LeAnn Mueller — the legendary chef, pitmaster and co-owner of Austin’s smoked meat restaurant La Barbecue — died suddenly on Wednesday, June 14, according to a press release this week. She was 51 years old.
LeAnn Mueller came from a family devoted to barbecuing, it was in her blood. She was the daughter of the late barbecue star Bobby Mueller and Patricia “Trish” Mueller. Her grandfather Louie Mueller founded the legendary Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Texas in 1949. Bobby took over the restaurant in 1974 and received one of the James Beard Foundation’s America’s Classic Restaurants Awards in 2006. LeAnn’s brother Wayne ran the restaurant.
Of course, LeAnn wanted to open her own grill business. She started a food truck, JMueller BBQ, in 2011 with her other brother and Pitmaster John. John left the company in 2012 and LeAnn changed the name of the truck to La Barbecue, which she opened with then-girlfriend Ali Clem; The two wed in 2014. Their BBQ space spanned to various food truck locations, then a counter space at Quickie Pickie in East Austin in 2017, and into East Cesar Chavez’s first standalone restaurant in 2021. They split their time between Austin and Los Angeles. (They once had plans to open a La Barbecue in LA, but that ultimately didn’t materialize.)
Meanwhile, John managed and worked at several BBQ trucks and restaurants over the years, most recently at Frisco grill restaurant Hutchins BBQ. He passed away in December 2021 at the age of 52.
In addition to Barbecue, Mueller was a renowned photographer and portraitist, photographing the likes of Jay Z, Willie Nelson, Leon Bridges, Courtney Barnett, and St. Vincent for publications such as Texas Monthly, Rolling Stone, Paste, and Austin Monthly.
Mueller is survived by Clem, their puppies Mr. Pickles and Bobby Dingle, and his nephew Johnson. Funeral information will follow later.
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