Texas
I'm an Aussie who spent 7 hours in line to try some of the best barbecue in Texas. The wait was well worth it.
- I waited for seven hours to try Franklin Barbecue, considered the best barbecue in Texas by many.
- In line, I met other tourists and was even interviewed by a local paper.
- Despite the long wait, the food was amazing, and we made a day out of the experience.
Texas is renowned for its barbecue. One of the most famous places to get it is Franklin Barbecue in Austin, where people wait in line for hours to order.
Established in 2009, Franklin Barbecue has made quite a name for itself in the past few years. It’s regularly recommended in Michelin Guides, and publications from Texas Monthly to Bon Appetit have listed it among the best barbecue in Texas (and even the country).
Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain even called the restaurant’s brisket the “best” and “finest” he’s ever had in 2012.
As someone who loves Texan barbecue, I’d always wanted to try it.
Eventually, I got a group together to see if this spot was really worth the hype. We arrived at about 7 a.m. on a Saturday, and there was already a queue of about 80 people.
We got to know the others waiting in line
Ash Jurberg
The restaurant is in a pretty unassuming turquoise-and-white building, but we immediately noticed the crowds outside of it.
Most people in the queue came prepared with chairs and coolers full of drinks. Although we didn’t have chairs, we did bring some beer.
However, 7 a.m. felt a little too early to start drinking, so I had coffee first.
We started chatting with others in the line and discovered that most were not from Austin and had traveled from other states. We even spoke to a few international visitors.
Overall, the atmosphere was very friendly, and it felt like we were tailgating before a big sports game.
The back of the line was told there may not be enough food for them
After a couple of hours, when the queue had grown to a few hundred, a staff member came out to take orders.
These were not official orders, but the staff member wanted to try to check if there’d be enough of each order to cater to everyone in the queue.
Since there was a chance of demand exceeding supply, they advised people at the end of the queue to go home and not risk wasting their time. Thankfully, we were well within the cutoff limit and didn’t need to worry about the food running out before we ordered.
The samples we received left me wanting more
We could smell the delicious meat since the smokers were very close to the line, which made us even more eager to eat.
Around 10:30 a.m., another employee came to hand out some small samples.
Although the portion sizes were smaller than a bite, the piece I tried had me salivating. My stomach was rumbling, but I knew we still had a few hours left of waiting.
At one point, a local reporter started asking a few of us why we were in line.
A reporter from the University of Texas paper came to ask some tourists why they were there. As an Australian, I was one of the people interviewed. I joked I’d flown from Down Under for lunch just to fly home after eating — and they seemed to believe me.
At this point, I was getting delirious from the hunger.
Ash Jurberg
The doors finally opened at 11 a.m., and the queue began to move very slowly. Time moved even slower as I watched satisfied customers exit the restaurant.
I became impatient as we inched forward. Finally, around 1 p.m., we entered the restaurant and soon got to place our orders.
At last, we received our food after almost seven hours of waiting
Ash Jurberg
Once we made it inside, I was so hungry that I wanted to order several pounds of food, but I contained myself.
Finally, after almost seven hours, we sat down with plates full of meat and sides like coleslaw and pickles. The brisket melted in my mouth and no knife was required for the tender meat.
I felt like I was in food heaven.
The long wait was worth it
Ash Jurberg
After finishing our meal, we saw the owner and pitmaster, Aaron Franklin, emerge from the kitchen. We complimented him on his food and staff and told him that the experience was well worth the long wait.
I’ve tried many barbecue places in Texas, but this was the best I’ve had.
Customers can order Franklin Barbecue online to avoid this wait, but you must do so days in advance during a specific window and order at least 5 pounds.
Still, I think everyone should try the queue experience once since it makes for a fun day and an interesting story — plus, you get delicious barbecue at the end of the wait.
The No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies entered the morning hosting a non-conference game against the Samford Bulldogs in College Station, Texas, at Kyle Field.
Coming off an illustrious comeback win against South Carolina, A&M was much more fired up in the first quarter, getting off to a much faster performance compared to what it did a week ago in front of the 12th Man, where every fan was holding its breath that the offense could pull it together.
Going into intermission, the Aggies hold a 31-0 lead against the Bulldogs in a one-sided offensive thriller.
Major headlines in the first half include the wide receivers jumping out to a terrific start, where redshirt freshman Ashton Bethel-Roman and junior WR KC Concepcion continued to pile up yards, which helped Heisman-caliber quarterback Marcel Reed make a case to be the leading candidate with 120 yards and three touchdowns.
Running back Amari Daniels also culminated his best game, breaking his highest rushing game of the season and recording his first touchdown of the year. He accumulated 106 yards off nine attempts.
Anytime a powerhouse program takes on a smaller football program, there are often issues for the school with fewer recruits and fewer playmakers to make many stops on defense. Reed embarrassed the Bulldogs’ defense, chunking the ball everywhere with a ton of opportunities for his weapons to amass several receptions and yards on a cool morning.
On the first drive, he did that when he found ABR, who posted the first score for the Aggies on a spectacular 3-yard touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone. Setting up that score was senior RB Amari Daniels, who had 39 yards on three rush attempts.
Concepcion showed off his crafty route-running and ability to rack up yards after the catch, combining for 42 yards. On the third drive, Concepcion slipped up after dropping a pass from Reed that hit him on the fingertips, but he responded with a slant route in the end zone for a 6-yard score.
