Meat by Franklin

Let's talk meat, shall we?

At Franklin BBQ, Dale and I tried it all. We were warned that they may be out of ribs by the time we made our way to the counter (after waiting 3 hours in line) but we got lucky. They had ribs and so we had the ribs, and the brisket and the turkey and the sausage and the pulled pork.


Normally, I don't really go for the pulled pork. I'll take a bite of sausage but I never eat even half a link. That is because I never had sausage or pulled pork the way Franklin does it and sister, Franklin do it gooooood.


The meat pics are blurry as I was rushed when I took them. I knew I wanted to document the experience, but I wanted to eat it so badly. No time for setting up a good shot. No way to hold my iphone steady as my hand was trying desperately to shove the food into my mouth.



Pulled Pork:

Good lord, that was good.



The brisket was amazing, but I was not as blown away by it as I was the sausage and pulled pork. I think it is because I was expecting the brisket to be great and had no great expectations for the other meats.


The ribs? They fell off the bone.


Turkey? Juicy, my friend. J-U-I-C-Y!

This photo was not set up. Dale was not making that face for the camera. He was mesmerized by the meat. I thought he might start to cry.


Was it worth the three hour wait? Unless you are starving and waiting in line for your ration of food during some sort of economic crisis, I don't think any food is worth waiting 3 hours for. Having said that, the wait in line was fun.....part of the overall experience. You bring some beverages, some chairs, some music and some friends and you feel like you are at a tailgate party or somebody's back yard BBQ.  The employees are VERY nice. The nicest food service workers I have ever met, actually.  Our  experience at Franklin BBQ was great, from start to finish. I highly recommend this joint.

Franklin

I've been meaning to go to Frankin BBQ ever since this past summer when a co-worker described how good she thought the food was. But, it's all the way on the east side and I am just not over in that area very often. Months passed and then my husband and I saw Anthony Bourdain visit Frankin BBQ on his show, No Reservations.  Anthony refers to Franklin's brisket as being "supernatural." Later in the show, Anthony claims that Franklin's is the "best BBQ brisket he has ever tasted." That's a mighty fine endorsement.
Go ahead and watch this clip before reading the rest of my post:


Don't you just love how that brisket quivered as it hit the board? That visual stuck with me. After seeing that, I HAD to go to Franklin BBQ for the brisket. I'm not sure if you caught this bit of important information from the clip....but the wait in line can be THREE HOURS. This is not a place you can just pop in and have lunch. You have to be ready for the wait...whatever that means.

I woke up Yesterday morning and knew it was a Franklin BBQ type of day. I felt the calling. I rolled over and asked Dale if he wanted to go to Franklin. His eyes popped open and said "yes." I've never seen Dale get out of bed and get ready so quickly. We made two stops on the way to Franklin's: 1. Starbucks (for coffee and breakfast) 2. Academy (for some portable folding chairs). We arrived at Franklin's around 10:15. The place opens at 11:00. The line was already down the block.

Dale and I unfolded our chairs and sat down. Soon after, a Franklin employee walked up and informed us that we would probably be waiting for 3 hours and that the ribs would most likely be gone by then. This news scared off the group of 6 standing infront of us. Dale and I held our ground. The weather was beautiful and we had nothing else to do that afternoon.


A few minutes later, another employee came by selling beverages (Big red in the glass bottle, water, and a variety of beer). Dale purchased a beer and all was well.
The frat boys in front of us pulled out a little jawbone jambox and began playing Hall and Oates. I could dig it. They also had coolers filled with their own adult beverages. One of the frat boys was wearing a Franklin BBQ shirt. They were veterans of this game.
Being in line was like being at a tailgate party or sitting in a friend's back yard during a BBQ get together. Dale and I chatted with those around us. A few fellas from West Virginia (in town for the game) and an ex UT football player (also in town for the game) became our buddies. If you stand next to someone for three hours, you ought to go ahead and make friends.

See the frat boys?

Here is the back side of the building.

Nice colors.

The line inched forward. By the time we got to the side of the building, my tummy was talking to me. "Give me some dang old meat treats!"

I could smell the BBQ and it was almost torture. It smelled so good....meat, smoke, pepper....mmmmm.

Two hours and 45 minutes later, we made it to the front door:

I can't tell you how excited we were at this point. We still had about 20 more minutes to wait as the line continued on the inside. I'll pick up at that point and get to talking about the food in the next post.

Ya'll come back.