Austin came up as a place to visit with friends this year. So we rented a lake house and drove down for long weekend. We met up at The Picnic—a food truck court where there was something for everyone. (I love food truck parks!)
Stacy and I chose the Dock & Roll truck. She got a lobster sammy and I got the crab sammie.
The truck has great reviews but complaints about how expensive the sandwich is. Come on people. It's LOBSTER. What do you expect??? I would absolutely get either sandwich for the price. And I think the coleslaw is the best I've ever had, the flavor was strong and it was chilled to perfection.
Others had Italian from Cananone.
Lex found some Gluten Free options at a Venezuelan truck, Four Brothers.
And I also wanted to taste an Açai bowl, as I had never previously had one. Everyone sampled a bit. It was light in flavor but refreshing.
Then amongst our wanderings we entered
Dolce Neve Gelato. They have interesting flavors.
I believe I had goat cheese and pecan. There might have been honey in it, I don't recall but honey would have been good.
Then the day was over and we headed back to the house to hang out and play games...Oh, and also to go to bed because we had to be up and in line for lunch by 7:00am.
Wait, WHAT?
It's called FRANKLIN BARBECUE.
Arguably the best smoked barbecue in the United States (The Austin chronicle called it the "Best brisket in the history of the world") the queue at Franklin Barbecue often starts around 5-6:00 AM but the restaurant doesn't open until 11:00AM. It's THAT GOOD. Or at least that's what my research told me and that's what I tried to convince my friends.
I wanted to be in line early enough to ensure we would get inside, because when the meat runs
out, those left outside in the line go home.
Part of the fun in eating here IS the wait. A beer club met up the day we attended and was next to us. Members had traveled from different states to meet and eat at Franklin's. People bring chairs, beer, coffee, games, and friendly company. There's excitement and a good mood floating among the crowded line, which by the time the eatery opened had wrapped around the block.
While we waited, some of us walked a couple of miles to grab some sweet treats from
Voodoo Doughnuts on historic 6th street. (The street is mainly known for its nightlife, so Voodoo doughnuts is open 24 hours, but was DEAD when we walked in that morning.)
These treats can only be found in Austin and Portland, and since I didn't have it when in Portland, I was excited for the chance taste what all the fuss is about.
Before we arrived I had my donuts picked out and saved on my phone.
Um, yes. Good. Yes. Yes. Bavarian cream nom nom.
We took the donuts back and ate them in front of everyone in line. Khee hee.
I actually really liked this one, the mango jelly was surprisingly good. And who can resist Tang when they haven't had it since they were a kid?
Who wouldn't want to try this one? It was of course, not disappointing.
Our friends bought the buttermilk bar and let us try it. It was WONDERFUL fresh. I think it has made it to my list of favorite donuts. Oh, and don't worry, when I say "try" that's what I mean. I didn't eat a single whole donut. They were passed around and we all partook.
And then we waited some more. While you wait, someone takes your order...because they know exactly how much meat they have, so know exactly where in the line they will run out. The Franklin staff try to give fair warning to those after that point.
When we finally got in the smell was amazing! The guy at the door gave us high fives. The guy at the counter gave us samples and all kinds of yummy grunts escaped our mouths. We bought t-shirts and considered buying Franklin's book on how to build the perfect smoker. (Still might.)
And then we took our tray laden with delicious animal meat and found a table on the patio in the corner. Marla confessed later that she and Lex both considered me CRAZY for wanting to wait in a line for FOUR hours to just for barbecue. To them, especially Lex, NOTHING is worth that kind of wait. (But they are easy going, so they didn't voice their complaints at all.) But after trying the first bite—especially the ribs—they both said it was TOTALLY worth it and say they would do it all over AGAIN! Whew!
The meat is SO flavorful. I can't describe it, but it was perfection, soft, juicy, eye rollingly good. You don't know what good barbecue is until you've had this. This will be the standard to which I measure all barbecue.
And then, fate gave us an extra treat. Our table was next to a door. Out of the door came a few people followed by a wave of heat, and then a sweaty man with a beard poked his head out and queried, "Would you like to see?"
See? See what? The smokers! We leapt up from the table (as quickly as you can when you're sitting at a bench of a picnic table) and scrambled to get inside.
It was terribly hot of course, because the smokers were in use, but what a pleasure to see how the meat is smoked and learn details about the process. For example: They season the ribs with ONLY salt and pepper. This knowledge will blow your mind if you get to taste them.
The brisket is so tender, it's like eating bread. It's all about the quality of the marbling in the cut. Franklin uses only the best which occurs in about one cow in 23. THAT'S why his barbecue is famous. THAT'S his secret—the quality of the meat, not the seasoning.
This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. If you visit Austin, you MUST do this. If you would like more information there are TV specials and YouTube highlights. Just google: Franklin Barbecue. And if you would like a bit of light reading on barbecue in Texas, I've copied a short, well written article at the end of this blog post which was hanging on the wall at Franklin's.
We then spent the day visiting a few interesting places and stopping for food if it was on the way.
A one-of-a-kind emporium of transcendent junk.
(I meant, how can one NOT visit a place with this description?)
They had so much letterpress block type, it made me sad I couldn't just buy it all up.
Butterfly wing collection.
On our way to a city wide garage sale at the Palmer event center...I noticed we would be passing a pie place I had pinned on my map. So of course we had to stop!
These
Tiny Pies are by far the best little pies I've ever had. For you locals, it's better than Emporium Pies. The crust was delicious and not overworked. Below you see their brownie pecan pie, cherry pie and strawberry rhubarb pie.
