as it approaches Mom Foods Smokehouse & DelicatessenI noticed the romantic aroma of post oak wafting from the 1,000-gallon smoker.
Inside the simple corrugated steel building, concrete floors, wooden booths, and metal stools fill the clean space. “Central Texas Barbecue” is written all over the place.
But the record flies when you step up to the counter and take a look at the deli case lined with towering cheesecakes. Next, move on to the menu. Matzo ball soup, corned beef and egg salad sandwiches are studded with beef sausage, brisket and ribs. The record stops.
what’s happening?
This is not a traditional Texas barbecue place. Well, half of it is. But the other half is a Jewish deli that makes New Yorkers smile. “Mum’s,” as his regulars call him, is an amalgamation of his two traditions, which have more in common than their geographical origins would suggest.
Mumm’s pastrami with cilantro and black pepper and less aggressive but equally tender corned beef (steamed but not smoked) are served on house-made sourdough rye. Masoball soup with the taste of time and love. Fresh, homemade sides make Mama’s the best deli in the city. Beef sausage with snap casing, hearty but supple brisket rubbed with salt and pepper, and a program overseen by pitmaster Travis Crawford, a veteran of Leroy and Lewis and Valentina’s Tex-Mex Barbecue. The crafted lacquered pork ribs are among the best in the city. BBQ bet.
The winning combination of restaurants on these two tracks makes it one of 47 restaurants named to the 2024 USA TODAY Restaurant of the Year list.
Owner Jeff Ellis, who opened the restaurant in December 2022, said: “We are honored to have our efforts recognized. Every meaningful accomplishment recognizes the hard work, dedication and passion of so many people. It made it possible,” he said. There are too many to name here, but they definitely deserve all the credit. ”
How many have you been to?Check out USA TODAY’s 2024 Restaurants of the Year
What makes moms special?
Ellis, a graduate of Austin’s Westlake High School and Texas State University, originally launched the Mom’s brand in 2014 with his then-girlfriend Mattie Bills. They were serving sourdough bread (Mom’s bread starter, named after her mother) and pickles. Cedar Park and Mueller Farmers Market. But it was the brisket that really drew the crowd. After running a farmers market for several years, Ellis and Bills took time off to live in Hawaii.
When they returned, Ellis decided to try his hand at cooking pastrami. The meat is similar to Central Texas’ famous brisket. Same cut of meat, same smoking process. The difference comes from the brine of pickling spices (allspice, nutmeg, bay leaves, cloves) that give the pastrami its tenderness and pink hue, and half the black pepper and cilantro that infuse the meat with a tingly, floral aroma. Naru love.
A self-taught cook, he had never made pastrami before, but was intrigued by the importance of meat to Jewish Americans. Ellis’ mother was Jewish, raised in Queens, and his grandparents immigrated to New York from Poland in the early 20th century. Although Ellis did not grow up in a Jewish household or in a close-knit community with many Jews, his adolescent summers were spent with his maternal grandparents in the house where his mother had lived since childhood. I did.
“This was our first attempt to connect with a New York City team, a Jewish team,” Ellis said.
His exploration of traditional Jewish-American foods changed the trajectory of Ellis and his mother. Texas Monthly’s glowing coverage of pastrami led to long lines at farmers’ markets, and Ellis said while native Texans may not crave pastrami, Austin’s immigrant residents of Chicago and New York , many people in Los Angeles find themselves craving pastrami.
“When you tell people in Austin that this is brisket, they’re shocked,” Ellis said.
Ellis and Bills briefly worked in a deli in a small building on the Este property that is now home to Bar Toti before the pandemic and the end of the partnership put things on hold. (Mr. Bills currently owns Three Six General, a butcher shop in San Marcos.) But Mr. Ellis was determined to bring the combined Jewish deli and barbecue joint to Austin. Its popularity and the community it fostered enriched Ellis personally in unexpected ways.
“Exploring this cuisine here has allowed me to reconnect with my ancestors in a way. I always tell people that the deli is really my synagogue. We started developing a community, which is something I never could have imagined,” Ellis said.
The restaurant served monthly Shabbat dinners and held large Hanukkah parties with a rabbi in attendance and blessing.
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“These are experiences that I didn’t get to have growing up, and I’m really enjoying them. By putting this out there, we were able to bring that community together a little bit more, so that’s really gratifying. ” Ellis said.
But Ellis is not satisfied. He said he hopes to expand the baking program and continue to strengthen the barbecue operation. However, our desire is not just to become a restaurant known for its delicious food.
“The reason I opened this place in this location was because I wasn’t really interested in being on the barbecue list. If that’s the case, that’s great. But it’s a habit that has passed through generations. I thought it would be really cool to develop something that would be,”’ Ellis said of the restaurant near his home in Far East Austin, where Manor Road ends at U.S. 183.
“We have families coming here, and hopefully we can keep it going long enough for their kids to grow up and bring their kids here. For any restaurant, staying open is about staying open. is clearly the goal, but it feels like we’re looking far into the future with hopes of becoming that kind of property. With immense gratitude and reverence, we move forward with the goal of building a large family that will last for many years to come.”
Check out our wishlist:One of Austin’s restaurants has been named to USA TODAY’s Best List. Here are five more I’d like to add.
What to order at Mum Foods Smokehouse & Delicatessen
pastrami sandwich. If you like brisket, you’ll probably like pastrami too. As long as you are okay with adding lots of coriander.
corned beef sandwich. Pastrami’s smokeless sibling, the meat is steamed in a liquid packed with warming spices.
brisket. It tastes just as good as pastrami, but without the floral aroma.
Matsubadama soup. It has a deep, clean flavor that makes you feel like you’ve spent days making the soup.
beef sausage. If you like pure beef flavor and a crackling casing reminiscent of a 1960s jazz club, this is for you.
cucumber and tomato salad. It’s much more than its simple name suggests. Crunchy and juicy, the tabbouleh-like salad is tossed with a barrel-aged red wine vinaigrette made with Texas olive oil and garnished with dried oregano and fresh parsley.
detail: Mum Foods Smokehouse & Delicatessen, 5811 Manor Road, Austin, Texas; (512) 270-8021; mumfoodsatx.com.
