Hog & Hominy Memphis: The Chefs Behind the John T. Burger

Hog & Hominy is a Southern-Italian restaurant at 707 W. Brookhaven Circle in East Memphis, owned and run by two Memphis chefs, Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman. It earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in November 2025. Its John T. Burger costs $19 on the lunch, brunch and dinner menus. It’s an onion burger: onion smashed into the beef, yellow mustard, American cheese and pickled lettuce, with fries on the side. Want a chef’s onion burger at a proper table? Make the drive out from downtown. Want a century-old counter and grease that has been going for decades? Stay on Beale Street and go to Dyer’s.

I’m Alex, the restaurants editor at Burger Breton. This is a profile, not a tasting review. I built it from the Summer 2026 menus on the restaurant’s website (checked October 9, 2026), the Michelin Guide listing and Memphis food press going back to 2013. Every fact below is dated and sourced. Where sources disagree, I say so instead of picking one.

Hog & Hominy Memphis at a glance

Hog & Hominy is a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant in East Memphis. It cooks Italian food with Southern roots, from wood-fired pizza to the John T. Burger. The essentials:

Who are Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman?

Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman are the Memphis chef partners behind Hog & Hominy, and they have cooked and owned restaurants together since 2008. Their Southern Smoke Foundation bio says both grew up in large Italian families in Memphis. They trained at Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina, then at a culinary school in Calabria, Italy.

Their first restaurant, Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, opened in 2008. The name is simply their two first names put together. That tells you how they work: two names on the door, no single star chef. Even the Summer 2026 menus at Hog & Hominy are signed “A. TICER, M. HUDMAN,” and the official site lists both as executive chefs and owners.

Is Andy Ticer still the chef at Hog & Hominy?

Yes. As of October 2026, Andy Ticer is still co-owner and executive chef at Hog & Hominy, alongside Michael Hudman. According to the restaurant’s website, CK Kaplan runs the kitchen day to day as chef de cuisine and Megan Gardner is the general manager.

Awards and press for the Ticer and Hudman partnership

National recognition came early, and most of it landed in a single year, 2013:

• Food & Wine Best New Chefs 2013. Editor Dana Cowin announced it in New York, as Memphis Magazine reported on April 4, 2013.
• GQ, March 2013. Critic Alan Richman put Hog & Hominy among his “Top 12 Most Outstanding Restaurants of 2013” and wrote: “Restaurants are rarely this original or this much fun.” (via Action News 5)
• The New York Times, July 2013. Pete Wells reviewed the restaurant and praised its “Southern-meets-Italian” dishes, including fried sweetbreads, the beef and cheddar hot dog and peanut butter pie. He suggested it had overtaken Andrew Michael. (via the Memphis Flyer)
• James Beard Foundation. The pair were Best Chef: Southeast semifinalists in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and finalists in later years. Hog & Hominy was a Best New Restaurant semifinalist. Sources disagree on the exact finalist years, so I don’t list them.

What kind of food does Hog & Hominy serve?

Hog & Hominy serves Italian-American food built on Southern ingredients. The tagline is “Italian Cooking. Southern Roots.” The menus are headed “ospitalità del sud,” Italian for Southern hospitality. Michelin’s inspectors file it under “Italian-American, Pizza.”

A wood-burning oven sits at the center of the kitchen. In Michelin’s words, it “chars puffy pies dressed with the likes of pepperoni and honey or pork belly with eggs.” The inspectors also single out the roasted oysters and the poutine “buried in pork neck bone gravy.”

Hog & Hominy menu highlights and prices (Summer 2026)

These are the signature dishes on the Summer 2026 lunch and dinner menus, dated August–September 2026:

Menu prices don’t include tax. According to the menu, Tennessee adds 9.75% sales tax on food and beer, and wine, cocktails and spirits carry another 15% liquor-by-the-drink tax. So the $19 John T. Burger really costs about $20.85 before tip.

John T. Burger price at Hog & Hominy Memphis: $18 on the 2022–2024 menus, $19 on the Summer 2026 menu, and about $20.85 with 9.75% Tennessee sales tax, before tip. (Chart: Burger Breton, from the official Hog & Hominy menus (hogandhominy.com/menu), rendered with QuickChart; data CC BY 4.0 Burger Breton)

The John T. Burger: Hog & Hominy’s signature onion burger

The John T. Burger is a Southern take on the Oklahoma onion burger: onions smashed into a beef patty, then American cheese, yellow mustard and pickled lettuce. On the Summer 2026 menus it costs $19 with fries, at lunch, brunch and dinner.

