The Thumb — Restaurant in Scottsdale

I'll cut straight to the chase, this place was phenomenal, five stars all day long! Ya, it's bizarre that this place is in a gas station along with a gift shop. But it's LEGIT barbecue. Below is exactly why...

It started with Frank, one of the best managers I've ever met. I actually asked him if he was the owner because he has such an "ownership attitude." Incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, a true "leader" with the staff (who were ALL fantastic!). He gave us a complete "menu tour" the moment we walked in and he realized we hadn't been there before. He told us all about the food, the famous visitors, where things could be found, how they cook their food and his recommendations. Atmosphere is modern, clean, spacious, comfortable, great music, tv's, bright, up-beat.

After long deliberation, because there are so many choices and they all sound so amazing, we settled on a brisket sandwich and a Cuban sandwich. You might be wondering, why a Cuban sandwich at a barbecue joint, it's filled with all the normal stuff plus smoked pulled pork, it was the best Cuban sandwich I've ever had, including the many I've had in southern Florida. The brisket sandwich was outstanding, juicy, smoky, lean but with just enough fat and all of the breads on the sandwiches were soft and chewy and delicious!. Shoestring fries were phenomenal, thin, long, soft, hot, mmmmm! They were out of baked beans, but Frank wanted me to be able to taste them, so he found a small scoop of them (from a catering tray I think) and brought them to me. I love baked barbecued beans and usually try them at barbecue restaurants, these were hands-down the best I've ever had. They were thick, rich, smoky, tacky, sweet, lightly spicy and amazing.

They have a barbecue sauce bar with 7 different and unique barbecue sauces. To be totally honest, I didn't love any of them, you might even say I didn't like most of them. The homemade mustard sauce was the one exception, it was really good. However, The Thumb still deserves the full 5 stars because nothing really needed any sauce, and I'm totally saucy, usually using lots, but this food simply didn't need it.

We wrapped up with a homemade pop tart and red velvet cake/cupcake. I'm not a huge "sweets" person, don't get me wrong, I like them, but they have to be great for me to love them. The Thumb has their own bakery, Frank gave us a quick tour, and they make their own baked goods fresh every day! And they have TONS, see the pictures I posted. Here's the honest deal, the homemade pop tart was the best I've ever had in my life, and I've had lots! The filling was sweet, and strawberry-ey, tacky, warm and all encapsulated in a flaky, sweet crust drizzled with liquid heaven icing. The red velvet cupcake was incredible, not only was the icing thick and sweet and sticky and delicious, but the cake, which elsewhere can be a bit dry or crumbly, was moist and rich and thick and sweet and perfect!

There's really only one thing wrong with this restaurant, it's not close enough to my home to gain the 50 pounds I'd be happy to gain by living much, much closer and eating here regularly!

I could not recommend this place more highly than I do. 5 stars is all categories. If I were looking for a restaurant anywhere within 50 miles of this place, The Thumb is where I would...

I came in this morning to get my truck hand washed, I paid $44.99. I specifically asked Coast ( his nick name possibly) to apply no armor all on the tires. Coast was working with a new guy from Montana, nice guy, great attitude on his work and life in general.

Back to the hand wash, Coast drives my brand new truck to the tunnel. Yes, the trucks and cars still go through the old tunnel In between to steel tubes the vehicles are moved through the tunnel on a belt system, no driver.

Coast gets out of my truck at the start of the tunnel which the truck is half way in the sun and uses a garden hose and basically uses very little effort to wet the truck down before two more guys start to hand wash the truck with no effort or any attention to detail. I can see all this because I’m still talking to Montana at the check in line. The hand washing mitts look dirty. The guys hand washing the truck probably only washed 70% of my truck.With very little spray down before they started. This means micro scratching. No effort to actually hand wash the truck. The washers from what I can tell obviously hate there jobs. So, I’m still watching the washers pretend to wash the truck and then.. one of them stop and started walking towards me his name is Frank he has red hair and wears a pony tail, Frank says you can’t stand there and talk to Montana because Joe says you can’t, Frank is obviously upset because I’m watching him pretend to wash my truck. I said who is Joe and he said the manager, I said is Joe here I would like to meet him Frank says no. Keep in mind it’s just Montana and I talking about life while I watch Frank and the other guy pretend to hand wash my truck.

I went inside after Frank asked me to leave and not talk to Montana. By this time my pretend hand washed truck wash half way down the tunnel where I would meet the guys who finished the truck that Frank and his team pretended to hand wash. Exactly! Pretended to hand wash my truck.

I pay, look around and go outside to look at my truck the tires now have Armor All dripping off of them. Remember at the very beginning I asked Coast to please not put any Armor All on the tires. Now the finishing team is taking off the Armor All with some sort of clear liquid maybe alcohol. The rest of the truck looks like it went through a $4.99 tunnel. I spend the next 20 minutes or more helping clean the truck. Asking for windows to be cleaned or cleaned again. Wiping down paint, door jams, interior etc. At least the guys in the finishing line hand great attitudes.

The pretend hand wash my truck received today was worth $8.99 at best in my opinion and should have been free because of the dripping wet Armor All applied on all 4 tires.

I took my truck back up front and showed Coast all the Armor All, he said just bring it back after it flings up all over the paint and we will re wash it today only. I wouldn’t spend another 2 minutes hanging out at The Thumb.

If you want a pretend hand wash, where they don’t spray off the vehicle properly, and you also want to help finish cleaning the vehicle at the end after waiting for 40 minutes of your morning spending $44.99 then this the place to go....

We had seen this place on Tanked. And we happened to be driving past on a Sunday family adventure day. You know; real estate looking, rural road running, and yay I have AC, it's August, let's take a drive day.

The 95 octane race fuel at the pump for $6/gal. was something you don't find close to home, so stop here and load your race tune or timing.

The smell when you walk in is amazing. And yes, that gets its' own paragraph.

Check out the details of the place before you order or sit down. It's not a museum or art gallery. But it is a friendly set up to review the gift shop area, see a little bit of Americana art and watch the saltwater fish in the (guessing) 600gal. aquarium swim around.

The environment ia friendly, casual, and not rushed. August is not the busiest time of year around here, so a winter stop will probably be busier. The stop we made involved taking home food, and I spent most of my time next to the aquarium while we waited. Keep your kids from touching the aquarium when they point out all the different fish, and details inside the tank like mine did.

I picked up a gift for an upcoming family birthday. Since there are soaps, decorations, aprons, and a lot of other items, you will easily find simething cool too. I actually didn't adventure past the row of drink coolers towards the other end of the shop area, so go see more than I did.

We took home cole slaw, mac and cheese, corn bread muffins, texas toast, fries, pork, brisket and chicken. With our to-go order, we had ketchup, house sauce, and some (really) hot sauces.

Start with the house sauce. I like spicy, but the ultra hot ones aren't going to let your taste buds enjoy the smoked meats. Spill some on your shirt, so you can sniff it later. The perfect smokey fire smell is part of the experience of these meats. The meats we had were well cooked, and no better smell will be found.

The cornbreads are very good, but we had them about 2 hours later, so try those when they're fresher. Same with the fries. You can tell they are well made, but they're just better when fresh. The mac and cheese has its' best part up top; a crispy but not burnt layer; very yummy. The texas toast was well received by my family, and it was a tasty accompaniment to the meats. Our order included a great cardboard carrying box, and all items packed in appropriate containers.

We had a good experience here, and we'll be happy to visit for a while and pick up their smoked meats again. The stars are for a less than ideal...