Question for anyone who has ordered a Franklin Brisket on Goldbelly.com

jimstocks53 · Jul 3, 2022

Kevin James said:
Based on this experience, I would not wait in that line. But, I would still like to try it strait from the restaurant, so I would do a pre-order which is to go. My understanding is there isn't really much of a wait for that, you just aren't allowed to eat it on site, which I would be fine with.

I don't know if the rules have changed but when I previously pre-ordered 5 lbs. of a variety of meats there was nothing against eating on-site. In fact, I was going to carry it away to eat at home when the guys I was in line with for 4 hours told me I just HAD to eat some here - so I did. Somehow I didn't go home with 5 lbs of Q. Another of life's mysteries.

Kevin James · Jul 3, 2022

TravelingJ said:
It depends how far in advance you can make the order I had an order in place when I knew I was going to be in Austin a month in advance-so I had pounds of hot/sliced brisket, etc. Then that trip was canceled on the day before (literally 30 minutes before I'd lose my deposit on the food!)

By time it was rebooked, most of the available windows were sold out, and for the 3 days I was there, not a single time slot would let me get hot brisket by the pound, so I paid the 170 for the whole/cold/vacpac.

The wait was about 30 minutes after I checked in. They had 3-4 picnic tables set aside that you could eat at. I ate some turkey before I loaded up in the car and hit the road. Best turkey I've never had.

jimstocks53 said:
I don't know if the rules have changed but when I previously pre-ordered 5 lbs. of a variety of meats there was nothing against eating on-site. In fact, I was going to carry it away to eat at home when the guys I was in line with for 4 hours told me I just HAD to eat some here - so I did. Somehow I didn't go home with 5 lbs of Q. Another of life's mysteries.

Well, if you can still eat it on site that's even better. I guess my point is I didn't find this brisket to be so spectacular that I would get in line at 5:30am and wait 6 hours or so for it. But if the wait for advanced orders is pretty quick, I'd still like to give it a fair shake and try it hot and fresh from the restaurant to see if it's any better than this was. And again, not that this was bad, it wasn't. I enjoyed it, it's just that so much is made of how AMAZING Franklin's brisket is, and I expected to be blown away, but I was not.

ssv3 · Jul 3, 2022

It's different when you eat on site. I said it before and I will say it again that his brisket is all that and a bag of chips. I did try several other famous q joints while there and none come close. For example, I was disappointed with Black's in Lockhart and so were the brethren I went with.

Franklin sausage was meh and just like you described but the brisket, turkey and ribs were superior.

Kevin James · Jul 3, 2022

ssv3 said:
It's different when you eat on site. I said it before and I will say it again that his brisket is all that and a bag of chips. I did try several other famous q joints while there and none come close. For example, I was disappointed with Black's in Lockhart and so were the brethren I went with.

Franklin sausage was meh and just like you described but the brisket, turkey and ribs were superior.

I will take your word for it, and this is why I said I would still like to experience it hot and fresh from the restaurant.

Although, that being said, reheating in a sous vide bath is in my opinion going to provide little to no quality loss, and my primary issue was it was too salty. Based on his stated 50/50 S&P ratio, I don't think that would be different at the restaurant, and if not I would still have that same issue.

I also thought it was a little over done, but I can look past that as over is better than under for sure, and when you cook 100+ briskets at a time, I'm sure there is going to be some variance and that is unavoidable.

pjtexas1 · Jul 3, 2022

I had it at the restaurant. It did not change my life or impress me. The guys around me thought the same. It was damn good but not what I expected. But I didn't sit there smelling it for hours and hours. I think that and taking pics with the man himself change your opinion drastically. You put all that together and the "experience" is probably off the charts. Now I liked John Lewis' brisket better and John's sausage makes everyone else's taste like Johnsonville. At LA Barbecue I had that "experience". Maybe my taste buds were influenced too. I mean I talked to the pitmasters for an hour like we were in the back yard and they let me play with the fire. Just my .02

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blackdogbbq21 · Jul 3, 2022

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with the goldbelly order.

