I ate chicken for the first time at Tops Bar-B-Q. That’s because I now can eat chicken at Tops Bar-B-Q. It’s long been a missing ingredient at the Memphis-based chain of restaurants.
The experience was delightful. I tried the new Fire-Braised Chicken Sandwich with Memphis white sauce, which recently was introduced at a few Tops locations. I ate mine at the Poplar spot.
It’s delicious. I knew it would be, so I ordered two sandwiches right off the bat. It’s a pulled — like Tops barbecue — sandwich, so it has that same consistency. And the sauce is creamy and good, with a little bite to it. Though there was enough sauce on the sandwich, I ordered extra sauce because I’m a slatherer. I even ate it right out of the container.
So, I guess you’d call me a fan of the new Tops food addition.
The chicken sandwich, which is slated to come to all Tops locations in December, is currently available at the Southaven and Frayser Boulevard locations (as well as the Poplar location I visited).
Fire-Braised Chicken is chicken seared over fire, says Tops CEO Randy Hough. It’s topped with a Memphis white sauce, which was based on Alabama white sauce. Tops created its own version of Alabama’s creamy, tangy white sauce in house, but Tops “put a little twist” on it, Hough says.
“This sauce is very similar in terms of remaining really creamy and tangy, but there’s just a little bit of something different on the back end,” he says. “I don’t want to call it ‘hot’ or ‘heat,’ but there’s a little snap to it on the back end.”
And, he says, “It fits well in the city of Memphis. We do things a little unique.”
As far as Hough knows, this is the first time Tops has ever offered a chicken option. “Now it’s time. We said, ‘Let’s do a limited time special.’ We fell in love with this chicken product. A pulled chicken and sauce. It’s a great way to marry this together and give our guests an option for chicken.”
So, of course, I had to ask Hough, “What about selling Tops barbecued chicken some day?”
“Certainly we’ve considered that,” Hough says. “We’re not there today because we want to think this can stand alone on its own right now.”
Chicken will go great with Tops barbecue sauce, Hough adds. But they don’t want to “steal anything away” from their new chicken sandwich.
The Fire-Braised Chicken Sandwich with Memphis white sauce is currently available at the following Tops Bar-B-Q locations: 2288 Frayser Boulevard, 5144 Poplar Avenue, and 313 Stateline Road West in Southaven.
