About a decade ago, Greg Mueller began smoking meat as a way to decompress from his corporate job as a financial analyst. Inspired by his now-father-in-law’s backyard Weber kettle grill, Mueller became so passionate about the craft that he went down the barbecue rabbit hole, soaking up all the knowledge he could about smoked meats while his wife, Erica McKinley, did her own dazzling culinary work in their home kitchen. Now, with a successful Instagram barbecue business-turned-popular food counter under their belts, the pair behind Fourth City Barbecue have embarked on their inaugural season at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market, where they are treating shoppers to breakfast-inflected takes on their delicious smoked meats—all with the goal of becoming an essential name in the St. Louis barbecue scene.
Greg, how did you go from a corporate job as a financial analyst to the barbecue business?
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Greg Mueller: Erica is a phenomenal chef; a lot of the recipes we serve are recipes we’ve eaten at home for a decade now, and we always knew other people would like them. When we first met, her dad was really into barbecuing on his Weber kettle, which was kind of serendipitous because I had just started learning about smoking meat. I really sunk my teeth into it, and when we moved to Seattle for our respective jobs, I cultivated it as a hobby there. I became disillusioned with my corporate job, and we really struggled to make a community there, so we decided to move here. I quit my job and cut my teeth in kitchens for about two years, so I could learn before we started our own business.
Fourth City’s claim to fame is that you use all wood smoke, without gas assist. Why did you choose to go that route, and what do you think makes it special?
GM: I’m a purist in everything I do. I can’t do anything less than 100 percent, so when I find myself in a new hobby, I want to find it in its truest way. All wood barbecue is barbecue in its purest form. As long as homo sapiens have been making food with fire, it’s been essentially barbecue. Maybe 10-plus years ago, Aaron Franklin [of Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas] changed the barbecue game in the country with all wood craft barbecue and an insane attention to detail. He really created a national wave, and this all happened when I got together with my father-in-law. We watched it spread throughout the country but wondered why we didn’t have a place that did all wood barbecue in St. Louis. The reason it’s less popular is the labor. If you have a gas smoker, then you can put your brisket on a piece of wood, set the temperature, and walk away and let it smoke overnight, then have someone come in at 5 a.m. to finish it. I absolutely understand that from a margins standpoint, but I think you sacrifice quality. I can get really nerdy about all the science behind it, but having tried all wood barbecue, it’s a no-brainer.
Erica McKinley: In terms of taste between all wood and not all wood, it’s sometimes really subtle. I don’t know exactly why it tastes better, but it just does. The more smoked meat I’ve eaten over the years, the easier it is to differentiate, but even without that seasoned palate, you can just taste the love. I know that sounds silly, but you really can taste the care, time, and extra energy that went into it.
Fourth City Barbecue began as an Instagram business and grew to Fortune Teller Bar. What’s that journey been like, and why did you want to add Tower Grove Farmers’ Market into the mix?
GM: In 2022, we started doing barbecue boxes for people to take home and reheat that we sold over Instagram. After [the pandemic], we saw the industry change with the way people provided food and beverage. We saw an opportunity and jumped on it. It really went well, we got our name out there, and we started to solidify ourselves as a real brand. Six months later, we got the opportunity to serve out of Fortune Teller Bar, which was really important for us, because we needed a way to serve our food hot. The market was something we were hoping to do last year, but we’d just gotten married and opened at the bar, so we decided to wait.
EM: We’ve been to farmers’ markets in a lot of cities, but there is something so special about Tower Grove Farmers’ Market. It’s such a microcosm of what we love about St. Louis and the community here. So many businesses get their starts there, and there is this great mix of local farmers, amazing food, and beautiful goods. What makes it so cool these days is it feels like it’s half and half: half prepared foods and half produce and unprocessed foods. It’s a nice mix, where you can go grab a few things to cook with for the week and also get breakfast, coffee, a danish, bagels, and baked goods. For us, we like the idea of serving not exactly what you can get at the restaurant but something similar and enticing. Barbecue and breakfast is the best of both worlds. We want people to say that the brisket on their breakfast sandwich is so good that they want to come in and eat it in its pure form at the restaurant.
What can people expect from you at the market?
GM: Our menu will be very consistent every week. We will have a special sandwich that we change, but there will always be three breakfast sandwiches. The two mainstays are the brisket and the seitan, which we are calling vegetarian brisket. The rotating ones will be things like our homemade bacon or pork belly pastrami. All of them will be served with a two-egg patty, American cheese, hot honey butter, and a brioche breakfast bun that we get from Damn Fine Hand Pies. We’ll also be serving our bacon fried rice with eggs added to it, and regular and blueberry cornbread with hot honey butter.
How does it feel to be part of the market?
EM: We’ve gotten a lot of support from folks who have done the market before, and we are already feeling the market family vibes. We’re really excited about this community and being able to evangelize our brand. There is no place that stands for itself and loves itself as much as St. Louis does, and we’re so happy to be a part of that.
