Barbecue that would be loved deep in the heart of Texas served in L.A.
Unlike New York and London, Los Angeles has been slow to incorporate legitimate Texas-style craft barbecue into its many culinary offerings.
Recently, however, with the opening of Moo’s
Craft Barbecue northeast of downtown, the City of Angels has its first destinationworthy barbecue joint, a contender for one of the best smoked-meat purveyors outside the Lone Star State.
First, some background. Los Angeles has long been a barbecue city. Southern-style barbecue took root after World War II when Black Americans migrated to the city for job opportunities.
Starting in the 2000s, a new generation of Texasborn pitmasters joined the fray, with Kevin Bludso of Corsicana establishing the original Bludso’s BBQ in Compton and Galvestonian Neil Strawder opening Bigmista’s Barbecue in Long Beach.
In 2011, the first realdeal, Central Texas-style craft barbecue joint, Smoke City Market, debuted in Sherman Oaks
(it closed in 2015). Ray’s Texas BBQ and Slab Barbecue, as well as Heritage Barbecue in nearby San Juan Capistrano, have opened in recent years.
Enter the new brickand-mortar location of Moo’s Craft Barbecue.
The husband-and-wife team of Andrew and Michelle Muñoz opened it in June 2021 to rave reviews and lines of newly minted Angeleno smoked-meat fans.
The journey began in 2016 when Andrew began making trips to Texas as part of his job in commercial insurance. His dad recommended he try some barbecue joints, and he became hooked.
“I’d always be finding ways to wrap up my meetings early so I could go visit barbecue joints,” says Andrew. A pit room tour and chat with pitmaster Will Buckman of CorkScrew BBQ in
Spring further inspired him to start smoking meat in his backyard.
From there, the Muñozes followed the classic backyard warrior path to commercial success. After hosting backyard events for friends and family, they graduated to doing pop-ups at local breweries such as Angry Horse in Montebello, where I first sampled their barbecue in December 2017. They named the business after Andrew’s nickname,
Moo, short for Muñoz.
In late 2018, they began vending full time at Smorgasburg LA, a food market known for incubating up-and-coming chefs. During a visit in 2019, I noted Moo’s had the longest line. I couldn’t help but be impressed that Texas-style barbecue stood out among the flashy culinary concepts.
When COVID-19 shut down business in March 2020, the Muñozes switched to a to-go operation from their commissary kitchen. “We didn’t think anyone would show up,” says Michelle. “But there were cars wrapped around the block.”
During this time, they began looking for a permanent location. They found a spot not far from where Michelle grew up. With encouragement and financial assistance from fellow barbecue aficionado and local attorney Steve Vartazarian, the Muñozes were able to open the restaurant within two months, doing a lot of the work themselves.
The dining room is bright with a high, woodframed ceiling and a mural proclaiming “Barbecue para la gente!” (Barbecue for the people!). On one side is a long bar with a large selection of beers on tap; the other side features an outdoor patio. Andrew mainly cooks the Central Texas-style selection of smoked meats on a FatStack-built, thousandgallon offset barrel smoker. Michelle’s side dishes and desserts are excellent.
Moo’s Craft Barbecue could be transplanted to any Texas city and it would be considered one of the top joints there. It’s that good. It certainly gives me a reason to continue exploring the L.A. barbecue scene.