We were in Austin a couple months ago and we hit a bunch of bbq places on and off the Texas monthly list. Franklin was one of the places we went.

I did think the brisket we had at Franklin was still the best brisket we had of any restaurants we went but not by a huge margin at all. The flavor of the briskets we had across the board were all pretty similar. What gave the Franklin brisket a slight edge for me was the fat trim was perfect, It wasn't charred or crispy at all on the edges of the slices, the point meat wasn't mushy and the moisture was great. We didn't have bad brisket anywhere by any means. But I recall some minor flaws with other places briskets that i thought to myself if i had cooked this there are some things i would want to do better on the next cook. Even as minor as the way it was sliced and served.

The sausage you are right they for sure use a smaller diameter casing than most. When we went they had the house sausage and a Jalapeno Cheese special. The house to me was a well done classic sausage but yeah middle of the road. The Jalapeno was a little more unique. We had sausage at other places that were not quite as good, some as good and some that we liked better.

I agree with you also on the Texas style sauce. Its not a bad sauce it's just a pretty basic. I do really like the Espresso sauce at Franklin.

The ribs and turkey are very good at the restaurant. I didn't have the pulled pork. The sides are fine pretty simple but the meats are the star of the show.

Overall i still think Franklin is deserving of their recognition on the top 50 list. There are places that are doing meats and sides more unique, compared to Franklin's pretty classic menu. But i think Franklin still does what they do very well. I don't think I would have to go back there the next time I'm in Texas. There are many places i still want to try but I would go back to Franklin one day. I'm not going to tell anyone if the line is worth it or not i can't answer that for everyone. I do think that Aaron was a huge part of why there are so many places and people making good barbecue these days.

Kevin James · Jul 3, 2022

blackdogbbq21 said:
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with the goldbelly order.

We were in Austin a couple months ago and we hit a bunch of bbq places on and off the Texas monthly list. Franklin was one of the places we went.

I did think the brisket we had at Franklin was still the best brisket we had of any restaurants we went but not by a huge margin at all. The flavor of the briskets we had across the board were all pretty similar. What gave the Franklin brisket a slight edge for me was the fat trim was perfect, It wasn't charred or crispy at all on the edges of the slices, the point meat wasn't mushy and the moisture was great. We didn't have bad brisket anywhere by any means. But I recall some minor flaws with other places briskets that i thought to myself if i had cooked this there are some things i would want to do better on the next cook. Even as minor as the way it was sliced and served.

The sausage you are right they for sure use a smaller diameter casing than most. When we went they had the house sausage and a Jalapeno Cheese special. The house to me was a well done classic sausage but yeah middle of the road. The Jalapeno was a little more unique. We had sausage at other places that were not quite as good, some as good and some that we liked better.

I agree with you also on the Texas style sauce. Its not a bad sauce it's just a pretty basic. I do really like the Espresso sauce at Franklin.

The ribs and turkey are very good at the restaurant. I didn't have the pulled pork. The sides are fine pretty simple but the meats are the star of the show.

Overall i still think Franklin is deserving of their recognition on the top 50 list. There are places that are doing meats and sides more unique, compared to Franklin's pretty classic menu. But i think Franklin still does what they do very well. I don't think I would have to go back there the next time I'm in Texas. There are many places i still want to try but I would go back to Franklin one day. I'm not going to tell anyone if the line is worth it or not i can't answer that for everyone. I do think that Aaron was a huge part of why there are so many places and people making good barbecue these days.

Very well said. I agree that he elevated the game and I too think he is the reason a lot of places and people are making good BBQ these days. And he is definitely deserving of his spot in the TMTF list. No doubt.

You bring up a good point that I did not touch on in my review, and your comment on it was spot on. His fat trim is PERFECT. Every single slice had a very uniform 1/8th or so of fat that was just perfect. It was definitely less than a 1/4 inch, and was just enough.

Question for anyone who has ordered a Franklin Brisket on Goldbelly.com

jimstocks53

Take a breath!

Kevin James

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ssv3

somebody shut me the fark up.

Kevin James

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pjtexas1

somebody shut me the fark up.

blackdogbbq21

Take a breath!

Kevin James

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