Aaron Franklin

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Dining Guide |
March 18, 2020

Dining Guide: Highlights From Our April 2020 Issue

Texas Monthly adds and updates approximately sixty restaurant listings to our Dining Guide each month. There’s limited space in the print issue, but the entire searchable guide to the best of Texas cuisine is at your fingertips online!Below are a few highlights from the new restaurants reviewed in our April 2020 issue.

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BBQ |
May 9, 2017

Hot Luck Preview

Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck festival will debut in Austin in a couple weeks. Despite Franklin’s involvement, this isn’t strictly a barbecue festival, but smoked meat fans needn’t worry. There are still plenty of talented pitmasters coming to Austin for the highly anticipated food festival.The Hi Lo and Al Fuego,

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BBQ |
August 18, 2016

Franklin Barbecue in Sweden

Although he runs Franklin Barbecue out of Austin, Aaron Franklin is known worldwide for his barbecue. Franklin’s smoked meats are respected by his peers and revered by critics, and he has a James Beard Award to prove it. He has shared his knowledge through his show, BBQ With Franklin, and his

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BBQ |
May 2, 2016

Brisket at the Beards

Last year, Aaron Franklin made history by being the first pitmaster to win in the Best Chef category at the James Beard Awards. He’s back at the awards ceremony in Chicago this year with the dish that got him the 2015 prize. Franklin packed up twenty

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BBQ |
July 6, 2015

Franklin for President

With all the candidates thus far who have entered the 2016 run for president, the logos and mottos abound. Our new crop of Texas Monthly interns figured that none of the candidates matched the qualifications of one Aaron Franklin, proprietor of Austin’s Franklin Barbecue, so they made some alterations to the

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BBQ |
May 5, 2015

A James Beard for Barbecue

Aaron Franklin did it. Last night the owner and pitmaster at Austin’s Franklin Barbecue became the first ever pitmaster recognized in any “best chef” category of the annual James Beard Foundation Awards. (See this earlier post for more on the significance of the win) For the

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BBQ |
April 1, 2015

Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto

Aaron Franklin is giving us the keys to his barbecue kingdom. Some of his meat smoking secrets have already been leaked via his YouTube series BBQ With Franklin, and more is to come with a new PBS series of the same name, but his upcoming book

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BBQ |
March 31, 2015

Scrubbing Out Austin’s BBQ Growth?

If you live on the outskirts of Austin, your suburb might be the new target for barbecue joints looking to open in Travis County. That is if prospective restaurateurs see a new resolution from the Austin City Council as too onerous. It requires that barbecue smokers (and other wood-fired cooking devices)

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BBQ |
February 24, 2015

A Barbecue Man in a Quiche Town

Barbecue’s reputation in the culinary world has turned a corner. Last week the nominations for the New York based James Beard Foundation’s annual awards were announced, and a pitmaster was among the names that were otherwise a roll call of haute cuisine. Under the heading “Best Chef: Southwest”

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BBQ |
February 5, 2014

Aaron Franklin, Author

Pitmaster, pit builder, television star, dad – these all define Aaron Franklin of Austin’s Franklin Barbecue. By next year you’ll also be able to call him an author. Not only was his new television series with KLRU announced two weeks ago, but now comes a

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BBQ |
January 24, 2014

Franklin Barbecue T.V.

Aaron Franklin of Austin’s Franklin Barbecue is getting a TV show. If you’ve enjoyed the BBQ with Franklin series on Youtube, then you’ll be happy to know that there’s a lot more coming. KLRU produced the popular web series, and this year they’ll shoot ten episodes with Franklin

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BBQ |
July 17, 2013

Interview: John Lewis of La Barbecue

Owner/Pitmaster: La Barbecue; Opened 2012Age: 35Smoker: Indirect Heat Wood-Fired PitWood: Post OakI talked to John Lewis over the phone while he was making preparations at La Barbecue to open up the following day. John Lewis became the pitmaster at La Barbecue on November, 4 2012. That’s a few

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BBQ |
July 5, 2013

How to Slice a Brisket

When I’m watching a brisket being sliced, a few things make me shudder, like the aggressive purr of an electric knife, the whine of a deli slicer, and, the worst offense, watching the fat cap being discarded (but we’ll save that for another column).I’ll concede that there are several ways to

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BBQ |
June 28, 2013

BBQ Anatomy 101: The Slaughter

For three days this week I was a student at Beef 101, an intensive course taught by the Texas A&M University meat science staff, led by Dr. Davey Griffin, Dr. Jeff Savell, and Ray Riley. The class covers everything about cattle, from the time

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BBQ |
June 14, 2013

In Defense of Gassers

For one night last week, Franklin Barbecue was transported from Austin to New York. Texas Monthly brought Aaron Franklin and his kitchen manager, Braun Hughes, to cook a little barbecue in the pit of Hill Country Barbecue Market in Manhattan. Tickets for the event sold out in less than a

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Eat My Words |
May 31, 2013

“The Kings of BBQ: Barbecue Kuwait” to Air on KLRU

On Thursday, June 6, KLRU will air a television special entitled The Kings of BBQ: Barbecue Kuwait.The documentary details the experience of five BBQ pitmasters (Myron Mixon, Johnny Trigg, Jaime Geer, Nicole Davenport, and George Stone) and their trip to a military base in Kuwait to create a

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BBQ |
May 29, 2013

Interview: Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue

Aaron FranklinOwner/Pitmaster: Franklin Barbecue in Austin; opened in 2009Age: 35Smoker: Five steel offset smokers made from 1000 gallon propane tanks that are 5/16” thick.Wood: Post oak. Some seasoned, some green.Last week, I sat down with Aaron Franklin over a tray of ribs and brisket at the Blue Ox

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BBQ Joint Reviews |
May 21, 2013

Franklin Barbecue

The best barbecue joint in Texas is only four years old. This is an unusual development, but one that will surprise no one familiar with Franklin Barbecue, which, since opening in 2009, in a trailer off Interstate 35, has built a cult following for its meats. Has any other restaurant

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Music |
March 14, 2013

13 Rules For Having Fun At SXSW

It's already two days into SXSW Music. It's crowded. The schedule app is overwhelming. But the festival is what you make of it. 13 personal rules from Texas Monthly Senior Editor Jason Cohen, whose first SXSW was in 1991

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BBQ Joint Reviews |
February 5, 2013

John Mueller Meat Co.

You may remember last October when John Mueller was shut out of his well-regarded JMueller BBQ trailer on South First Street in Austin. He wasn’t happy about it, to say the least, but stayed quiet, plotting his return. That

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