I decided that my journey to Franklin BBQ was so important that it warranted it’s own post. Not only was this the highlight of my trip, but it happened to be the BEST meal I ate while in Austin. I’d even put it on my list of the top 3 meals I’ve ever consumed in my lifetime – it was just.that.good.
After seeing Anthony Bourdain’s episode on Austin, I knew I had to hit up Franklin. Why, do you ask? Because he is my “older man crush” and anything he recommends has to be good. During his segment on Franklin BBQ, he mentioned that people wait up to 3 hours in line for this meaty goodness. Yikes – waiting for food is not exactly my cup-o-tea, but I was willing to give it a shot. I had even toyed with the idea of even getting off the plane and heading straight to the line, but that was quickly nixed by my fellow travelers and hosts and we ended up at a vegetarian breakfast joint instead. A bit on the opposite end of the spectrum, but whatevs.
Word on the street is that you need to be there by 9am in order to not get the slim pickings so I kept Franklin in my back pocket, bringing it up every day until finally it was decided that Friday was going to be the day, the glorious day of meat! Locals told us were were nuts to get up early to wait that long in line especially with the influx of ACL attendees in town. But I was determined and way too jazzed to have that deter me and promptly set my alarm clock for a bright and early 8am then went out and partied for the evening.
So……8am really didn’t happen, it ended up being more like 9am plus waiting around for everyone to get moving so by the time we got there it was 10am. I was worried, I was stressed, I knew there was just no way that we’d have a shot arriving that late. I became very depressed. I might have moped in the back seat of the car a little. But as we turned the corner and Franklin BBQ and all of its turquoise glory stood in front of me, I realized that the line seemed far more manageable than I’d thought. My depression suddenly cleared and I jumped out of the car, a six pack of hard cider in hand, and got our place in line. FYI – BYOBing in Austin is very much encouraged and hard ciders actually make a great morning beverage, just sayin.
I cracked open my first cider and one of the Franklin guys came around to ask us what we were thinking about ordering. I gave him our estimate and he say “no prob” – it was music to my ears!!! The BBQ gods were on our side that day and I was going to experience something major, I just knew it. We settled in for the wait which ended up being 2 hours or so….I think? It got sorta fuzzy in the end after consuming those ciders on an empty stomach.
We finally set foot over the threshold around 11:30am and the end was in sight. I decided that our order must be revised and must now include a bit of everything off the menu plus more of the brisket and pork ribs. I was greedy, hungry and determined not to miss out on the entire experience. The guys left it up to me and I stepped up to the meat counter, full of excitement, and placed my order with the friendly cook who sliced and diced it all right in front of me. Pulled pork, brisket (fatty and burnt ends), smoked turkey, sausage links and ribs became arranged on a tray and topped with fluffy white bread, slaw and beans.
It was like the heavens opened up and angels began to sing. I quickly grabbed our tray and headed outside to enjoy the deliciousness that was to come. What to try first? The burnt ends no doubt. Whoa. I swear, at was a religious experience. Then? The ribs and their peppery, juice goodness. Followed by? Smoked turkey so moist it was ridiculous then sausage links with the perfect ‘snap’. I kept my first round of tastes pure, with no sauces, bread or sides then tackled the second round by making meat sandwiches loaded up with the works. Any way I sliced and diced it, this BBQ was beyond my expectations.
We worked through a good 2/3 of our tray, leaned back, speechless, all knowing that we had the same thoughts running through our heads: I’VE JUST EXPERIENCED THE BEST BBQ EVER. Slowly, the remaining leftovers were packed up and tucked under our arms and we made our way home and spent the rest of the afternoon in blissful couch relaxation watching Dazed and Confused, nach. I may or may have not fallen asleep š The leftovers were consumed for dinner that night and even cold, outta the box, everything still tasted amazing. Truly a meal and an experience that will never be forgotten. My grandchildren will be hearing about this.
Me in front of one of Austin’s Moonlight Towers. If you’ve ever seen Dazed and Confused, you would know…..
Moody Austin
Zilker Botanical Gardens – children’s garden dino
Hiking hill country (pssst…it’s not that hilly)
Band photo!
Since we spent six days in Austin, we had a good chance to really explore the city and its abundance of outdoor activities and sights. The weather also cooperated with us for the majority of the time and we saw mid-80s with a rain shower here and there. Nothing like the wet, cold weather back in Seattle!
