody being drunk or loud. Just everyone patiently waiting. About 8 they unlock one of the doors and tell you that you can go inside and take pics, buy tshirts, use the bathroom, buy beer, etc. Around sunrise I saw Aaron go in but that was all I saw of him. While being served the chick behind the counter said they were having some private event or something there after hours and he left to do stuff for that.
Either way, I got brisket, ribs, sausage and potato salad. I thought brisket was 10 of 10. Super tender and covered in sticky rendered fat like you have never seen before on earth. This is no HEB prime packer brisket. Its another level. Even the lean meat was super sticky/fatty. The rub on it, NOT salt/pepper. There's more goig on but I cant figure out what it is. It has a weird hint of something that I have no clue what is. I have seen John Lewis mention dill pickle juice. That's not it. Maybe they did that at LaBBQ at some point, but that's not the case here. Ribs, meh...6 out of 10. This IS salt/pepper with maybe a little something else. But theres an obvious salty/pepper to them. Was not a huge fan. But not BAD, just "good" I thought. I'm not a big fan of sausage but thought it was pretty good. Good snappy casing, flavor was good. No complaints there. I'm a big potato salad fan. Potato salad was straight out of Franklin's book. A mustardy salad with some bits of dill pickles in it. I noticed the restaurant version had little to no pepper in it, which is unlike the book version that calls for a bit too much pepper IMO. Eliminate or severely reduce the pepper from the book and you have made the restaurant version. No clue about the BBQ sauce, I did not even look at it.
Overall everyone will have their opinion on what place has the best BBQ. But I have seen several people claim "Franklin is not much better than Rudy's" and other similar nonsense. These people clearly never had anything except Rudys. I have also never had anyone's backyard brisket even remotely close to this. One piece I got was an end bit from the flat. Normally it would be really dry like beef jerky, crunchy and totally inedible. This piece was still pretty good. I was surprised. I have also seen "No BBQ is worth standing in line for". I don't know what to think about this comment now other than you must just be a grumpy a-hole. You're not really "standing in line". It's like being invited to tailgate before a football game to be social, and saying "No football team is worth standing in the parking lot for". And anyone who calls it "yuppy BBQ" I challenge you to do better.
Its one of those things you just have to do ONCE. It's just a fun experience.
