Austin BBQ Day Trip

Interested in taking a small group down to Austin for the day? I recently organized an intensive barbecue sojourn to Central Texas that had us visiting three notable places, and we did it in less than 12 hours. We started by taking a private charter jet from Chicago’s Midway Airport directly to Austin. Then we rented a car, and drove 40 minutes to Taylor, home of the legendary Louie Mueller Barbecue, where 3rd generation owner Wayne Mueller showed us around, took us back to the kitchen and explained the art of smoking Texas briskets. After a significant lunch, we headed back to Austin, where I had hired someone to get in line at Franklin BBQ early that morning. We met her at Franklin, devoured our turkey, brisket, hot links and pulled pork, then took a leisurely 15 minute walk over to Micklethwait Craft Meats, a relatively new barbecue trailer in town (pictured, above), where they have a few riffs on the traditional sides. With time left over to walk around South Congress Street, pick up some cowboy boots and take in a local band, we headed back to Chicago around 7:30 p.m. and were home a few hours later. Sound like something you’d want me to organize? Shoot me an email: steve@stevedolinsky.com