The Vitals: the spot: Le Beef Burger Pop Up  roaming around the streets of Austin so check their Instagram for latest appearance the eats: Le Beef Burger the bucks: $12 the full nelson: the trendiest burger experience delivers also delivers a damn solid cheeseburger experience

I was late to the game but I remember back in 2013 when Chef Ludo Lefebvre brought LA into a golden age of cutting edge pop up dining. He made pop up dining the hottest ticket in town. Though some of these dinners were a stone's throw away from my loft in downtown Los Angeles, getting a sitter and rolling the dice on a big ticket experience($$$) was always a big ask and sadly I never went. Had it been a burger pop up like the one I went to earlier this month on the streets of East Austin, I might have never left LA.

3 amigos: Burgers, Donuts and Natural Wine.

Hard to imagine a concept based exclusively around these three elements but this line up from Le Beef Burger Pop Up might suggest otherwise. Sadly I was still in the throws of Dry January so I skipped the wine and thereby skipped the donut temptation. All good because I was here for the burger experience first and foremost.

Man and La Plancha.

Chef Justin Huffman, the man behind the stoves at Justine's Brasserie, is also the man behind Le Beef Burger Pop Up. The Indianapolis native has spent a fair amount of time in LA and Austin, working in noteworthy restaurants like Uchiko, Uchi, Contigo(ATX) and Mayday LA, Kronnerburger(LA). He's happy to be back in Austin and I'm happy to be at a plancha on a street corner where these are sizzling to order:

What's between the buns:

What in between that butter toasted Martin's Potato roll? Four ounces of 44 Farms grass fed beef. This burger is cooked in butter a la Midwest butter burger style. You might have heard of this style from your co-worker from Wisconsin who goes on about the chain Culver's. Or maybe it's a well heeled foodie who found out that Butter Burger Icon establishment Solly's Grille just won a James Beard award. Regardless of how you heard about it, you need to experience it. You'll also notice house made pickles and a house made special sauce. As a devotee of pink sauce burgers and someone who likes to play around with making my own Thousand Island dressing, this pink sauce is something special. Sure, after your first taste you'll experience the familiar, but chef assured me throws a lot a few Umami curveballs in here.

Bang for your Burger Buck?

This burger isn't huge but it is bite for bite perfectly composed. While the $12 price tag is stiff, you won't walk unhappy, but you will think about getting a second. Hey, when you want an In-N-Out meets Diner meets Wisconsin Butter Burger from a chef with a deep resume, you're gonna have to bring your wallet. Welcome to 2022 my friends.

Final verdict: I'll be back and I'll get one of these.

It ain't cheap but it's so darn tasty that if you try a Le Beef Burger, you will want to come back. It's a deceptively simple burger that might have better priced competitors around, but does the competition serve up donuts and natural wine? It's a bougie foodie experience that I recommend you bookmark for sure. Well done burgers that come out a juicy medium, served directly off a plancha have a habit of taking my $12 bucks. Maybe I brought some LA with me to Austin.

The Vitals: the recipe: Traeger Pulled Pork Meal Kit (Traeger Meal Provisions) the smoker: Traeger Ironwood 885 the time: 7-9 hours, though I intentionally cooked for 12 hours the full nelson: as hearty and filling as it gets thx to an extra rich pork shoulder

The Super Bowl is around the corner and some are gathering their slow cooker chili recipes or maybe buying out their local Wingstop(not sure that is possible but sounds awesome). For me, The Super Bowl means a super grill session and thanks to my pals at Traeger, I tested out their Pulled Pork meal kit from the Traeger Meal Provisions line. Spoiler alert: all you have to do is smoke the pork shoulder. The sides are cooked, you just defrost and heat them up. Here is how it all went down:

Prep the pork shoulder: Day 1 - Dry Brine

And it is a multi day process. The sides and pork shoulder arrive frozen. The instructions say to give it a day to defrost but in my experience I like to give it at least two days. Once the shoulder is defrosted, you pat it dry, score the skin and rub it with a brine mixture provided in the meal kit and stick it in the fridge for a day. I should also mention that along with the pork and sides, the kit comes with that dry brine mix, BBQ rub, BBQ sauce, hot sauce, slider buns, pickled jalapeños and some snacks to munch on like beef jerky and cashew nuts. Oh and there is an instruction card too. Yeah, it's pretty well thought out.

