OUR STORY

Hugh-Baby’s is a Nashville-born burger and barbecue spot dedicated to simple, delicious food and warm Southern hospitality. Following the vision of restaurateur and founder Pat Martin, Hugh-Baby’s is a loving tribute to the small-town eateries Martin frequented in his childhood. The restaurant’s vibrant, modern design and “all-are-welcome-here” mindset came to life via a counter-service experience that draws inspiration from the old-school barbecue and burger spots.

Hugh-Baby’s gets its name from Martin’s beloved uncle, “Hugh Baby” Coleman. A spirited family man, Hugh Baby loved to enjoy real, honest Southern food while telling stories and jokes surrounded by family and friends. These fond childhood memories centered around the table inspired Pat Martin to dedicate his life to hospitality - bringing culinary comfort to people all over through Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint and Hugh-Baby’s BBQ & Burger Shop.

Hugh-Baby’s is an ode not only to Pat’s uncle, but his entire loving family.

PAT MARTIN, FOUNDER

Pat Martin is the founder of Hugh-Baby’s BBQ & Burger Shop and Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint. A leader in American barbecue, Pat Martin is one of the few pitmasters still carrying the torch of West Tennessee-style whole hog BBQ. Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint is rooted in Martin’s lifelong love for the old ways and traditional practices of authentic American pit barbecue in its truest form.

Hugh-Baby’s is the realization of Martin’s hankering for the type of no-fuss barbecue and burger spots that dotted the mid-South of his youth. In 2017, Martin opened his first Hugh-Baby’s with a menu designed to remind any Southerner of their favorite hometown barbecue shop they visited as a youngin’: great food, cooked to order just the way you want it. It’s also worth noting that the Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint burger (on the menu since opening day in 2006!) is also very much an inspiration for Hugh-Baby’s founding, thanks to an incredible response from guests.

In March of 2022. Pat released his first book, Life of Fire: Mastering the Arts of Pit-Cooked Barbecue, The Grill, and The Smokehouse (Clarkson Potter). Through beautiful photography and detailed instruction, this procedural book looks to transform the way you cook by revealing the craft of West Tennessee-style BBQ - a tradition Pat’s spent a lifetime studying, teaching, and celebrating.

In October 2024, Martin will celebrate the 18th Anniversary of Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint.

THE FOOD

· THE FOOD ·

OUR BURGERS

Our celebrated burgers feature a custom blend of premium beef, ground fresh daily and cooked to order. We’re partial to the classics - American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion on a toasted potato bun. It's pretty much exactly what we think a great burger needs and nothing else. That said, don’t sleep on our BBQ Burger. Ain’t nothin’ better than throwing our Memphis-style Pulled Pork on our signature patty! Or our Shroom & Swiss Burger, which earned us the “Best of the Bash” title at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in 2020! Our Comeback Sauce is also a fan favorite.

OUR SANDWICHES

We’re serious about our barbecue, just as you’d expect from the sibling spot to Pitmaster Pat Martin’s (almost 18 years old!) Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint. Here, we follow the time-honored traditions of Memphis-style BBQ, a far more familiar regional American style of barbecue than the West Tennessee-style whole hog barbecue we celebrate at Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint. We love them differently - but equally! - and hope all our guests
will as well.

We smoke our Pulled Pork, Turkey, and Bologna on-site every single day for up to 18 hours. The same can be said for our Hugh-Baby’s BBQ Sauce - we make it in-house, every single day, at each of our locations. We follow the traditions of all the true, old-school barbecue places; we only smoke so much every day - and when we run out, we run out!

And don’t sleep on our Fried Chicken Sandwich! We hand-bread a Chicken Thigh to crispy perfection and then top it with Pickles and Comeback Sauce.

OUR FRIES AND SHAKES

Crispy, golden French Fries and hand-spun Milkshakes pair perfectly with every item on our menu. Our milkshakes flavors include scratch-made vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and seasonal flavors. We’re making these mix-ins in-house, at each location, every day.

OUR HOT DOGS

Hugh-Baby’s hot dogs are an ode to the quintessential gas station hot dogs of our youth. Keep it classic with our Ball Park Dog (yellow mustard and relish), our signature Slaw Dog (cole slaw, chopped onions, yellow mustard, house-made chili sauce), Chili Cheese Dog (exactly as it sounds), or the Pickwick (grilled onions, jalapeños, yellow mustard, mayo, Hugh-Baby’s BBQ Sauce).

WHAT THE HECK’S A SLUGBURGER?

A Depression-era favorite made famous in Corinth, Mississippi, a "Slugburger" is made with ground meat (usually pork and sometimes beef),
flour, soy grits, or another extender. They are as flavorful as they come and are a nostalgia-fueled delicacy in North Mississippi, West Tennessee, and Northern Alabama.

In 1917, a gentleman named John Weeks headed South from Chicago to Corinth, Mississippi. Tapping his knowledge of the beef processing industry, he devised a recipe for a new “burger” that allowed him to save money on the meat (which ensured his guests saved money on their meals as well). His creation - the Slugburger (originally called the “Weeks Burger”) - sold for a nickel (aka a “slug,” hence the name) and proved a perfect, inexpensive meal during The Great Depression and World War II.

John sold his burgers from the back of a moveable shack with bicycle wheels, eventually purchasing an old trolley car that he converted into
a freestanding café. From there, the family franchise converted four more trolley cars, and the legend of the Slugburger grew.

While the price changed over the years, the name stuck. You can still find them today around Northern Mississippi and into some parts of Tennessee and Alabama. And, of course, you can find them here at Hugh-Baby's every Friday.

We follow tradition by serving Slugburgers with mustard, pickles, and onions, but we like to throw ours on a toasted potato bun.