Against the Grain How la Barbecue and Chef LeAnn Mueller Stood Out Against the Norm
WRITTEN BY: CARY WONG
A strong muscular man chopping wood. Maybe a heavily tattooed and mustached pitmaster tending the fire. We have certain stereotypes attached to those who own and work at a barbecue restaurant. The first image that comes to mind would surely not be a woman with short-cropped blonde hair. LeAnn Mueller, though, is exactly that. Along with her wife and partner, Chef Ali Clem, she runs la Barbecue, one of the best barbecue joints in the United States. As part of the “barbecue royalty” family, her grandfather opened Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Texas as one of the first restaurants to serve Texas barbecue. Her father, Bobbie, took over the pits in 1974; while her brothers Wayne and John also got involved in the barbecue game in their own ways as they grew up. Despite having helped out with the restaurant from a very young age until her mid-20s, Chef Mueller had her sights set on something outside the pit. She wanted to be a photographer. “If I don’t do this photography thing now,” she thought at the time, “I’m gonna be stuck here doing barbecue for the rest of my life.” So, she sold everything she owned, moved to Santa Barbara, California, and went to photo school.
After finishing her education in 2006, she moved to New York to work on her craft. Barely two months had passed when her dad called and said he had won the James Beard Award (the first ever given to a barbecue restaurant) and that he would be traveling to New York to visit her and to receive the honor. They had a great time during her parents’ visit, even as the couple constantly complained about how pricey the beer was in Times Square. Chef Mueller recalls fondly that she even brought her mother to different dive bars in Brooklyn! As she continued to progress in her career, she eventually became a famous photographer who traveled the world to shoot for magazines like Rolling Stone and Texas Monthly with people such as Willie Nelson, Jay-Z, Rascal Flatts, and Beastie Boys. Eventually, though, barbecue came back to her.
Eventually, though, barbecue came back to her.
108
Powered by FlippingBook