Prep the pork shoulder: Day 2 - add the rub

On the second day, aka the cook day, you're going to rinse off the dry brine. Then pat the shoulder dry and apply the rub(Traeger's classic rub). From here you could go to the grill but I wanted to let my shoulder rest in the fridge for a few hours.

Get it on the grill.

I planned for an overnight cook. So around midnight I set my shoulder skin side down on a 400 degree preheated Traeger. I let it cook for an hour per the instructions. Now the goal is to crisp up the skin which was more than accomplished in an hour, at least on this cook. So keep an eye on it. After the sear you flip it and place in an Aluminum tray which also comes with the kit. Set the Traeger to 275 and let it cook till you hit an internal temp of 203 degrees. I used the Traeger probe and my Thermoworks Smoke probe thermometer. I don't play games.

Plan ahead=time is on your side

Smoking pork shoulder at 275 is on the hotter side. I've had experiences smoking shoulder where it takes 30 minutes shy of forever, so I was down to get this cook going at 275 especially because I had guests arriving at a specific time. Turned out it cooked fast. Even though "I went to bed", I was up here and there checking my Traeger app on the phone and my Thermoworks remote. After 3 hours I reduced the heat to 250 and then to 225 as it was cooking too fast. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with a fully smoked pork shoulder on four hours sleep.

12 hours later . . .

And I was totally cool with that. I was firmly ahead of the game and I intentionally slow rolled the cook to accommodate my party start time. Once done the shoulder should rest for at least 30 minutes . . . up to 90 minutes per the instruction card. It was stupid tender and took minimal effort to do this:

Sauced and shredded.

Word to the wise - keep this warm, the flavor really gets lost when it cools to room temp. There will be a ton of rendered fat and you can use it to keep the meat moist while the tray stays warm either in the Traeger or the oven. Just make sure you're not crowding the sides. Speaking of . . .

There will be sides

The kit came with cornbread, collards, mac n cheese and baked beans. All are fully cooked and just need to be defrosted and heated up. You could do this in the Traeger but since my shoulder was finishing a marathon cook, I just stuck 'em in the oven.

Breaking down the sides

I wasn't the biggest fan of the cornbread, as it was a touch dry. I dug the baked beans and collard greens, which get hit with some premium source bacon, also included in the kit. You just have to fry and chop it up before adding. Now I am not one of those people that lives for Mac 'n Cheese but I will tell you this side dish was a huge hit. It had a heavy hit of butter and garlic, like to shrimp scampi levels and that is kinda awesome. Overall the sides are heavy so a little scoop goes a long way. You can feed a lot of people here.

Commence slider making

The slider buns were huge. You might want to consider hollowing out some of it just so you're not full off one. Or you might want to skip the bun all together. The pork is very rich and really does stand on its own. I had a bottle of Carolina Vinegar sauce from Two Bros BBQ in San Antonio(as seen on Cheap Eats) and that spicy acidic sauce does a fine job of cutting through the richness of the pork. This pork was literally as rich as carnitas, my cutting board was soon covered in lard, so anything spicy and acidic will work. This kit has literally been feeding my crew for a week. So even if you're having a lot of people over, I'd consider this meal kit fit for serving a larger crowd than the 24 slider rolls advertise. And you'll have lard for rest of the winter. I already bought collard greens and black eyed peas to use some of it. Whatever you cook have a fun Super Bowl and GO BENGALS!!

