The Texas BBQ Forum

atcNick wrote:I really want to try it to see what "the best' tastes like.


-Nick via Tapatalk

It's always subjective. And of course it depends on what you judge them on. Some people try chicken and turkey and pork loins, and the side dishes and deserts and the Dublin Dr Pepper and all that stuff. I focus on the two toughest items, brisket and ribs. I love both his brisket and ribs. It is very similar to Taylor Cafe overall. The brisket is probably about the same level as Snow's, maybe a bit better. I almost think it is easier for Franklin right now. All he has to do is prepare his entire BBQ menu to be ready for 2hrs, from 11am to 1pm. Most places have to plan for 6-8hrs of eating time, meaning they might have meats that are over or under cooked. That is what happened to me at Snow's. The ribs were just way overcooked, by probably 2hrs. If I had gotten there 2hrs earlier, the ribs would have probably been perfect. The brisket can withstand a bit of overcooking, but ribs cannot.

I am still waiting for an update on JMuellers. I haven't seen the surly meat cutter in a few years, and I need some smoky brisket fix, Taylor style.

Eltex and I could not agree more. What is impressive about The place is they realized they were not getting quality out of the last upgraded pit and went ahead and scrapped
that investment to keep their good name. This says a lot!

When you have reached the level of success they have you need to make some serious changes to accommodate the crowds. 2 people need to cut and serve, 2 cashiers, leave the drinks and accompaniments wild and free ( price them into the Q ) but clean cause all the money is really in the meat!

They want us to believe he actually waited in the 1:30 line?

For those that did not read the top part I was referring to traveling Celebrity Chef Anthony Bourdain who just visited and offered rave reviews.

Damon54 wrote:They want us to believe he actually waited in the 1:30 line?

I haven't been in about 2 months, but it typically requires at least a 1hr wait, and often over 2hrs to get served. Mr Franklin chooses to cut ALL the meat himself, which seems to limit the speed of getting your food. While a 2nd cutter could speed it up, he loses a bit of personal touch if he does that. Also, he doesn't have a lot of seating, so he might have issue of getting people seated if they move too fast.

Last time I was there, they had just gotten a new 1000 gallon smoker, and seemed to be giving up on the big box smoker they had tried to add last year. The new smoker was able to hold up to 30-40 more briskets, so hopefully he won't be selling out of food so early now.

His personal touch is nice, but severely limiting output.
I posted before a 2nd cutter with their own separate line & just concede on the sides & drinks. Self-serve already priced in.

Looks like aaron will be one of the judges on pitmasters 3 along with tuffy and myron

Finally went to Franklins this past Saturday. I knew the wait was going to be long but been wanting to go check it out for awhile now. Ordered the brisket and rib plate and it was very GOOD!! Best restaurant Q I've had by far. What's even cooler than that is that I talked to Aaron himself. 1st time he came around I had asked him about Pitmasters. He said it was fun and said they are supposed to start filming again soon. He also said they were going to try to do an episode in TX. We talked very briefly about comp. bbq and I mentioned that I had just started competing in a few. On the way out, I was waiting for my wife and he walked by and asked me a few more questions about comp. bbq and what judges want etc.. He was pretty friendly and easy going.

I have been wanting to try that myself. With 2 kids, haven't decided when would be a good time due to the waiting in line. Glad you enjoyed it. Can't wait to dig into it myself. What do you think makes his meat one of the best in the USA?

No offense to our out of state friends but Pitmasters should be filming here a lot more, it is ground zero of the barbecue world IMHO, and unlike many states, you have the confluence of all four of what I call the American regional methods: West Texas Open Pit (it's distant cousin Santa Maria style is similar), Central Texas/German Market, South Texas Dug Pit (old Vaquero style), and East Texas Wet (which I equate to similar to a confluence of the Memphis Dry and Southeast Wet methods).

