Tom's Thumb BBQ & Grill

Tom’s Thumb Fresh Market: Tom’s Thumb BBQ & Grill

Need a car wash? Maybe you are looking for a nice bottle of wine to take to a dinner party this weekend. Heck, maybe you are running low and need to fill your gas tank. You can get pretty much everything you need at Tom’s Thumb Fresh Market. Oh, it’s a great place to eat lunch, too. I know I know… Bear with me.

Last summer I had a lunch meeting scheduled, and asked where we were meeting. “Tom’s Thumb,” she said. There is a mountain peak in Scottsdale called Tom’s Thumb, but she was referring to Tom’s Thumb Fresh Market. I had been there before, but only to fill up. I had no idea you could eat lunch there.

Inside Tom’s Thumb Fresh Market you will find Tom’s Thumb BBQ & Grill. The menu is impressive, filled with BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, BBQ tacos, soups, salads and more. Funny story… I’ve eaten at Tom’s Thumb several times now, and have only ordered the BBQ pulled pork sandwich. I am sure the other menu items are good, but you can’t go wrong with BBQ pulled pork.

Earlier this week I had another lunch meeting, and asked where we were going. “Tom’s Thumb sound good?” he said. Sure! I ordered a BBQ pulled pork sandwich, upgraded to fries, and sat down. Then I decided to review the BBQ sauces they had. They make all of their BBQ sauces in-house, and even have a menu on the wall explaining all of the sauces. I don’t remember what sauces I had the last time I was here, but made note of them this time. Below is a list of the sauces* they had available this week.

Toto’s Kansas City: BBQ sauce 101, smoky sweet, a mid-western classic.
Mo’ Memphis Mop: More tangy, moderate heat, a South Carolina/North Georgia fav.
Sweet Baby James: Classic Carolina vinegar “mop” sauce. Tangy with a kick.
ZZ’s Texas Chipotle: Sweet, thick & spicy w/ smoke jalapeños.
Javi’s Habañero: Spicy & delicious, ¡Ay, caramba! Muy caliente!
Mean Mr. Mustard: Tangy mustard w/ cayenne pepper, touched w/ apple cider
XXX: This isn’t a movie rating, every BBQ place has to have one! Rock-a-bye!

There you have it… A laundry list of sauces for you to choose from. They have little cups for you to put BBQ sauce in, and I grabbed 4 different sauces for my sandwich and my fries. I ended up truing the Sweet Baby James, the ZZ’s Texas Chipotle, the Mean Mr. Mustard and, of course, the XXX. They were all good, but I really enjoyed the Mean Mr. Mustard the best. The XXX, while you think it would be the hottest, wasn’t too bad. The Sweet Baby James was sweet, hence the name, but not as sweet as I would have liked. I was hoping for brown sugar sweet.

I had planned to take a picture of the menu before we left, but Brett, the guy I was with, had a phone call and we needed to go. So today, during my lunch break, I grabbed Bradford and we headed back. He had never heard of this place, so if nothing else, I introduced him to a new lunch spot. I didn’t eat, but managed to snag a photo for this blog post. It was worth it and Bradford thoroughly enjoyed his lunch. He only used one sauce, though… Which I will never understand. He had sweet potato fries, too, and I saw him dipping those in ranch dressing. With all these BBQ sauces, not sure why he dipped his fries in ranch. But to each their own.

I’m don’t order BBQ often, but I am glad we went this week, and it will inspire me to go back again and to go back often. It’s not cheap, but every few weeks it is worth splurging. I really want to try the BBQ tacos. Guys I met with on Wednesday had the BBQ tacos, and they looked delicious.

Tom’s Thumb might look like a gas station on the outside, but once inside, order a sandwich, sit down and enjoy a meal. As a matter of fact, Tom’s Thumb BBQ & Grill was recently named one of the “Best New Restaurants” by Phoenix Magazine. Great… Now I want another pulled pork sandwich for lunch tomorrow. Bradford, do you want to go back so soon? Cheers!