Tag: Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q

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Hungry Memphis

Three Little Pigs + Chicken + Turkey

Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q co-owner NaMario Yancey and me with two of the new items at the iconic restaurant. (Credit: Tonya Hardin)

I noticed a pink hand-written sign that read: “Smoked turkey legs & Bar-B-Q chicken” when I stopped by Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q recently to buy some banana pudding.

Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q (Credit: Michael Donahue)

 A grilled barbecued chicken option is exciting news to me. I love pork, but I love other options, too. So, I returned and ordered a barbecued chicken sandwich and a smoked turkey leg. When I finished, I felt like I do after I eat Thanksgiving dinner. Very full and very happy.

Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q (Credit: Michael Donahue)

I called NaMario Yancey, who, along with his brother, Napoleon Yancey III, own Three Little Pigs, to ask about the new items. That’s when he told me they also added macaroni and cheese to the menu. As far as he knows, this is the first time Three Little Pigs has sold barbecued chicken, smoked turkey legs, and macaroni and cheese.

NaMario had the idea to sell barbecued chicken when he bought the iconic restaurant at 5145 Quince Road in Quince Station Shopping Center in October, 2022.

NaMario Yancey in October, 2022, shortly after he became co-owner of Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q (Credit: Michael Donahue)

His dad, Napoleon Yancey Jr., came up with the marinated chicken recipe a while back for the family concession business, Yancey’s Smoking Good Food. 

The chicken is slow smoked, he says. You can order it chopped or pulled. The sandwich is topped with slaw and your choice (I chose both) of Three Little Pigs original barbecue sauce or “Memphis Mild.”

“Memphis Mild is the combination of the tomato-based sauce and the vinegar sauce,” NaMario says. “Plus, it has the sweet and the heat. It has some of everything in it. Memphis Mild pairs better with the chicken.”

I’m not sure I knew this, but, NaMario tells me, “The original sauce is Loeb’s barbecue sauce. This used to be a Loeb’s Bar-B-Q.”

I ordered the pulled chicken sandwich with both sauces on the side. I dipped parts of the sandwich in the two sauces — like I dip sushi in hot oil, eel sauce, and spicy mayo at Sakura Japanese Restaurant. 

You can order the sandwich, the barbecued chicken plate with two sides, and the barbecued chicken nachos. “Everything you can get with pork you can get with chicken,” NaMario says.

As for the turkey leg, NaMario says, “They just come as is. Or you can make it a plate and add two sides.”

The turkey legs are slow smoked and come with either or both barbecue sauces. The leg I had actually tasted like turkey, which doesn’t always happen with turkey legs. And these are big legs. 

Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q now offers barbecued chicken, turkey legs, and macaroni and cheese.
Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q (Credit: Michael Donahue)

I tried the macaroni and cheese on a later visit. I loved it. “I make it personally myself,” NaMario says. “I’m the only one who makes it.”

Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q (Credit: Michael Donahue)

He makes it from “an old family recipe. From my great aunt, Aunt Lou. It’s really hard to describe. Once you taste it, any other one won’t compare. And I’m not saying that to brag or anything.”

NaMario used to call his aunt, “Momma Lou,” and request her macaroni and cheese instead of a cake on his birthday. “If I could pick, it was macaroni and cheese.” But his aunt also made him a cake. A yellow cake with chocolate frosting, to be exact.

Customers also can order “mac and cheese bowls” with pork or chicken and the sauces.

NaMario says he has gotten “great reviews” from customers, including those living in the neighborhood, about his macaroni and cheese.

Since he came aboard Three Little Pigs, NaMario has added desserts, which include cakes and, occasionally, cinnamon rolls. In a couple of weeks, he’s going to add sweet potato pie, pound cake, and butter cookies. And, of course, they still sell their home-made banana pudding, which is made the way it’s been made way before NaMario became an owner.

If the interior at Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q looks different, that’s because NaMario gave the restaurant a new look. He repainted the restaurant walls, which used to be peach pink. Now, NaMario says, the color scheme is “Tiger blue and gray.”

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Hungry Memphis

Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q Has New Owners

NaMario Yancey is the new co-owner with his brother, Napoleon Yancey, of Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q (Credit: Michael Donahue)

By December, customers should be able to order barbecued chicken at Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q.

That’s just one of the new items slated to be added to the menu. For the first time since 1989, the iconic restaurant at 5145 Quince Road has new owners. NaMario Yancey and his brother, Napoleon Yancey, bought the restaurant October 7th.

“My brother, when he tried the food, said, ‘This place has the best breakfast, burgers, and barbecue.’ Like the three B’s,” says NaMario. “And it actually made sense.”

Napoleon was first to discover the restaurant was for sale. “My brother saw a listing ‘For Sale’ under business and Three Little Pigs was one of them. He just told me when he was looking at it. We saw great potential from the start.”

The sale of Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q follows the sales of other legendary Memphis eating spots, including The Pancake Shop, Leonard’s Pit Barbecue, and Bryant’s Breakfast.

 Three Little Pigs originally was a Loeb’s barbecue restaurant when it opened in 1968, says former owner Charlie Robertson. Around 1982, Jack Whitaker, who owned the nearby Yorkshire Launderette, bought the restaurant. Robertson bought the restaurant from Whitaker in 1989.

“Jack is the one who changed the name to ‘Three Little Pigs,’” Robertson says.

