This place, this restaurant, this meat is my barbecue touchstone. And it’s not just me. The folks from Franklin, Stiles Switch, and many others have tasted Louie Mueller’s straightforward, salt-and-pepper concoctions and said, “Yes, this is it.” The family itself has branched off and created even more good food, with one of Louie’s grandkids running La Barbecue and another, John, who’s keeps coming back into the game, with his latest venture taking place in Georgetown. All in all, the most famous place in Taylor, Texas has been as important to the phenomenon that is Central Texas Barbecue as any one establishment could be.
My first encounter was…interesting. I had an interview with the local weekly newspaper straight out of college, and the interview took place at Louie Mueller! Sadly, the editor dropped a bomb on me right near the end of the meal: If I got the job, I would have to live in Taylor, not Austin like I was planning. Oh, well. The office was just across the parking lot, and that kind of access to this good of barbecue surely would have killed me.
Instead, I got a job at the Round Rock paper, and me and my writing mates made it a habit to take a long lunch over to Taylor on publication day. We’d come back fat, sassy, and smelling of smoke. Literally. See, the dining room and the smoker room is the same room. They now have a side annex that helps a bit, but smelling like a brisket is kind of part of the deal.
My absolute favorite thing about this place is at the bottom of that picture of my order. It’s a little piece of brisket, given gratis to every customer. And to be clear, this is the end slice, the most peppery piece of goodness you can get off a slab of beef, and they give it away. For free! I usually can’t stop myself from eating it while I wait for my meat to be cut, but this day I must have had some extra will power.
Two more things about the food. The sauce is again secondary, but it cuts against the sweet, ketchupy grain. It is thin, bursting with vinegar, and hides a treasure of soft, diced onions and pepper. Great for dipping some bread-wrapped brisket. Finally, the only side that matters: potato salad. Louie Mueller’s is the best. No, seriously. Full stop. The best anywhere. They manager to squeeze so much salt, pepper, mustard, and mayo into this thing I don’t know where there’s room for potatoes. Someday it will kill me, and I won’t stop it.
Louie Mueller as a destination is great, too. The drive to Taylor isn’t bad, especially with the expanded road through Hutto (Go Hippos!), and the decor just can’t be beat. The infamous wall of smoked business cards is a more powerful aesthetic experience than most art. It’s almost worth a trip in and of itself.
I’ve now been traveling to Taylor for Louie Mueller Barbecue for almost two decades. That’s incredible, and there’s no sign of it letting up. Barbecue has changed a lot over the past several years, but this is a bulwark against any changes that will come along. Let’s pray a trip to Taylor will always satisfy.