The Missouri City, Texas, native recorded only two receptions for 61 yards and continued to get reps on the field, which will benefit chemistry with his QB going into the game against Texas. ABR posted his second score of the morning on a 58-yard shot downfield from Reed that extended the lead to 21-0.
Offensive coordinator Collin Klein dialed up a fair number of play calls to get the running backs involved, and several possessions featured big chunks of yardage. Last week against South Carolina, the group gained only 64 yards, so it was a significant improvement from the start.
Daniels ended up commanding the ground game, where he tallied a majority of the touches with an explosive 41-yard run on the fifth offensive drive, which set him up to barrel into the endzone on the 1-yard handoff.
After coach Mike Elko saw enough from his offense, Reed’s day concluded as he watched the rest of the half from the sidelines. Redshirt freshman QB Miles O’Neil entered under center for two drives, tossing six yards off four passes before freshman QB Brady Hart ran the offense for the rest of the first half.
A&M’s defense had no problems running right through the Samford offensive line, which attempted to protect the QB, Quincy Crittendon. There were only a couple of possessions that the tacklers let the 1-10 Samford team gain a few yards and move the ball downfield.
On third down conversion, the Aggies held the Bulldogs to go 0-for-8. That has been one of the brighter spots for this defense, which has found a ton of success throughout the season. No first downs were recorded either. That was a positive area holding the Bulldogs to -2 passing yards.
In the air, the secondary held Samford to no positive yardage with a dominant performance from the cornerbacks. Senior Tyreek Chappell had one pass breakup in the endzone, getting nearly intercepted, which contributed to forcing a three-and-out.
Safety Marcus Ratcliffe also contained the big plays from being allowed a week ago against the Gamecocks, with two back-to-back tackles on Samford’s third drive, where one of them stopped a busted play.
In the ground game, the Samford RBs had only 27 yards, courtesy of a brick wall kit that they were running into. Protection wasn’t powerful, as freshman defensive end Marco Jones led the team with five total tackles.
The second half of the game at Kyle Field will continue shortly on SEC Network+.
The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily halted a lower court order that threw out Texas’ redrawn congressional maps in time for next month’s candidate filing deadline — as the state and its legal opponents square off on whether the maps were driven by politics or race.
Lawyers for Texas had asked the court earlier Friday to issue a stay and effectively let Texas return — at least for now — to the maps it passed over the summer, which redrew five Democratic House seats to make them more GOP-friendly.
Justice Samuel Alito granted the state’s request for an administrative stay, which means the lower court ruling is now on hold until the Supreme Court takes further action.
Texas is asking the high court to stay the lower court ruling on a longer-term basis by Dec. 1, noting that the deadline for candidates to file for next year’s primary elections is Dec. 8. He directed the plaintiffs who sued Texas to file their response by Monday afternoon.
The state’s redistricting push set of a nationwide effort to redraw House maps ahead of next year’s midterms, with California shifting five congressional districts to the left, and Missouri and North Carolina each shifting a seat to the right. President Trump has pushed other GOP-led states to take similar steps.
But earlier this week, a panel of federal judges blocked Texas from using its new maps in a 2-1 ruling. The court’s opinion, penned by Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, sided with plaintiffs who argued the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
The lower court pointed to a majority-White Democratic district that it said should have changed more if the process was driven purely by politics, not race. It also argued that some state officials, like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, seemed to move in response to a letter by a top Justice Department official warning them to redraw four existing districts that the federal government viewed as illegal “coalition” districts, where non-Hispanic White voters are in the minority, but no racial group has a majority.
In Friday’s request to the Supreme Court, the state of Texas pushed back on these arguments, asserting that the redistricting process was entirely partisan and wasn’t motivated by race.
“From the start, everyone recognized that the purpose of Texas’s redistricting effort was Republican political advantage,” the state wrote, quoting several elected Democrats who criticized the new maps on political grounds.
Texas said the lower court ruling “erroneously rests on speculation and inferences of bad faith.” And it said the state GOP’s chief mapmaker worked with data on partisanship rather than race.
In some cases, the state of Texas cited a dissent from the lower court ruling written by Judge Jerry Smith. The Reagan appointee drew headlines earlier this week for his fiery opinion, which used the phrase “I dissent” 16 times, called Brown an “unskilled magician,” said the majority opinion would deserve an “F” on a law school exam and accused the other judges of improperly leaving him out of the process.
The State of Texas also argued the lower court ruling could cause “chaos” since it was issued during the candidate filing period for next year’s races.
The No. 17 Texas Longhorns need a win on Saturday against the Arkansas Razorbacks for a multitude of reasons.
The hopes for the College Football Playoff hang on by a thread, with an opportunity to keep that thread intact with a win over one of its oldest rivals — a team riding an eight-game losing streak heading into Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Some of those losses could have easily gone the other way; six of eight decided by one score, including a one-point loss against LSU a week ago.
The Razorback’ bring one of the nation’s most potent offenses, led by the dynamic playmaker Taylen Green at quarterback. The problem is that offense is shackled to one of the nation’s worst defenses, giving up 32 points per game.
With the recent defensive struggles for the Longhorns, this could very well turn into a shootout, with both quarterbacks putting up monster numbers. Will Texas have what it takes to get the win over the Hogs in Austin?
Livestream: ESPNUnlimited
Radio: Texassports.com. Broadcasts are also available on Sirius 132, XM 199, and App Ch. 953
Weather: Mostly Sunny, 76 degrees, wind NNE 8 mph
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