Asked why he decided to sell the restaurant, Robertson says, “Well, I guess (I’m) just tired.  Ready to slow down. Not work as much.”

And, he says, “The help situation is another big thing. You can’t get any help. Can’t get anybody to work. Everybody’s got that problem.”

Robertson will still be at the restaurant, though. “Oh, yeah.  I’m going to work part time there.”

NaMario wasn’t skeptical about buying Three Little Pigs. “I was not dubious because I’ve been in the business for 23 years, selling barbecue and selling food, so we were going to make it work,” he says. “My dad started his own concession business in 1999: Yancey’s Cool Stuff & More.”

NaMario says they’ve sold at the Delta Fair, Mid-South Fair, Bluff City Fair, Mud Island Amphitheater, Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival, and Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. “We’ve been all over this city for a long time.”

He and his three brothers continue to work at their dad’s concession business. They sell “funnel cakes, corn dogs, barbecue nachos, turkey legs, chicken on a stick, Polish sausage, all your fair items.”

NaMario got in his dad’s business when he was in the fourth grade. “Started off making snowballs.”

He’d only eaten at Three Little Pigs once before buying the business, and that was several years ago, when he was taking a University of Memphis elective bowling class at Billy Hardwick’s All-Star Lanes, right next door. “I had the cheeseburger,” he recalls.

NaMario ate at Three Little Pigs for the second time just before he and Napoleon bought the business. “It’s actually a different perspective when you’re going to buy than when you’re going to eat.” Usually, people aren’t thinking about purchasing the business when they go out to eat at a restaurant. “You’re going to get what you want and that’s it.”

But he and Napoleon wanted to check out everything: “The employees and how they greet you and how they smile. They know customers by name and they know what they’re going to order before they get there.”

NaMario ordered barbecue on that visit. “I thought it was great.”

NaMario Yancey at Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q (Credit: Michael Donahue)

They won’t change the barbecue. “The original is staying the original because that is what the taste is for the customers.” But they are planning to add a selection of different sauces.

The first thing NaMario did after they bought Three Little Pigs was to get in the kitchen and see how breakfast was done. “I hadn’t been there for breakfast, and it was a great experience. The police officers coming in and the firefighters. And the early morning line workers were in there. I took over the griddle from watching Mr. Charlie my first day. Just to get into it. I did well. I’ve been cooking for 23 years, so it was easy to catch on and cook.”

So far, NaMario and Napoleon haven’t made any changes. But they will be eventually be offering new items. “I’m going to add grilled chicken to the menu,” says NaMario. “And charcoal`smoked and hickory-smoked turkey legs.” He also plans to add beef brisket, and macaroni and cheese, as well as some new desserts.

Nothing is leaving the menu, NaMario says. “If I got rid of something, you never know the backlash you might get on it.  It’s there for a reason.” It had been a while since anything new was added to the restaurant’s menu. “I guess they were keeping it simple. And it worked.”

NaMario has a ballpark date when he he’s going to begin carrying more food items. “I’m trying to push before Thanksgiving adding items,” he says. “If anything, by the beginning of December.” As for the restaurant itself, NaMario says,  “I do want to add some TV and music.”

He wants customers to be able to watch the University of Memphis Tigers and Memphis Grizzlies games. “People get to-go orders on game day. They grab barbecue to go. Why not create a place where customers can stay and watch the Grizzlies and the Tigers.”

So, what about franchising Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q? All NaMario will say is, “The sky’s the limit. The potential is great.”

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Best Bets: Double Dog at Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q

CREDIT: Michael Donahue

Michael Donahue

Double Dog at Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q


If you order a “hot dog” at Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q, you’ll get the conventional wiener in a bun.

But if you order a “Double Dog,” you’ll get one of my all-time favorite sandwiches.

The Double Dog is two sliced fried hot dogs on a lightly-toasted hamburger bun. You can get anything on it, but most people order it with slaw, mustard, and onions, says Three Little Pigs owner Charlie Robertson.

I love the barbecue at Three Little Pigs, but every so often I have a craving for their Double Dog. Actually, I always have a craving for their Double Dog, but it’s a sandwich I’d better not eat every day.

“It’s a sandwich I thought of ‘cause I like hog dogs and I like a fried hot dog,” says Robertson.

He believes he got the idea back in the day from Dyer’s hamburgers when it was on Cleveland. “Only Dyer’s threw them in the grease and deep fried them.”

The folks at Three Little Pigs cut the hot dogs in half and “fry them on a flat grill almost like a hamburger.”

You grill the hot dog until it’s brown, Robertson says. “Most people want them really brown.”

He, personally, likes to – at times – take one of his hot dogs and “drop it in the deep fryer.”

Double Dogs have been on the menu since Robertson took over Three Little Pigs 30 years ago. “It didn’t just take off,” he says.

It’s still not one of their top sellers, he says, but I think they’re fabulous. I love the slaw, which has a slightly-sweet taste to it. It’s the same slaw they use on their barbecue sandwiches. “It’s got sugar in it,” Robertson says.

They buy chopped cabbage, but they make the sauce for the slaw from scratch. It’s the same slaw sauce recipe that was at Three Little Pigs when he bought the place in 1989, Robertson says. “And we stuck with it.”

I asked if it was mustard based. “It’s mayonnaise-based slaw.”

OK. Now that I’ve written this, I WANT ANOTHER DOUBLE DOG.

Three Little Pigs Bar-B-Q is at 5145 Quince Road; (901)-685-7094