Cade Mercer and Chuck Deason have been compatriots for most of their careers. When Mercer started in the kitchen at Lamberts, in Austin, in 2013, Deason was the sous chef under Reid Guess. When Guess moved to Waco to open Guess Family Barbecue, Mercer and Deason followed. In 2021 the duo combined their creative forces in Austin for CM Smokehouse, which now has three locations. They’re partnering once again on a restaurant, this time with a different focus: Outlaw Pizza opened in June, in North Austin. But where there’s Mercer and Deason, there’s bound to be barbecue too.
“I don’t really do anything without something smoked or grilled on it,” Mercer said. He’d seen too many brisket pizzas where the smoked beef was treated like pepperoni, resulting in dry chunks of meat. Mercer wanted to use the smoked brisket made at CM Smokehouse to bring a true smokiness to pizza while giving the cut some respect. His brisket ragu was born, and it’s incorporated at Outlaw as a pizza topping and base, as well as in the lasagna pinwheels, one of three house-made pasta dishes. For the lasagna, layers of the ragu, pasta, ricotta, shredded mozzarella, and muenster are swirled and tucked against one another in a bowl, resembling savory cinnamon rolls. More ragu and a garnish of fried basil and shredded parmesan top it off. The dish was easy to share, and I loved the visible, tender chunks of brisket.
The Outlaw pizza uses brisket ragu as its base and adds meatballs, pepperoni, and sausage on top. I found it overloaded, but Mercer said it’s beloved by the meat-lover crowd. I preferred building my own pizza with a base of brisket ragu and just cheese on top. Much like how sliced brisket should be eaten first from a barbecue platter, a pie with brisket ragu must be consumed right as it hits the table, otherwise the crisp crust can go soggy in a few minutes. (Though I loved the way the cheese and ragu solidified as the pizza cooled.)…