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Salt Lick and Franklin have fundamentally different approaches to brisket. Totally cool if you don't have a preference, but it's sort of like saying programming language X is no different than language Y.

Franklin dudes have been grinding for years and I'm so stoked that they are starting to get national recognition outside of foodies and chefs.

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Can you elaborate on their differing approaches to brisket? I've been to Salt Lick in Driftwood - though it's been a while - but not to Franklin.

I'm not an expert, but I've had both (and dozens of others), I smoke my own brisket, and I feel like I have a decent understanding of it. Salt Lick mops their brisket with a mustard based sauce. They smoke their meats indoors over a direct heat, open pit. Franklin uses a "domino rub" of just salt and pepper (for brisket). They're dry smoked (no sauce) in closed, indirect heat, offset smokers (the wood is in a chamber to the side of the grills). Franklin can control the temperatures of his smokers MUCH better than Salt Lick can. You can taste the meat and smoke better on a Franklin brisket. Salt Lick has a lot more sauce flavor though, and the mopping does add moisture but not tenderness. I have a very strong preference to Franklin's. I think his is the best brisket I've ever had, but that being said, it's not so much better that I want to wait in line for 4 hours (It's a guaranteed wait of 4 hours whether you show up at 7AM or 10AM, but show up after 1, and they're sold out) more than once a year or so.

Try La Barbecue, smaller queues and now rated higher than Franklins

They're on my list for sure.

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