Michelin stars are more commonly associated with tweezers than tongs. Texas, naturally, has other ideas.
Two of the state’s most celebrated pitmasters are coming to London this week, joining forces for a world-first collaboration at The Ned.
John Bates, of Austin’s InterStellar BBQ, and Ali Clem, chef and owner of La Barbecue, will take over Electric Bar & Diner for a month, putting signature dishes from their respective restaurants together on one extremely meat-heavy tray.
Both restaurants received stars when Michelin published its inaugural Texas guide in 2024, becoming two of just four barbecue restaurants in the state to earn the accolade. Michelin’s inspectors praised Bates’s cooking at InterStellar for its low-and-slow approach over Texas post oak, singling out the brisket and peach tea-glazed pork belly.
Clem brings another distinction with her: she is the only female Michelin-starred barbecue chef in the world. Earlier this year, she was also named a semifinalist for Best Chef: Texas in the James Beard Awards.
La Barbecue is already something of an Austin institution. Clem built the business with her late wife, LeAnn Mueller, whose father Bobby Mueller was one of the great names in Texas barbecue and received a James Beard award in 2006. What began as a food trailer has grown into a restaurant known for brisket, house-made sausages and enormous ribs, cooked over Texas post oak.
InterStellar is the younger operation. Bates opened it in Austin in 2019 after transforming the original site of his Noble Sandwich Co, and describes what he does as “modern Texas barbecue”: the familiar brisket and ribs are there, but so are more unorthodox pairings, an approach that has helped the restaurant stand out in a city where being quite good at smoking meat is unlikely to get anyone terribly excited.
For London, the two have combined their menus into a sharing tray which begins at £150 for two.
It is, unsurprisingly, not built around restraint. Bates supplies his signature peach tea-glazed pork belly, pulled lamb shoulder and beef short rib. Clem adds pork ribs and a chopped cheese sausage. The supporting cast includes Texas toast (double-thick, buttered on both sides and grilled), queso shells and cheese, beans and beetroot salad – presumably because there needed to be at least some vegetables.
Those concerned that £75 a head does not buy sufficient quantities of smoked meat can relax. La Barbecue’s USDA prime brisket can be bolted on for another £50 for two. InterStellar’s banana pudding, finished with Jack Daniel’s caramel, follows. One imagines nobody will be leaving in search of a kebab.
Jack Daniel’s is involved in the drinks too, with trendy picklebacks and a corn-and-honey Old Fashioned called the Texan Sun among less complicated options. More ambitious is a hard shake made with bonded whiskey, banana and raisin, while another cocktail mixes Old No 7 with oolong, apricot and white chocolate – for anyone who has looked at several pounds of smoked beef and thought the evening could still do with more going on.
The arrival comes two years after Michelin finally made its way to Texas. Its first guide awarded 15 restaurants a star, including four barbecue joints – a fairly significant moment for a style of cooking more accustomed to butcher paper and queues in car parks than tasting menus and white tablecloths.
Happily, there appears to be little danger of either here.
The collaboration runs at Electric Bar & Diner at The Ned in the City of London from 4 September until 4 October. The sharing menu costs £75 per person, with a minimum of two people, excluding drinks; the brisket supplement costs £50 for two. For more information and to book, visit their website here.