Zilker Botanical Garden
We had attempted to go to Barton Springs that day (more on Barton Springs in another post as it warrants its own) but found out it was closed for cleaning. Boo. I thought our day was going to be a wash but then remembered the great reviews of the botanical gardens, which happened to be right down the road. Unfortunately, most of the flora had bloomed for the year so there really wasn’t much to see AND the mosquitoes were horrible BUT it was a good way to get out of the sun. The Japanese garden section was quite lovely though and had some interesting water features. You could also hear the sound check going on for ACL, so that was a nice little musical bonus. Nothing like some pulsating beats whilst walking through the flowers!
Moonlight Tower
“The older you get, the more rules they are going to try and get you to follow. You just gotta keep on livin’, man. L-I-V-I-N.” Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
For all you film buffs out there, the Moonlight Tower was featured in the high school keg party scene of the 1993 cult film “Dazed and Confused.” The one in Zilker Park (pictured above) is not the exact one from the movie as I later found out with a quick iphone search – whomp, whomp. These 15 historical structures were built in Austin back in the 1890’s to provide light at night versus putting up a bunch of street lamps. They were also credited with putting a stop to a serial killer nicknamed The Servant Girl Annihilator (um, best serial killer name ever?) The towers are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Not super crazy to see, but the history behind them are pretty cool, man.
Barton Creek Greenbelt
We’d decided to get out of town for the morning and hiked about 4 miles on the upper part of this trail. I’d say hiking is a bit of a generous word for this trek – there was very little elevation gain – nothing like the hikes we have in Washington State where I’m sweating and cussing the entire way up! But I did enjoy seeing the natural side of Austin and it was nice to be under shaded trees and away from the sun.
We were pretty much straight off our red eye – surprised we were still standing…
Torchy’s Tacos! Always order at least one deep fried avocado taco.
The original Torchy’s food truck location – now they can be found all over the city for your enjoyment.
A love note written in graffiti – another famous piece of Austin wall art.
Adam getting into the Texas spirit š
The reason why we came to Austin (besides seeing our good friends!)
This was my first trip to Texas and I had high expectations for this city: Large music scene? Check. Yummy food scene? Check. Other cool things to see and do? Check. I hadn’t even gotten there and I was already ready to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, a red eye flight makes the ‘running’ part a bit more difficult and we just barely made it through the first day, though we look in decent shape in the photos – not sure how that happened…..
Highlights of our first day in Austin included photos in front of the many wall art installations around town, lunch at the legendary Torchy’s Tacos – the original food truck location no doubt – and some window shopping along South Congress. We crashed hard that afternoon, took a quick nap then hit up Elizabeth Street Cafe for a sumptious Vietnamese/French infused dinner with our hosts, Aaron and Laura. It was such a jovial time sitting on their outdoor patio (BTW – outdoor seating is a must in Austin – I think we ate inside only one time) that no pictures were taken but EVERYTHING was amazing there. For those of us that don’t know me, my phone is always out so I must have been having a really good time! We dined on fresh rolls and vermicelli and they made these delicious punches that came in large pitchers for sharing. Ours contained sparkling wine, lillet, grapefruit juice and thyme – a perfect way to toast to our first day in Austin.
More posts to come on the music, food and outdoor scene. Yee haw!
Photo courtesy of Danielle Plant, photographer extraordinaire!
The gal pals and I recently hit up the Madonna concert at Key Arena. We had bought tickets back in the spring and decided that it was time for us to “big girl splurge” on seats ie. not be up in the rafters for once. Thankfully, buying tickets 6 months ago slowly took away the pain of the ticket price – sheesh! I had to keep telling myself, “It’s Madonna Leslie, this is a once in a lifetime thing. You can do it – no big deal.”
Although her vocals aren’t anything to write home about, her stage presence and dance moves were totally amazing and made up for it. Seeing her move like that was honestly quite inspiring. If I could only move like that when I’m her age, I’d be set. Man.
She played for about two hours – the notorious cone bra was rocked, pants were dropped, political statements were made and priests were in abundance. At one point during ‘Like a Prayer’ I felt like we were in church, but not in one of those stifling, boring ones but like a totally kick ass, rock out with your ‘ish out type. I seriously considered taking Madonna as my religious at one point during the night. That’s normal, right? š
This show kicks off our week long music venture as we take off to Austin for Austin City Limits early next week. Yee-haw!!!
Ugh, late in posting this but I just didn’t see anything super inspiring in my Birchbox shipment this past month. I guess it can’t be a slam dunk every month – NBD. I have been curious about Madewell so I may have to do a bit of online shopping with this discount card (note: the coupon was only for the month of Sept. – bummer.). Other than that, it was kind of a yawn for me. Fingers crossed for a better box this coming month!
