Three restaurateurs we lost in 2023 that shaped Austin's restaurant scene

Austin has long been identified as a town famous for three cuisines: Tex-Mex, barbecue and hamburgers. In 2023, the city lost three restaurateurs who had major hands in how those scenes were shaped and understood in Austin.

More than foundational restaurateurs, each was a unique personality, beloved by their families and communities. Their passing brought a wave of heartfelt public and private sentiment that reinforced the idea that these folks were not just major players in the Austin restaurant scene but beloved individuals who left a lasting impression on all whom they touched.

Mike Young of Chuy's

A visionary restaurateur who brought an eclectic and irreverent aesthetic to the Tex-Mex genre, the co-founder of Chuy's and Hula Hut helped define part of Austin's style and was a big-hearted friend and entrepreneur whose generosity resounded throughout his community.

If you ask Austin residents or visitors to name a business that epitomizes the city and its friendly personality and eclectic style, Chuy’s would probably be at or near the top of most lists. Young and partner John Zapp opened the Tex-Mex restaurant on Barton Springs Road in 1982 for a fraction of what a new restaurant costs today, finishing the space out and decorating it on a shoestring budget with a hodgepodge of design elements, including a velvet Elvis painting that would become a hallmark of the restaurant.

Young learned the golden rule of hospitality from his parents at a young age: do everything you can for the customer.

Related: Chuy's co-founder Mike Young, who helped define Austin style and cuisine, dies at 74

That lesson served as Rule No. 1 at Chuy’s, according to Young’s close friend and Chuy’s first publicist, Marsha Milam. The other two foundational rules: Keep the restaurant as clean as possible, and have fun.

Young certainly lived the third rule.

His personable nature and indefatigable spirit influenced everything from the eclectic conviviality of the restaurant, to the familial warmth that bonded its staff and Chuy's annual fundraising endeavors.

“I always measured myself against what he had accomplished and what he had done. I’ve been chasing that guy all my life,” Continental Club owner Steve Wertheimer said of Young, whom he befriended in 1986 over their shared passion for classic cars. “He’s been a mentor and a huge influence on the way I run my businesses and treat people. And the philanthropic things he’s done for the community, it’s pretty awe-inspiring.”

Frances "Fran" Junk of Fran's (and Dan's) Hamburgers

A pioneer of the Austin dining scene who for decades oversaw South Austin, both literally and figuratively, Frances “Fran” Junk died from cancer in November.

If you drove down South Congress Avenue in the early part of the century, you probably caught a glimpse of the restaurateur known simply as “Fran.” A 9-foot statue of Junk stood atop her eponymous restaurant from 1998 until the restaurant was demolished in 2015 to make way for a Torchy’s Tacos.

Junk opened the restaurant in 1973 with her husband, Dan, whose name originally graced the restaurant. She retained it and a location on Cameron Road (which closed in 2015) in the couple’s 1991 divorce, renaming them after herself. The restaurants were known for their classic burgers, friendly service and host of regular customers who felt like an extended family. Fran’s closed its two locations in 2015.

Related: Pioneering restaurateur Frances 'Fran' Junk of Fran's and Dan's Hamburgers dies at 89

Despite working at her restaurants daily for decades, Junk always made time for her seven children (two of which came from a relationship before meeting Dan). She dropped the kids off at school each day, went to the restaurant to work the lunch shift, picked the kids up from school, headed home to prepare dinner for the family, then returned to the restaurant for the night shift.

“Everybody listened to her, and she was the glue that kept us all together,” Fran’s daughter and Dan’s Hamburgers owner Katie Congdon said of her mother, who somehow found a way to balance full-time parenting and work. “She was absolutely a trailblazer, especially for the Hispanic community.”

LeAnn Mueller of La Barbecue

A trailblazer in the Texas barbecue scene and a member of one of the state’s proudest barbecue families, La Barbecue founder LeAnn Mueller died in 2023 at the age of 51.

Mueller, the daughter of Bobby Mueller and granddaughter of barbecue legend Louie Mueller, who opened his eponymous Taylor restaurant in 1949, opened La Barbecue as a trailer on South First Street in 2012 with her future wife, Ali Clem, publicly taking the reins of the barbecue business her brother had previously run as J Mueller BBQ. The business would move a few times before settling into its current home on East Cesar Chavez Street.

The spirited restaurateur was known in some circles more as a photographer than the heir to a barbecue legacy. Though deeply associated with her hometown of Taylor and adopted hometown of Austin, Mueller worked as a photographer in New York and Los Angeles for years, before relocating to Texas. Her work, which included profiles of Willie Nelson, Jay-Z and Leon Bridges, appeared regularly in Texas Monthly, as well as national publications like Rolling Stone.

Related: Trailblazing LeAnn Mueller of La Barbecue dies at 51

A proud gay woman who married Clem in 2014, Mueller smashed stereotypes connected with the old boys club of barbecue. The duo made La Barbecue one of the most beloved and respected barbecue restaurants in Texas while also inspiring other women.

“We get credited all the time for being the first LGBTQ+ or woman-owned barbecue business, but they are the ones who faced all of the difficulties and challenges of actually being the first,” Haley Conlin, co-owner of the Barbs B Q in Lockhart, said. “She has always been incredibly supportive and it felt like she put us under her wing. She was one of the few who truly understands what it takes and what it is like to be a woman in barbecue, and to do her own thing truly and fully and not care about what others think.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Chuy's, Fran's Hamburgers, La Barbecue owners' legacy remembered in 2023