Genetta and I awoke super early, around 6a, and ate the edible Holiday Inn Express breakfast, heading out at 7:30a or so. We walked north then east, crossing the highway, and a short bit later found ourselves at Franklin Barbecue. The line was already a bit long, with some of the ones at the head of the line having lined up hours earlier. Many people came prepared with chairs, coolers, and the like. Genetta and I assumed our post at the end of the line and began the wait. Genetta read on her phone while I went through my copious Chrome tabs and closed lots of them. While the line did grow after we arrived it didn’t grow that much.
Our line position at Franklin Barbecue, Austin
It was getting quite hot so I got Genetta some unsweetened tea at the Legend Coffee stand in the parking lot. Around 9:30a or so a Franklin Barbecue employee worked her way down the line getting an estimate of what everyone would order so she could say “past this point is unlikely to get ribs”, etc. She also gave us an estimate for when we’d get in the building of 1:30p to 2p or so. Hearing that estimate a couple of nearby groups dropped (one had a wedding and couldn’t wait around) but they were all just after us — typical! A thunderstorm was also threatening, the sky just to our north having turned that bruised color. On the other hand, the cloud cover and strong outflow from the storm really helped cool us off and provided a nice breeze. I asked the employee what people did in case of rain and she’s like “yeah, it happens — just try and compress the line”. A-yup.
A very nice couple of Australians were just behind us and over an hour or so we had excellent conversation over a variety of topics — weather, politics, travel, etc. They had arrived in Los Angeles and, now in Austin, were parting ways. The guy was driving back to Los Angeles and the lady was going on to New Orleans to visit a friend. They did tell us an interesting story of being asked to show their passports while driving in New Mexico. Not crossing the border with Mexico, mind you, just a routine stop within the state. I later researched it and it turns out that law enforcement officers can ask for passports / identification for anyone within 100 miles of the national border. Strangely enough, this even extends to an ocean border, so even 100 miles inland all along the east coast (like say New York City and all of Florida) is fair game.
Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas
At 11a the restaurant finally opened and we started to advance. Great timing as it was starting to rain a little. We got lucky, however, in that it never did more than spit rain as the storm went to our west. We got under the building’s overhang about 11:30a just as Michelle and Addison conveniently showed up to join us in line. An employee came by and offered us a sample of brisket within folded white bread. Amazing! We were up the ramp and in the building at 12:15p and got a hat and shirt with the Franklin logo on it while we waited in line. About 12:45p (well ahead of the estimate, yay!) we ordered 1.5 lbs of brisket, a brisket sandwich, 1 lb of pork ribs, an individual potato salad, a slice of lemon chess pie, and a Texas blueberry pie. It was neat to see the guy wrestle the slab of brisket, unwrap it from its butcher paper wrapper, and carve it right in front of us. We had a choice between less or more fatty — guess which we chose! We ordered a St. Arnold root beer, two Mexican Cokes (meaning using real cane sugar), and a half-and-half sweet tea to chase it down. We found a spot at one of the tables (which had butcher paper as placemats) and dug in with our plastic utensils. Not exactly fancy, but it was AMAZING. The brisket quivered when I tried to lance it with a fork. Very tender, juicy, fantastic taste, and deliciously fatty.
Interior of Franklin Barbecue
What is surely the best job in the world, carving such glorious brisket!
Part of our meal — ribs, brisket, potato salad, and (a Texas staple) white bread to accompany it
Close look at the ribs and brisket
Remains of the feast, St. Arnold root beer to wash it all down
We left Franklin Barbecue about 1:30p and walked back to the hotel. After using the restroom we headed up I-35 to Dallas about 2:30p, arriving a little before 6p. Nothing really remarkable along the way, relatively flat country with many cottonwoods (I think) dotted about. I did eat the Texas blueberry pie along the way, however, and I must say it was phenomenal.
View of Waller Creek in Austin from a bridge
Check in went smoothly and we decided to go see Antman and the Wasp at Studio Movie Grill, one of those combination cinema and restaurant. As the place was practically adjacent to the hotel we arrived in plenty of time for the 7p movie and ordered. Michelle had a spinach and mushroom pizza with a chocolate shake; Genetta chicken tenders and frozen hot chocolate; Addison chicken tenders and chocolate shake; and myself a meat eater pizza and a strawberry shake. It was quite good (all things considered) and the movie was really entertaining. Returned back to the hotel about 10p or so and offloaded pics before heading to bed.
Route for Saturday, July 7th, 2018