JMueller BBQ in Austin
I finally got around to trying JMueller BBQ a few weeks ago. I switched jobs and had some other things going and didn’t get around to writing up the post. So never the less here it is. I ended up taking all of the photo’s with my iPhone as well.
I have passed the location for JMueller BBQ almost daily since they’ve been open. The problem was that I never knew it was there because I was looking at some restaurants across the street. I knew it was in the area, but just didn’t realize it was where it was. It’s a trailer after all and it just didn’t really catch my attention. The sign is parallel with the street instead of perpendicular, which may have led me to miss it as well.
Photos by Ray Pierce
When we arrived it was about 11:15am. The line was fairly deep, as you can probably tell be the photo. It took us about 45 minutes to get through the line. They had already started to sell out of things by the time we got to the window to order, specifically the Prime Rib. Their prices weren’t as high as I had expected them to be. It was still really affordable for a good bit of food. Another big plus for me is that you get a small sample at the window before you order.
I wanted to get a bit of everything, but my body can only hold so much. So I started off with the basics. Brisket, Beef Sausage, Pork Ribs, and a gigantic beef short rib. Needless to say, it took be three meals to finish off everything because my eyes tell me that I can eat it all. The sausage was very good, it had a great smoke flavor and a really good consistency. I’m not sure if John makes it onsite, or just has it made for him, but it is good. The pork ribs were very tasty with a good peppery rub on them. The meatier end was fantastic, but the lean end was visibly dry and chewy.
Knowing that John grew up in the pits of Louie Mueller’s I couldn’t pass up ordering a beef rib. And I was rewarded for it. It’s a huge amount of meat on the bone, but it was so tender and flavorful. I was able to just take my fork and do some light pulling on it for a bite. The brisket was more of the same. Fantastically smoked and super moist. All I needed was fork to cut it/shred it in the bit sizes.
The BBQ sauce is something a bit different than you typical place. It’s chunky, it has bits of onions in it. It’s almost the consistency of chunky picante sauce. It’s got a different flavor than most “Texas” BBQ sauces, but it similar. Although you don’t need it for the meat, it’s still gives it a different experience.
JMueller BBQ also has a few sides if you are in the mood. The potato salad was good, but nothing spectacular. The side of note is the baked squash, it was really well done and you just don’t find it on many other BBQ menu’s.
So far this is in the top 2 for BBQ joints for me. Everything that I had across the board was really good.
House Park BBQ
Chris and I made our way to House Park BBQ on Friday. It’s taken us a while to get there because we never remember to have cash on us and it’s only at lunch. So we planned ahead a little and made sure that we had both things in order.
Photos by Ray Pierce - click on the images to go to the Flickr set
The building looks like it’s been there forever. When we rolled up, you could smell the smoke coming off of the pit. That’s always a great smell to me. There is quite a lot of paraphernalia on the walls that’s been there a long while and has absorbed the the smoke. Most of it has a smokey yellow patina to it. The stove behind the counter looks as if it had been there since the 1920′s.
The day we were there, they had the combo plate on special, so that we indulged in it. I grabbed the brisket and sausage, while Chris grabbed the brisket and pork loin. The brisket had a great flavor and was pretty tender. It was a very lean brisket though. If there wasn’t sauce ladled over it, it would have been pretty dry. The sausage was a good grind, but it lacked in flavor. There was nothing about it, that would make me long for it. Chris’ pork loin was tender and moist, but lacked flavor as well. The plates come with mustard potato salad, large cut coleslaw, and pinto beans. The potato salad was good, it had some peppers in it that gave it a good flavor. I’m not a cole slaw fan to begin with, so I won’t even try to review it. The beans were good, I think they were cooked with some of the BBQ sauce to give them a little different flavor. The BBQ sauce itself was a little thin, but wasn’t fully stained so there was some of the puree that a bit chunky. It had a good flavor, and worked well to cover up the dryness of the brisket.
Stubb’s ‘cue and Gogol Bordello
Stubb’s Bar-B-Q
801 Red River
Austin, TX
78702
http://stubbsaustin.com/
Some friends (Andy and Colette) bought me a ticket to the Gogol Bordello show at Stubb’s BBQ. They’ve raved about eating their ‘cue prior and during the concerts they’ve gone to. I now know why, it’s just a great lead in for the music. What’s better than hanging with your friends, grabbing some great food, and listening to some good music. One of these days I’ll make it down there for the Gospel Brunch.
I grew up in the Lubbock area and have had Stubb’s BBQ there and here in Austin. In all my trips, I’ve never actually had as good of BBQ there as I did this trip. Most of my other trips had left me wanting for better brisket, but I was totally satisfied with this. One the 2 meat plate that I ordered, the meat had a deep smoke flavor. Both the brisket and the turkey was moist, and the brisket was super tender to top it off. One of the things that I love, is when restaurants actually serve sweet tea. They had it and had it in big glasses which was even better.
The Serrano Cheese Spinach was really good, it was just a bit too spicy to actually finish it is all. When it hurts to eat something, I tend not to finish it. So if you are into spice, I would highly recommend it. The potato salad was a good chunky potato version, and I easily finished it off. I followed that up with some Pecan Pie a la mode. It wasn’t nearly as good as I was hoping for, it didn’t have a lot of flavor, it was too thin, and not enough pecans. Everyone else thought that their banana pudding was good, so I would probably recommend that instead (even though I can’t stand banana’s).
I ate so much I was pretty miserable most of the concert. Poor me, right? I wasn’t able to keep up with the pace of Gogol Bordello, but it was a really fun show. Not heard a lot of their music, but it was quite entertaining. This experience will make me come back to Stubb’s for some more ‘cue and concerts for sure.
