Back in November 1972 in a small restaurant located on Third Avenue S.E. in Rochester, MN, John Hardy, Jr. opened a Southern Bar-B-Q restaurant. Mr. Hardy made his own sauce from recipes he had perfected while he was barbecuing meats as a sideline of his foundry job in Buffalo, NY. He specialized in barbecued ribs which he cooked over a fire of cherry and apple wood.
Today, our meats are still cooked over cherry and apple wood fires and we still mix our special Hot, Medium, or Mild sauces the same way Mr. Hardy did over twenty years ago. Currently there are two Hardy's Bar-B-Q Restaurants in Rochester. Mr. Hardy was born February 4, 1921 in Birmingham, AL; he passed away on October 28, 1986 at Elgin, MN. We all miss his smile and friendly greeting here at Hardy's Bar-B-Q.
