La Barbecue Joins Forces With Quickie Pickie

With the release of Texas Monthly’s best barbecue list yesterday came a little surprise: one of Austin's top barbecue spots La Barbecue is moving again, but just a two minute walk away from its current home. This time, the barbecue trailer is joining forces with Quickie Pickie on East Cesar Chavez.

Instead of a total takeover, La Barbecue will make full use of Quickie Pickie’s kitchen. Owner Zahir Prasla approached the La Barbecue team about the alliance. “We thought it would be a fantastic partnership,” co-owner Ali Clem told Eater, “with his fantastic selection of beer and wine for our customers and coffee for the early birds.”

The barbecue spot and market will share indoor and outdoor seating. To add the La Barbecue flair to the Quickie Pickie building, La Barbecue enlisted the help of muralist Xavier Scapani. It’s aiming to open in June or July.

The smoked meats menu will look the same: brisket, pulled pork, turkey, sandwiches, etc. Clem says they will potentially add specials and rotating sausages. The trailer will also add a new smoker for more pork and beef ribs.

Current La Barbecue pitmasters are Brendan Lamb and Francisco Saucedo, with Clem working as well. Dylan Taylor left for a position at Truth BBQ out in Brenham, Texas.

La Barbecue was originally going to open a brick and mortar on South Congress, but that didn't pan out. (Instead, McGuire Moorman Hospitality turned that space into wine bar and cafe June’s.) The trailer got around Austin first found on South First, then East 6th, then the Good Life Food Park at East Cesar Chavez, and over to its current home just a couple of blocks away at the Aztec Food Trailer Park.

La Barbecue is also expanding to Los Angeles. Clem notes that they’re going to take the current service trailer to the West Coast, along with one smoker. She and Lamb will head there, with the bright yellow trailer, to open the second location sometime in September. The black service trailer might end up being used for catering gigs.

Owner LeAnn Mueller, who stems from the famous smoked meats family of Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, made her Austin debut with her brother, John, with the JMueller BBQ trailer in 2011. When the siblings broke off, she teamed up with pitmaster John Lewis, renaming the venture La Barbecue in 2012. Lewis left to embark on his own barbecue and Tex-Mex restaurants in Charleston, South Carolina.

• All Coverage of La Barbecue [EATX]