This summer a friend of mine finally decide tosolve one of Austin’s little mysteries: who actually has the best barbecue in town? Is it really worth three hours to wait in line for brisket? Really? Let’s be honest. Peter, who is ever the entrepreneur , finally set it up, priced it out and got us all together for a little friendly backyard barbecue taste-off. We all paid $35 for brisket, ribs and sausage from each of the three Austin barbecue beasts: Franklin, La Barbecue and J. Mueller. Oh and there was a keg to wash it all down. While all three were sweaty, juicy, meaty goodness, there was a clear winner for each category. Here is how it went down: we each got a huge plate, each piece had a colored toothpick. No one besides Peter knew which toothpick belonged to which meat house. Whatever tasted the best, we put the that toothpick in the winner’s cup. It was pretty unanimous about the brisket. Hands down we all agreed, the blue toothpick was indeed the tastiest.
The Man, The Myth, The Legend.
Lucy joined the party, what a lucky dog!
And the winners were:
Brisket: La Barbecue
Ribs: Franklin
Sausage: La Barbecue
I have to admit, I thought Franklin was going to take the cake, but side by side there was no competition for me as far as brisket was concerned. Everyone else agreed too. You can read another review of the event here. And if you don’t have time to wait three hours in line, I recommend the free beer and El Sancho at La Barbecue.
Now all you have to do is blind taste test La Barbeque versus Lockhart BBQ (Smitty’s, Kruez’s, and Black’s)…I think La Barbeque will come in 3rd.
So many great places! Maybe we can expand the taste-off each year. There’s a thought.
You are high. You don’t even need to eat Lockhart’s garbage in the same year, much less head-to-head, to know La Barbecue and Franklin are in a different league. Franklin and La Barbecue were/are game changing for brisket.
The only comparison more absurd would have been if you wanted a showdown against Salt Lick.
Even worse, you can’t count, or spell- I assume you meant La Barbecue would have come in 4th (behind all 3 Lockhart joints), and barbecue is spelled with a “c”, at least in Texas, which I’m doubting you were born in.