Austin BBQ star beats out H-town chefs for food 'Oscar'

Brisket as served at Franklin Barbecue in Austin. (Photo by J.C. Reid) Brisket as served at Franklin Barbecue in Austin. (Photo by J.C. Reid) Photo: J.C. Reid Photo: J.C. Reid Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Austin BBQ star beats out H-town chefs for food 'Oscar' 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

Houston went home empty handed at the 2015 James Beard Foundation Awards held Monday night in Chicago.

Hopes were high for another Houston win after chef Chris Shepherd took home last year's Best Chef: Southwest honor. But neither Hugo Ortega of Hugo's nor Justin Yu of Oxheart got the prize, often called the Oscars of the food world. The award for Best Chef: Southewest went to Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin.

This was Ortega's fourth consecutive nomination as Best Chef: Southwest; it was Yu's second consecutive nomination. Franklin triumphed over Ortega and Yu, as well as fellow Austin chef Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine, Martin Rios of Restaurant Martin in Santa Fe, N.M., and Kevin Binkley of Binkley's in Cave Creek, Ariz.

While Houston might not have prevailed at the awards, Texas did. Franklin, widely regarded as one of the superstars of the Central Texas-style barbecue renaissance, took the award for creating smoky magic at his barbecue trailer that opened in December 2009. The immense popularity of his smoked meats, especially his ethereal brisket, led to a restaurant that opened in spring 2011 and has been mobbed since, with epic lines and waits that stretch for hours. His restaurant is often described as serving the best barbecue in Texas, the country and possibly even the world.

Modest to a fault, Franklin was brief in his remarks in accepting the Beard award.

"It's huge for barbecue in general," he said at the podium. "On behalf of all the barbecue cooks before me and the ones to come, thank you."

Franklin recently published his first barbecue book, "Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto," co-authored with Jordan Mackay. His new cooking show, "BBQ With Franklin," debuts on public television later this month.

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Shepherd's win last year broke a more than 20-year drought for the Bayou City for a Beard Award (before that, the last time the award came to Houston was 1992 when Robert Del Grande won for his work at Café Annie).

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In his category Best Chef: Southwest, Franklin bested Ortega and Yu, as well as fellow Austinite Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine, Martin Rios of Restaurant Martin in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Kevin Binkley of Binkley's in Cave Creek, Ariz.