The Vitals: the spot: JNL Barbecue 1505 Town Creek Dr. Austin TX 78741 the eats: Al Pastor Ribs, Carolina Pulled Pork, Brisket, Cajun Butter Turkey, Coleslaw, Potato Salad, Pinto Beans, Green Beans the bucks: $14-$17 for plates, $10 for sandwiches the full nelson: The Al Pastor Ribs get your attention but the Pulled Pork will be why you come back.

JNL Barbecue is considered what some call the fourth wave of barbecue in Texas. The first being the classic 100 year old joints like Kreuz Market in Lockhart that were initially meat markets that added smokehouses. The second wave was the arrival of barbecue served in actual restaurants like Salt Lick in Driftwood. And the third wave was barbecue of the 21st century: craft barbecue thanks to the late John Mueller and of course Aaron Franklin, where brisket was elevated by carefully sourced ingredient and laborious technique. So what is the fourth wave of barbecue about?

Al Pastor Ribs

At least that's what caught my eye and attention when I saw this on Instagram. And by the way, Instagram is a big part of the fourth wave too: our insatiable appetite for content is driving food innovation. And in Central Texas that means having fun with barbecue.

Good barbecue starts with good people.

The profit margins stink. You can't do it right and scale like you could with burgers or tacos. So why do people like Ben and Sarah Lambert grind it out in a food trailer? Love for the game. Ben spent five years at Franklin Barbecue before taking the plunge to opening his own trailer. A sixth generation Texan, you could say barbecue is in his blood. I think that's why he can play with Central Texas barbecue in a way that resonates with authenticity. Al Pastor ribs is to me what Tex Mex should be about. Speaking of . . .

The meats of JNL

I made the move on brisket, the Al Pastor Ribs, and some pulled pork. Ben and Sarah insisted that I try that turkey and some bacon. They have a Club sandwich on the menu that I would say is worth trying. I found the bacon to land on the crisp side and the turkey was soaking in butter. Both of which strike me as a reason to put them together in a sandwich. I had a taste of the Al Pastor ribs when he carved them up. My eyes rolled back. The ribs are on the fall off the bone side, I prefer a chew, but regardless of your texture preference, you will get that taste of Al Pastor in the marinade. Brisket is a crowded field in Austin and really around the country, so even if JNL hasn't changed your mind on your top five ranking, it's still respectable enough to scratch the itch. And the pulled pork was far and away my favorite bite of the day. Tied for best in town along with LeRoy and Lewis.

Pick a side

Ben also insisted I try the beans which carry with it a fair amount of meat. It's almost a meal in itself and I think you should get them. Green beans were on the soft side but not uncommon many a classic barbecue joint. I've always had a soft spot for the non traditional when it comes to sides. Potato salad carried that right amount of mustard, and like the green beans were on the tender side, dancing on the line of slightly mashed. The coleslaw was a work of art: julienned strips of cabbage with a perfect vinegar dressing. I would come back just to get the slaw(and pulled pork).

A modern day classic tray of BBQ

Earlier I said that brisket is a crowded field when it comes to Central Texas barbecue. That pretty much goes for craft barbecue operating at top tier levels. Eye catchers like Al Pastor ribs are why you come to JNL versus brisket which you can find elsewhere. I should also highlight the barbecue sauce at JNL as well. It really works well with the meats. Usually I find bbq sauce is simply not necessary with Central Barbecue, even conflicting. Here the sauce emphasizes the meats, particularly the pulled pork and ribs. I made sure to ask for extra when I packed up my leftovers.

Come for the Al Pastor Rib

and comeback for the Pulled Pork. The sauce rocks, the slaw rocks and I think it's fair to say that JNL is a full on pork barbecue specialist in Austin. Added bonus - not much of a line when I went on Sunday, so chalk JNL Barbecue up as a place that is full on convenient from a waiting in line perspective. My next move here is to buy some pulled pork and slaw, come home and make sammies on Martin's Potato rolls. I might even have the Traeger on just to fool my guests. But you'll know my secret.