Austin’s Famed La Barbecue Aims for a Second Location in Los Angeles

Austin, Texas smoked meat haven La Barbecue is coming to Los Angeles, with promises to provide some of the best smoke meat this city has ever seen.

Rumors have swirled for a little while now about a West Coast expansion of the popular Texas operation, and now it seems things are moving right along. In fact, if you check way down at the bottom of the La Barbecue website, you’ll see a little section for their existing address in Austin, alongside a note that reads “Los Angeles: Coming Soon”.

For those unfamiliar, La Barbecue offers a bit of Texas-sized barbecue royalty by way of co-owner LeAnn Mueller. Her father is Bobby Mueller, a longtime icon in the Taylor, Texas barbecue scene thanks to his Louie Mueller Barbecue operation. Bobby passed away in 2008, so now LeAnn runs the show with her own La Barbecue, which itself has drawn rave reviews.

LeAnn and partner Alison Clem apparently split their time between Los Angeles and Austin already, so an extension of their barbecue greatness seems only a matter of time. As for an exact location, Mueller tells LA Weekly the same thing she told Eater last week: They aren’t ready to divulge details just yet on the when and where. Regardless, this is a city that, while not quite starved of the good stuff, could still stand to take things up a couple of notches, so the more competition on the smoked meat circuit from Texas-bred places like La Barbecue, the better.

• This Underground Barbecue Joint Reflects LA’s True Smoked Meat Tradition [ELA]

Watch: Everything on La Barbecue’s Menu in 60 Seconds