How the John T. Burger was born in 2013

The burger was created in 2013 for The Holding Pen, the dive bar on Hog & Hominy’s back porch, which opened in mid-May that year. “We finally settled on an all-beef burger that we grind ourselves,” Michael Hudman told Memphis Magazine on May 4, 2013. The build came from his grandmother, who ate her burgers with nothing but onions, mustard and pickles.

That first version used beef from Claybrook Farms in Covington, Tennessee, ground in-house. It was topped with caramelized onions, mustard and pickled iceberg lettuce. Those sourcing details date from 2013. I couldn’t confirm who supplies the beef in 2026, or whether it is still ground in-house.

Oklahoma-style technique: onions smashed into the beef

The onion is the whole point. It’s pressed into the patty on the griddle. Reports from 2017 (One Southern Man) and 2023 (StyleBlueprint) describe an Oklahoma-style patty with onions smashed into the beef and shredded lettuce dipped in salt and pickle juice, finished with melted American cheese and mustard.

Inside an Oklahoma onion burger at Sid’s: thin onions smashed into the beef and charred on the griddle, with yellow mustard and pickles. The John T. Burger in Memphis is built the same way, with pickled lettuce instead of pickle slices. (Photo: Krista (goodiesfirst), CC BY 2.0 (Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/49215102@N00/7231455640))

My take: the pickled lettuce is the smartest idea in the build. It does the pickle’s job and the lettuce’s job at once, adding acid and crunch against a patty that the onions make sweet and heavy. Most onion burgers skip that contrast, and this one doesn’t.

To see how far the smash technique travels, compare it with the smash burgers at Beyondburg in Bangalore. Both press thin patties hard onto a hot surface. The Memphis version gets its flavor from the onion layer and that pickled lettuce.

Why is it named after John T. Edge?

The burger honors John T. Edge, the longtime director of the Southern Foodways Alliance and author of Hamburgers & Fries: An American Story (2005), according to the Memphis Flyer (July 2017) and One Southern Man. Naming your burger after the man who wrote a history of American hamburgers is a statement. This burger is meant to sit inside the tradition, not reinvent it.

Was the John T. Burger named the best burger in America?

No. Food & Wine put the John T. Edge Burger on its list of the best burgers in the U.S., but it never named it the best in America. You will find pages online, some from Memphis outlets, claiming it ranked #1. The coverage at the time doesn’t back that up.

On May 2, 2017, Action News 5 reported that the burger had made Food & Wine’s “Best Burgers in the U.S.” list along with another Memphis burger, Dyer’s. The same report quoted Serious Eats calling it “an oh-so-succulent” burger. I couldn’t find the original Food & Wine article, so I don’t claim a rank. When Food & Wine published a new list of top US burger spots in 2025, Dyer’s came in at #4 and was the only Memphis entry. Hog & Hominy didn’t make it.

From the 2020 fire to the 2021 rebuild

In January 2020, a fire destroyed the original Hog & Hominy building. The restaurant was closed for 22 months and reopened on November 5, 2021, in a new building about twice the size of the old one.

Hog & Hominy first opened in the early 2010s (sources say 2011 or 2012), across the street from Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen in East Memphis. For the rebuild, Natalie Lieberman of Collect + Curate designed the interior and J.D. Caldwell of Carlton Edwards Architects designed the building, according to the Memphis Flyer and the Daily Memphian (October–November 2021). The new building has a separate bar area. Did The Holding Pen come back? I found no current source that names it, so I can’t confirm it did.

Hog & Hominy menus photographed in Memphis in June 2016. The cover reads “Estd 2011”, which supports 2011 as the opening year (other sources say 2012). The collage also shows a mosaic and Pink Palace Museum tickets. (Photo: Farther Along (jcbrandon), CC BY 2.0 (Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/77315663@N00/27333427480))

Michelin Bib Gourmand: Hog & Hominy’s 2025 recognition

Hog & Hominy holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, not a Michelin star. The Bib Gourmand goes to restaurants with good food at moderate prices. This one came in the first Michelin Guide American South, announced on November 3, 2025. The Daily Memphian reported that the same guide also recognized Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, the partners’ first restaurant.

