Eating at Tops Bar-B-Q & Burgers was a once-or-twice-a-month visit for the Donahue family when I was growing up. We always got barbecue. And my dad always wanted to go to a particular Tops location on Jackson Avenue because he believed we got more barbecue on our sandwiches there.
Well, a lot has changed. I eat at Tops about twice a week on the average. I fell in love with the hamburgers a long time ago. They’re the benchmark when it comes to grilled hamburgers. And I loved the turkey burger when it was introduced. Then the chicken sandwich with white sauce and dill pickles.
I’m happy Tops keeps introducing new items. And now they’ve added even more.
I talked recently with Tops execs Randy Hough and Hunter Brown to discover what’s new at this iconic restaurant that began in Memphis in 1952.
“We are a barbecue company with world-famous cheeseburgers,” Brown says. “That is our core group of what got us to the dance and what will forever be in our blood. When we think of a lot of new items, we try to broaden the audience. But never take our mind off the main date that got us to the dance.”
Listening to their customers, Tops added chicken and turkey. “Some people don’t eat pork or beef, so there’s an option for someone now.”
Regarding the turkey burger, Brown says, “I would put this turkey burger up against any turkey burger in Memphis, hands down.”
Hough discovered that a customer added rib rub to their turkey burger. “What a great combination.”
After noticing customers making additions to their sandwiches, Tops execs thought, “Let’s give a couple of other options for our guests,” Hough said.
They now offer “Smoky,” “Spicy,” and “Sloppy” pulled chicken sandwiches.
“Smoky” is their original pulled chicken sandwich, which they called the “Fire Braised” chicken sandwich. This is the one with the white sauce and dill pickles. It’s permanently on the menu.
“Spicy” is similar to “Smoky” except they substituted thick, spicy hot pickles for the dill pickles. And, Hunter says, “We took our traditional white sauce used for the ‘Smoky’ and blended it with our original Tops hot barbecue sauce.”
Then there’s the “Sloppy,” now one of my all-time favorite sandwiches. The pulled chicken sandwich is paired with “Slop Sauce,” which Brown describes as “a little bit of a tropical barbecue sauce.” The “sweet, light” sauce is “more of a Hawaiian barbecue sauce.”
For the base, they added a grilled pineapple, which is perfect for me because I love sweet and savory.
“Sloppy” and “Spicy” aren’t permanent menu items. “This is a limited time offer,” Brown says. “Get it while it lasts.”
But they might stick around if there’s a high demand. That’s what happened with the “Smoky” when it was introduced two years ago. It was meant to be a three-month special, but, Hough says, “because of the amount of guests that purchased it and the comments we got, we said, ‘We just can’t pull it. We have to leave it here.’”
“What we like to do with some of these different options is to bring them back,” he continues. “Let guests have the opportunity to try new items and then we come back with them later, if they were well-received, and give them another chance to try them.”
That brings us to the newest item at Tops: a hot dog. “There are certain guests that told us they would love for us to have a good, all-beef hot dog,” Hough says.
And they already have flat-top grills at their restaurants.
The hot dog is now available only at the Frayser Tops locations at 2288 Frayser Boulevard and 3023 Thomas Street. Those “are two of our oldest locations and have the voice of the guests that have been customers for years,” Brown says, adding, “It has been received with open arms. It’s been great. It’s been received so well it’s actually opened up options for it to go to other restaurants.”
Tops offers three varieties of hot dogs. One, which comes with a drink and costs $4.99, is “a nice, all-beef grilled hot dog dressed with ketchup and mustard and a big bag of Brim’s chips.”
The “specialty hot dogs” are the “Memphis Slaw Dog,” with coleslaw and original Tops barbecue sauce, and the “BLT dog,” which is dressed with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and melted cheese. Both come with Brim’s chips and a drink.
All the hot dogs are “grilled to order,” which means they aren’t putting the hot dogs on a roller and letting them sit gas station-style, Brown adds.
Finally, I heard a rumor that Tops is going to offer turkeys during the holidays.
“We are verifying the rumor,” Hough says. “It’s in the works.”
It will be a “pit-smoked turkey breast that will feed about 10 people,” he says. They will offer the turkeys from November 1st through the first week in January. It doesn’t come with sides because they feel most people serve their own signature sides. “We’ll smoke the turkey and they do the sides.”
And, Hough says, “This turkey promotion is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this.”
Tops isn’t stopping when it comes to new products. “We never stop working on new ideas,” Hough says. “This is it for right now — a lot going on. Certainly other things, for sure. But nothing we can talk about right now.”
But here’s a hint: One long-time Tops employee created “an amazing cheeseburger salad,” Brown says.
Justin Fox Burks