Day five was the most anticipated day of the trip with a visit planned to the legendary Franklin’s BBQ in Austin.
Aside from the food, Franklin’s is known for the experience of waiting in line for your food. It looks more like a tailgating experience than just waiting in line. I had mixed feelings at the prospect of the line. On one hand, I hate waiting in lines. On the other, it sounds like a unique experience and I would enjoy meeting both locals and and other BBQ tourists. I thought the line wait was a given, but my friend found another option.
Franklin’s allows pre-orders if placed well in advance. This can be done on their website. They open availability for dates six weeks in advance with pickup available in half hour windows from 10:30 to 1:00. You will select the time when you place the order. There is a $75 deposit required, which is applied to your order. You must order at least a total of five pounds of meat, but it can be mixed between different types. Also the pre-order food can’t be eaten on site.
So given our limited time in Austin, we decided to pre-order. We placed the order 2 1/2 weeks in advance for pickup on a Wednesday.
Austin has lots of parks, so before picking up our order we scouted out a location in Ziker Metrpolitan Park along the Colorado River. (Not the same Colorado River responsible for the Grand Canyon.) How’s this for a downtown view?
After hearing so much about Franklin’s for so long, it was exciting to finally see it in person. The pre-orders are picked up at a food trailer behind the main restaurant near the coffee trailer. But of course I had to go explore the main restaurant and to see the pits. And I was hoping to meet Aaron to say hello.
Of course, there was a line, but I didn’t think it was bad for mid week lunch time. I would guess there were about 25-30 people in line with about half the line inside the dining room and the rest outside. I asked an employee about seeing the pits and she took me to a screen door off the outside dining deck that looked into the pit area. I suspect they put that door there for just for guest tours since the employees had another entrance into the back of the kitchen.
The large propane tank shaped pits are the ones Aaron built for brisket. The ribs, chicken and turkey are done in the rotisserie pit.
I asked about Aaron, and was told that he was leaving town for an event and that he had probably already left. Oh well. I had a question prepared for Aaron if I had the chance to talk to him, but instead posed it to the woman working the pits. The question was, Franklin’s brisket is so well regarded, but Aaron always makes it sound so simple. Just some salt and pepper and smoke. If it’s so simple, why is his so much better? She attributed it to two factors. One, they always use quality meat, only cooking prime brisket. And that all the employees really care and always take a great deal of care with the smoking process.
I also asked if they judged the brisket doneness by temperature or feel. She said it was about 50/50.
That made me think about (Meat Church) Matt Pittman’s boot camp that I volunteered for at the Big Green Egg Culinary Center. We were taking a bunch of spare ribs off the grill and using themometers to test. Matt came out and just used a toothpick to test it!
After the pit tour I headed back to the pick up trailer to meet my friends. We were in the process of paying and picking up a few souvenirs, (cookbooks and hats) when guess who walked through, but Aaron Franklin! He was on his way out to the airport but he still stopped to greet us and I got my picture taken with him. I told home how much we were looking forward to his food, and he said very humbly, I hope you will like it. Yeah Aaron, I expect we will.
Pic
So it was back to the car and then to our spot in the park. For the five of us we ordered three pounds of brisket, two pounds of spare ribs, two pounds of sausage, pinto beans, cole slaw and potato salad. They put everything in a cardboard box and also gave us a loaf of white bread.
For years I’ve heard how great the brisket is here.
The reaction to the brisket was unanimous, it was simply excellent. The texture, the smoke ring, the smoke flavor were perfect.
Oh yeah, and everything else was excellent as well. The spare ribs were outstanding, with great flavor and excellent tenderness. All the sides were great and each was unique in its own right. Even his pinto beans were better than any other pintos I’ve ever had.
Personally I did prefer the sausage from City Market, but that’s not a knock against Franklin’s. They were great, but the two are really different styles with the ones here being similar to traditional deli style smoked sausage. I just have a personal preference for the other style.
We finished our lunch and we packed the rest into a cooler to take back to the rental. So we more Franklin’s for dinner, and brisket sandwiches for lunch the next day.
I’m extremely glad we visit for the later part of the trip. Shortly after leaving the park, I thought that there was no point on eating more BBQ on the trip. Nothing else was going to compare favorably. But we had one more place planned, and it was as much about the experience as the food, so one more stop for the trip.
After lunch we went to check out some of the Austin bars even though it was still early. And guess what we found across from our parking spot, Voodoo Doughnuts! I had seen this on an episode of the Travel Channel show Man vs. Food that was filmed in Portland, Oregon. Looked like a cool and funky place so we had to wander in. It was pretty cool and unique. Their selection of doughnuts is very imaginative. So we picked some up, but none of us were really ready for any more food. So we took them back for breakfast the following day. They were good and definitely not anything you will find elsewhere. I’ll let the pictures speak to that. And yes, that is one with fruit loops, and one with bacon. I missed getting a picture of the one with Cocoa Puffs.
Basic Egger 