Other restaurants by Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman

Ticer and Hudman run their restaurants through their group, Enjoy A|M. As of October 2026, the portfolio is:

• Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen (2008), East Memphis. Their first restaurant, recognized by Michelin in 2025.
• Hog & Hominy, East Memphis. Bib Gourmand, home of the John T. Burger.
• Catherine & Mary’s, downtown Memphis, opened September 2016.
• Josephine Estelle and Rosie’s Tavern, 6695 Poplar Ave, Germantown, TN. Both opened over Memorial Day weekend 2026. Josephine Estelle is pasta-focused and on the ground floor. Rosie’s Tavern is a cocktail tavern upstairs with a bigger burger lineup, according to Hoodline (May 12, 2026).
• Bishop, a French brasserie in the Central Station Hotel at 545 S. Main St. It opened in 2019 and has since closed.

Hog & Hominy vs. Dyer’s: where it fits among the best burgers in Memphis

Memphis’s two most famous burgers have almost nothing in common. Dyer’s fries its burgers in grease it has kept going for decades, in a century-old joint downtown. Hog & Hominy serves a chef’s onion burger in a Bib Gourmand dining room out east. If you only have time for one, choose by the kind of meal you want, not by which burger is better:

The counter at Dyer’s Burgers on Beale Street, downtown Memphis (2024). Dyer’s has fried its burgers in long-kept grease since 1912 and is Hog & Hominy’s best-known burger rival in the city. (Photo: Roastedbeanz1, CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons))

Our Memphis burger guide covers the downtown institutions, Dyer’s and Earnestine & Hazel’s, so you can pair them with Hog & Hominy for a full burger day in the city. Doing a Southern road trip? Keep going with our best burgers in Dallas. For another chef’s burger that defines its city, read our profile of The Dam in St. Louis.

Visiting Hog & Hominy: hours, prices and tips

Hog & Hominy serves lunch Tuesday to Friday, brunch on weekends and dinner every day except Monday. The John T. Burger is on all three menus. These hours come from the official site, checked October 9, 2026:

• Budget: $19 for the burger, plus 9.75% tax and tip. Cocktails and wine carry an extra 15% liquor tax.
• Getting there: the restaurant is in East Memphis, not downtown. Plan on driving or a rideshare.
• Reservations: I couldn’t verify the policy on the official site. Call (901) 779-6096 before you go.
• Happy hour: the homepage says Tuesday to Sunday, but the happy-hour menu says Tuesday to Friday. A weekday from 4pm is the safe bet.
• Who should go: if the burger is your only reason to come, lunch is the easy way to do it. If you’re coming for dinner, order a wood-fired pizza for the table too. The Michelin Bib Gourmand is for the whole menu, not only the burger.

Map of Hog & Hominy at 707 W. Brookhaven Circle, East Memphis. It is about 10 miles east of downtown, where Dyer’s (205 Beale St.) and Earnestine & Hazel’s (531 S. Main St.) are, so plan on driving or a rideshare. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL)

FAQ: Hog & Hominy Memphis

Who owns Hog & Hominy in Memphis? Chefs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman own Hog & Hominy together through their restaurant group, Enjoy A|M. They are also its executive chefs.

What is on the John T. Burger, and how much does it cost? Onion, yellow mustard, American cheese and pickled lettuce, served with fries. It costs $19 on the Summer 2026 menus, before 9.75% Tennessee sales tax. It was $18 on the 2022–2024 menus.

Can you get the John T. Burger at dinner, or only at lunch? You can get it at both, plus weekend brunch. All three Summer 2026 menus list it at $19.

Does Hog & Hominy have a Michelin star? No. It has a Michelin Bib Gourmand, awarded in the first Michelin Guide American South on November 3, 2025.

Is Hog & Hominy open after the 2020 fire? Yes. A fire destroyed the building in January 2020. The restaurant reopened on November 5, 2021, in a rebuilt space about twice the original size.

Is Hog & Hominy open on Mondays? No. The official site lists service Tuesday through Sunday, with dinner on Sunday and no Monday hours.

Was it really named the best burger in America? No. In 2017, Food & Wine included it on its list of the best burgers in the U.S. It was not ranked #1.