Whether you know him as Bobby Q, Bobby McGee, Mr. Lucky or even Mabel Murphy, there's no denying that Bob Sikora is a legendary restaurateur. Long before he fired up his first slow smoker here at Bobby Q's, this Phoenix native was palling around with the likes of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, and opening restaurants from here to Hawaii. And to think, it all started when a 15-year-old Sikora dropped out of school to take a job as a fry cook at one of the first franchised McDonald's in Phoenix.
At the age of 20, Sikora opened his first restaurant — Bobby's Pancake Stand. Here, he gained the experience to open more restaurants, many of which were beer and burger joints or small coffee shops.
In 1966, Sikora opened Mr. Lucky's, a 19,000 square foot live music venue, featuring prominent acts of the day like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Bobby McGee's opened in 1971. The popular nightspot featured a first for the Valley, prerecorded music played by a DJ. At the time, only clubs in Los Angeles and New York were using similar technology. Bobby McGee's became so popular Sikora eventually had to start turning people away. That led to the creation of Mabel Murphy's in Scottsdale in 1972.
Eventually Bobby McGee's proved so popular that Sikora expanded it to 24 units, ranging from Australia and Honolulu to Charlotte. Most recently, he scoured the United States, traveling coast to coast searching for great barbecue.
Revitalized by his trips, Sikora began a new endeavor – to bring great steaks and real BBQ to Phoenix. Bobby Q opened in 2005 at the former site of Bobby McGee's. The secret behind Bobby Q's barbeque lies within the slow cooking process over Tennessee hickory wood paired with the perfect blend of spices in the special dry rub, as executed by barbeque master, Executive Chef Mark Hittle. This results in succulent hand-pulled pork, smoky sausage links, fork-tender brisket, and ribs that fall right off the bone.