I particularly enjoyed the episodes Johnny Trigg and Jamie Gear were on, particularly the one they did out at the old hotel near Johnny's place. But gotta be careful to cover my son's ears when Myron Mixon is on, what a mouth on that guy.

But back on topic, I gotta get me some Franklins too, and see how it matches up against Pecan Losge and the others.

Pretty cool, could you tell what kind of rub he had on his bbq? Wood flavor?

Bockbock wrote:I have been wanting to try that myself. With 2 kids, haven't decided when would be a good time due to the waiting in line. Glad you enjoyed it. Can't wait to dig into it myself. What do you think makes his meat one of the best in the USA?

We have 3 kids ourselves but we only took the 18 mo old. We got there at 10:20 and they told us we probably would be seated arounded 1:30 or so. We ended up ordering at 1:09 (I looked at my reciept later). The wife and baby took off and I stayed behind to wait in line and I met some interesting people. People took umbrellas, chairs and beer to make it more comfortable and enjoyable. There are water misters/fans around the building that help once you get close enough.

I think what makes it so good is that he uses all natural angus beef. Aaron said that was a big part of it even though it's overpriced. I personally can taste the difference. It has a richer beefier flavor if that makes sense. The brisket is cooked well and is very tender. Not quite falling apart but close and very moist. Wrapping the brisket in butcher paper during the cook may have something to do with it. I don't think they rest it in any juices because it's still wrapped in paper when they take it out of the warmer and the burnt ends I requested were not soggy or crunchy. They were great BTW! The turkey which I didn't try was resting in a pan of liquid, looked like broth and spices/herbs. Ribs are also very moist and cooked well, nearly falling of the bone which is ok I suppose. I'm sure the general public loves that.

I think another thing that makes it so good is the experience itself. Waiting in line hungry, hoping they don't run out and finally chowing down makes it even better. Kinda smart on their part IMO. But still the best Q I've had at a BBQ joint. I also didn't use/want any sauce on my meat that day.

RWBTEX wrote:Pretty cool, could you tell what kind of rub he had on his bbq? Wood flavor?

Pretty sure they use post oak and just salt and course pepper to season the brisket and ribs. Turkey not too sure but it looked like the same. The liquid it was resting in looked like chicken/turkey broth. I guess simple salt and pepper doesn't offend most people and keeps it simple and cheap on their part. I personally like a little extra spices in my rub though. I took a picture of their pits while I waited in line. I'll post it later on this evening.

js-tx wrote:Pretty sure they use post oak and just salt and course pepper to season the brisket and ribs. Turkey not too sure but it looked like the same. The liquid it was resting in looked like chicken/turkey broth. I guess simple salt and pepper doesn't offend most people and keeps it simple and cheap on their part. I personally like a little extra spices in my rub though. I took a picture of their pits while I waited in line. I'll post it later on this evening.

I do think you are right, they use post oak from what I remember seeing. I am a big fan of the spices being simple, with just salt and pepper. Both of those I can still taste at the end of a 12hr smoke, but I can never taste any other spices that cook that long on a brisket. I do think Franklin's is the best Q joint in Texas, if you judge by brisket and pork ribs. Others might have them beat on beef ribs or other meats, but for the big two, they reign supreme.

As for lines, on a weekend, I would say 9:30 is a good time to arrive, and on the weekdays, 10am is good. Just make sure you got 4g on your phone, or a good book to read.

if I didn't have kids I would make the 5+ hour drive just to try it out.

eltex wrote:Both of those I can still taste at the end of a 12hr smoke, but I can never taste any other spices that cook that long on a brisket.

That's very true, I would say about 75% of the other spices sort of fade out after a long cook. But I will say that wrapping in butcher paper about 4-5 hours into the cook helps preserve some of that flavor of the rub. The one time I tried it, I was very happy with the bark as the rub I used that day stood out. I'm gonna cook a few briskets next weekend for my daughters birthday and I plan on wrapping in BP. I'm probably going to allow some extra time since it doesn't seem to speed up cooking like the way foil does.