Central Texas’s La Barbecue Is Opening a Portland Outpost

The Portland barbecue scene is getting a surprise entrant: Michelin-starred Austin, Texas, favorite La Barbecue is setting up an outpost far from home with the planned opening of sister restaurant Lil’ Barbecue this year. Ben Vaughan, general manager and pitmaster at the Austin-based outfit, will be leading the charge to bring brisket, pork and beef ribs, sausages, and more to a yet-to-be-found locale in Portland.

Vaughan says he initially pitched the idea of expanding to La Barbecue owner Ali Clem, after enjoying his first trip to Portland last year. When he talked to locals about what he does for work back in Texas, he received a lot of encouragement to open a restaurant. “They were like, ‘You’ve got to move up here. We need more barbecue,’” Vaughan says. “That got the wheels turning in my head of, I could move up there, you know?”

The idea of expansion wasn’t a far-off concept. Clem and her late wife LeAnn Mueller, a descendant of Texas barbecue royalty, had previously attempted to open a Los Angeles-area food truck in 2017, only to have those plans nixed due to Los Angeles County regulations around the use of offset smokers. But the move to Portland will give Vaughan a chance to escape the oppressive Central Texas summer heat, he says. “The weather here is rough,” Vaughan says. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been in Central Texas in the summer, but it’s hot and humid, and I work outside over smokers all day, so everything just fell into place when I brought [the idea of expanding] to Ali; she signed off and was excited about it, so I’ve been working on a concept for a few months now.” (Just don’t tell him about those heat domes.)

As for Lil’ Barbecue’s menu, Vaughan says it’ll be “very similar” to La Barbecue’s offerings, meaning saucy pork ribs with “a bright, lightly sweet crust,” as Texas Monthly describes it; pulled pork; brisket; beef ribs; smoked turkey; and homemade, snappy sausages in traditional, jalapeño, and chipotle flavors. If the rest of the menu holds true, diners can expect to pull any of those meats into a sandwich, and there will also be a number of specialty sandwich options where one can get a pulled pork sandwich laden with chipotle coleslaw or a Frito pie with chopped brisket.

One change from the Austin original will be the shift to an all-day, bar-restaurant format; Vaughan says that barbecue in Central Texas is very much a lunch thing that goes from 11 a.m. until sellout around 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. He’s hoping to keep a steady stream of food going throughout the day, so people won’t have to rush to get that hit of barbecue. There will also be the added layer of bar food, with Vaughan already picturing selling a burger made of brisket trimmings that is typically a special at La Barbecue.

Clem will be a co-owner in the new venture, and Vaughan says she’ll be in Portland at the end of June to help scout a location for the new restaurant. They’re looking to open on the East side of Portland, if possible, and Vaughan praised the walkability of the city, which is different from the Austin scene (though both cities favor food trucks and claim to keep it weird).

Besides locking down a location, the buildout of two custom, Texas-made smokers will add to the timeline of the opening. They have a rotisserie smoker being built by M&M BBQ Company, as well as an offset smoker from Mill Scale Metalworks in Lockhart, Texas, both of which are set to be completed and delivered by August or September. If all goes well, Vaughan expects to be open by late summer or early fall.