The Austin City Limits Music Festival isn't just a chance for some of music's biggest stars and up-and-coming talents to perform in front of thousands in the heart of Texas. It's also an opportunity to indulge in delicious Central Texas barbecue; after all, Austin happens to be a pretty good city for it.
Enter Dua Lipa, Saturday night headliner at ACL Fest 2024 and a proven superstar with five U.S. top-10 hits. The British-Albanian artist is known for planning restaurant and bar visits for each city she visits. For example, in 2022 she dropped in at Nancy's Hustle, Truth BBQ and Poison Girl while making a tour stop in Houston.
On Friday, ahead of her top-billing performance at ACL Fest, Dua Lipa ducked into another highly regarded Texas barbecue spot: Austin's La Barbecue. Dua Lipa knows 'cue.
Dua Lipa performs on the NOS stage during day 2 of NOS Alive Festival 2024 on July 12, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Pedro Gomes/Redferns
"Picking sides were big for them," La Barbecue co-owner Ali Clem wrote to Eater Austin. "The shells and cheese did not stand a chance."
Eater Austin reported that Dua Lipa and her team ordered each member of the Texas trinity—brisket, pork ribs, sausage—along with those hard-to-pick sides. According to the Austin American-Statesman, La Barbecue got a two-day-advance heads-up that Dua Lipa and the team were coming through. And Dua Lipa was "super nice," Clem told the Statesman.
Dua Lipa then shared a photo of her tray on her Instagram story. Brisket, ribs and sausage were shown alongside sides of beans, potato salad and the aforementioned shells and cheese. The crew also correctly had plenty of pickled red onions, jalapeños and cucumber kimchi. In the middle of all the grub was, simply, "AUSTIN."
Alison Clem, left, and Francisco Saucedo, center, of La Barbecue pose during the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest at The Long Center on November 4, 2018 in Austin, Texas.
Rick Kern/WireImage
La Barbecue has been a part of the Texas barbecue scene for over a decade. Its roots are in a barbecue truck opened by John and LeAnn Mueller, siblings and members of the esteemed Mueller family, arguably the first surname in Texas barbecue. A fallout between John, who died in 2022, and LeAnn led to the latter taking over the truck and turning it into La Barbecue. Mueller ran the truck with partner Ali Clem, and by 2021 they had married and opened a brick-and-mortar at 2401 E. Cesar Chavez St. in Austin.
Mueller died in June 2023. La Barbecue was on the Texas Monthly Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints list in 2013, 2017 and 2021.
