Being a bit humble about what you don’t quite know can work out in a new city, as Ben Vaughan learned this summer. The barbecue pitmaster was in transit from Austin, Texas, to his new home in Portland and discussing his new project Lil’ Barbecue with Oregonian critic Michael Russell. At the time, he and minority partner Ali Clem were still on a hunt for the ideal location for their new restaurant, a spinoff of Austin’s beloved, line-inducing La Barbecue. While Vaughan didn’t yet know where Lil’ Barbecue would land, he revealed to Russell that he and his wife had just signed a lease on a street that he couldn’t quite pronounce. Russell kindly explained the local pronunciation of NE Dekum Street, Vaughan recalls, and included the exchange in his article.
As it turns out, including that detail helped Vaughan and Clem snag a space. Beginning mid-October, Lil’ Barbecue will debut inside Tough Luck Bar on Dekum.
Vaughan says in the aftermath of the article, the prolific bar group behind Tough Luck reached out with an intriguing offer: Take over Tough Luck’s kitchen in Woodlawn, and we’ll take care of the front of house operations. While it wasn’t what Vaughan had originally envisioned when he moved to the Pacific Northwest to open a restaurant, the arrangement made sense. Over the summer Three on a Match — Ezra Caraeff, Chip Addabbo, and John Naekel — had just executed a similar framework with Last Rodeo in Westmoreland with Matt’s BBQ. “It takes a lot off my plate in terms of having to staff a whole restaurant or bar, and serve the drinks, [and] make sure the front of house is good,” Vaughan says. “These guys are kind of experts at that. They’ve been doing it for a long time and really successfully.”…