The Best Barbeque in Memphis: The Bar-B-Q Shop on Madison Avenue

Memphis, Tennessee, is known for its Memphis-style Bar-B-Q, but where in Memphis is the best barbeque sandwich? If this is the question you're asking yourself about the cuisine in Memphis, look no further than right here. The Bar-B-Q Shop is a local favorite in Memphis, Tennessee. People all over the city know that while the Rendezvous Restaurant is world famous for ribs and dry rub, or that Corky's Bar-B-Q is a well known favorite in the region, there really is no topper to the Bar-B-Q Shop on Madison Avenue.

Home of The Dancing Pigs mild and hot sauce, The Bar-B-Q Shop has regularly been voted number one in Reader's Choice contests over the last two decades. The reasons for this are excellent smoked pork, a sweet yet vinegar based sauce, a wonderful ambiance in the dining area where the hungry are welcome to sit at either a window facing the busy street and watch passersby on the street or sit further into the dining area and enjoy the high tin ceilings and the smoky wood paneling the walls and the dim lighting, but the number one reason this writer enjoys a meal at the Bar-B-Q Shop is this: The Bar-B-Q Shop of Memphis has been making the best barbeque sandwich in town since opening in 1980.

At The Bar-B-Q Shop, you will find a sandwich made from the best portion of the pig that was carefully chopped by the owner himself, Frank Vernon. Vernon gets up and is at work by seven a.m. everyday - except Sundays - hand selecting the most delicious pieces of the pig to serve the only pulled pork in town that doesn't have any fat or crunchy skin mixed in with the leaner sections of the meat because Frank Vernon makes sure that any fat pieces are removed and the meat comes from the pork shoulder - the best portion of the meat, the award winning Dancing Pigs sauce, and service that caters to both long-time customers and new ones alike.

The Vernons have been running the Bar-B-Q Shop since 1980 when Frank Vernon bought the place. Now, The Bar-B-Q Shop is managed by Frank's son, Eric Vernon. Eric will go around to each table to make sure each customer has everything he or she needs, while remembering little details about the customers' lives, like whose son or daughter just graduated from high school or college, or who recently married.

Recent awards include the 2005 Fiery Food Challenge National Contest for Best Barbeque sauce with a tomato and vinegar base for the hot version of the Dancing Pigs Sauce. In this particular contest, The Dancing Pigs placed number one out of over eight hundred entries and was featured in Chile Pepper Magazine.

Located at 1782 Madison Avenue, the restaurant is nestled between a vintage apartment building and a row of street-front shops. Parking is in the back or on the street in front of the store. The Bar-B-Q Shop has catering available as well. Hours of operation are Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. They are closed on Sundays. Call ahead at 901-272-1277 to place pick up orders or arrange for catering.