Depending on your point of view, John Mueller is either pariah or prodigal son. The grandson of barbecue legend Louie Mueller, John grew up steeped in the spells and potions of which barbecue magic is made. He was pit master and partner with this father at the Taylor, Texas restaurant for most of his twenties. Then one day he quit and eloped with another employee.
He returned to Austin in 2001 with an eponymous restaurant on Manor Road, where he became known for his love-it-or-leave-it approach to customer service. But the barbecue was worth it, crafted with the help of his promising apprentice, Aaron Franklin. The venture ended abruptly when he was evicted in 2006, sending Mueller off on a multi-year bender that included a failed marriage and a DWI arrest. By 2009 he was living in a tent near Granger Lake. (Franklin, on the other hand, took the pit from that restaurant and started a food trailer that has grown into a decent little barbecue joint in its own right.)
In 2010, an old friend and customer proposed capitalizing on Austin’s burgeoning food truck scene, and by late 2011 he launched the J Mueller BBQ trailer in south Austin. The food was as good as ever, and Mueller himself was much improved. I recall being offered a beer by a smiling Mueller while waiting in the line there. But the good times didn’t last, and his business partner (who also happened to be his sister) forced him out, later building that business into what is now La Barbecue.