Below: Apple pie.
I'm only 1% glad there isn't one of these here in Fort Worth...because I'd be stopping there every day. But I'd work it into my daily calorie allowance.
And THEN I noticed we'd also be passing a
Chi'lantro BBQ and would anyone like to try the famous Kimchi fries? They were hard to share, but still very good. I'd like to go back so I can mix up the fries so they are all gooey and have everything all over them.
Finally we made it to the giant yard sale—where we didn't find anything. But next door the yearly Arts Fest was going on. So we visited THAT too. I realized an illustrator friend of mine from college might be there (one of my favorite roommates actually)...and to my excitement we DID run into her!
Desi, I think of you from time to time and miss you. I LOVE that you are "making it" in the creative arena and am in awe of you!
Website here.
Before leaving the city, we made a mad dash to
Easy Tiger where we heard the pastrami sandwich was phenomenal.
Don't you just love walking into bakeries like this? So rustic, so familiar, charming, human-made...you know?
And please forgive me for yelling but THIS IS THE BEST PASTRAMI SANDWICH EVER!!!! It is SO GOOD! It's drip down your wrists juicy. The rye bread is homemade, the sandwich is served hot, the pastrami is not the thin sliced but fat and robust. It has kraut, swiss, and Easy Island dressing. I can't even. I must stop trying to describe it because it's making me emotional.
The house where we stayed had a view of Lake Travis and a fire pit and patio. We intended to spend more time there, but I think the pull of the city was too much for most of us. In the end we only spent our evenings there.
On a walk we ran across a small tarantula, which chased Adam for a bit.
We set up chairs to watch a storm roll in. (I have no idea why everyone's hands are up for this photo.)
We also quickly visited the State Capital, which is gigantic. It's the largest state capital in the United States. Of course.
Looking down into an open (and yet enclosed) courtyard from the street.
Standing inside, in the center, under the dome.
Looking up into the dome. Around the star are the letters TEXAS.
Let's end with dessert because that's the right thing to do.
Welcome to
Gourdough's big, fat, donuts.
These are completely different than the Voodoo variation. THESE are knife and fork donuts. With no hole, they are covered in all kinds of sweet, sticky toppings. There's one that takes around 20 minutes to make because it includes fried chicken!
Here is Adam's choice: Heavenly Hash—Marshmallow with chocolate fudge icing topped with brownie bites.
You can't even see the donut!
Marla got something with butter, sugar and cinnamon icing (bottom right). She liked it so much, she growled when she took a bite. And again when she took her second bite.
I prefer the ODB—cream filled donut holes, with icing rolled in coconut. They are hot and crispy little bites of heaven.
Sorry for the bad photo but still. These are good enough that later Nick and Stacy took a day and drove back down to Austin just to eat these again. Seriously.
We had a good little vacation with our friends. I think we ate a lot more often than most of us were planning, but I'm glad we were willing because I don't think anyone regretted it! I'm excited to go back again. There's still so much to taste and to see. I'm beginning to like this city, it has just the dash of weird we're missing over here in Fort Worth. I can't believe we haven't been sooner than this!
As promised, the article about Texas Barbecue:
In other parts of the country, the goal of barbecue is to make something delicious in a reasonable amount of time with the greatest chance of success. In those places the pig is the chosen animal. We Texans cook pig ourselves, having found that spareribs make an excellent hors d‘oeuvre, but let’s be candid; anybody with half a brain can cook pork. The meat is juicy and soft, and in many Southern barbecue joints, the finished product is hacked to pieces and slathered with sauce. Just to be safe, they’ll often pile some slaw on top, stick it inside a bun, and serve it with more sauce. The result is a pleasant enough starter dish for a child or remorseful vegetarian, but it does not represent a serious challenge. A dish towel could be made palatable with such treatment. Texans, a frontier people never known for doing things the easy way, have chosen a different path, one that requires years of practice to master. In Texas, we cook beef brisket.
What makes brisket so difficult to do right? Let’s start with basic anatomy. The brisket is the area of muscle between the front legs of a steer or cow. Each animal has two briskets, the left and the right, and they are full of tough connective tissues. Only slow, tedious cooking at a narrow and unforgiving temperature range will break down this tissue, which is why the best Texas pit masters start their workday somewhere around two or three in the morning.
But it gets worse. Within each brisket are two completely different muscles. The first, near the rib cage, is big, thick, and well marbled. The public calls this “fatty” brisket and pit masters call it “the point.” The second is thinner, longer, and more scantily marbled. Customers know it as “lean” brisket and butchers refer to it as “the flat.” Smoked by an inexperienced cook, a brisket’s flat will be done while its point is still mooing, but by the time the point is finished, the flat is as dry as a creek bed.
The final challenge comes at the end. First off, the muscle fibers in the point and flat run in different directions, so if you cut a whole brisket at the same angle, half the slices will be tender while the other half will be as stringy as your mother’s pot roast. And now for the sadistic part: while other styles of barbecue hide mistakes with sauce, a proper Central Texas smoked brisket is placed before the customer unadorned.
Brisket, in other words, is not for the faint of heart. Which is why we love it so much. When it’s done right (as at Franklin Barbecue), the result is an ebony-crusted, gloriously smoked, scandalously fatty piece of heaven, the enjoyment of which derives not only from the deliciousness of the meat but also from an understanding of the profound devotion and hard-won knowledge required to bring it forth.
–Patricia Sharpe
