:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57518195/DSC_8829.0.0.jpeg)
Eater’s roving restaurant critic, Bill Addison, just released his list of the 38 essential restaurants in America for 2017, and Franklin Barbecue made an appearance for the fourth year in a row. It’s the only Austin restaurant that has ever made the list.
It’s not just the brisket that has left an impression on Addison. The critic elaborated to Eater Austin:
Even with its temporary closure, Franklin remains the center of the barbecue conversation in America. Of course there are other smoked-meat destinations that have shorter lines, or whose brisket competes with the otherworldly textures that Aaron Franklin achieves. But, still, no other restaurant turns such deserving floodlights on our barbecue culture. That’s why it’s been on the list four years running.
Franklin Barbecue has had a somewhat tough year. The restaurant slipped from its #1 spot in the Texas Monthly rankings, and is currently closed thanks to damage from a fire in late August, though it should reopen next week.
