Chefs, brothers, and restaurateurs Matthew and David Medure, owners of Jacksonville, Florida-based M Hospitality Restaurant and Catering Group, which operates Matthew’s Restaurant, Restaurant Medure, and M Shack, opened MBQue, a Southern-style fresh-casual barbeque restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida.

With great attention to detail, the Medure brothers launched their flagship restaurant in 1998 with Matthew’s in San Marco. In 2001, they opened Restaurant Medure in Ponte Vedra Beach, both restaurants consistently earning the AAA Four-Diamond award. In 2011, they entered the foray of the fast-casual restaurant market delivering their trademark high standards of quality and service with the M Shack brand—serving burgers, shakes, and more. Voted “Best Burger” in Jacksonville by readers of numerous publications, the M Shack brand offers four locations in northeast Florida: Atlantic Beach, St. John’s Town Center, Riverside, and Nocatee. Chef Steve Schaefer joined the brothers in 2012 to assist with the expansion of M Shack. He is a managing partner in both restaurant brands as well as the pit master at MBQue. The chef team plan to open Rue St. Marc, a French-American inspired diner, in the fall of 2016 in Jacksonville, enlarging the M Hospitality portfolio of restaurants.

“Many folks from St. Augustine have asked us to open an M Shack in the city,” Matthew Medure says. “When a second generation restaurant became available—and with a smoker—we knew a time-honored barbeque restaurant was on the menu.” The 2,700-square-foot restaurant serves beer and wine and seats 70 diners inside and 16 diners outside.   

“We make everything from scratch with high-quality ingredients at our three restaurant brands and have had a great time creating sauces, side dishes and desserts for MBQue,” he adds. “We are bringing a few M Shack favorites to MBQue such as our hand-spun milkshakes, super kale salad and our iconic M Burger.”

“Guests can look forward to traditional barbeque with high-grade meats,” Medure says. “We butcher and season—with house-made rubs—all our meats and even house-cure our ham for seven to eight days. Our smoked-meats are cooked long and slow over pecan, hickory or cherry wood,” he added. The menu includes St. Louis-style ribs, brisket with a signature 24-hour rub, sweet and spicy pulled or chopped pork, white and hot (red spicy) chicken and house-made sausage. Barbeque connoisseurs will find a selection of classic house-made sauces to please every palate.

MBQue’s smoked-meat platters come with Texas toast and feature pork, beef brisket, hot or white chicken, sliced turkey or house-made sausage, $5 to $9. Whole slabs of spare ribs, baby back ribs and beef ribs, $14 to $25. Quarter and half platters of spare ribs and chicken are priced from $4 to $13. 

“Our sandwiches are distinctive,” Medure says. “They feature our smoked-meats and house-cured ham and come with one side.” The menu includes a grilled ham and turkey sandwich featuring house-cured and smoked grilled ham, turkey, white American cheese and raspberry jam, $9; a brisket ciabatta with grilled crisp onions, topped with provolone and sweet and spicy BBQ sauce, $12; and fried chicken sandwich with pepper jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and house-made Bama sauce, $9.

Soup and salads include M Shack’s super kale salad, smokehouse salad, smoked almond chix salad and Brunswick stew, $4 to $8.

Small plates include truffle parmesan fries, fried pickles, onion rings, deviled eggs, smoked wings, burnt end queso and pickled jalapeno fries, pork bellie and grits with goat cheese and sweet chili sauce, cheese biscuits with house-made jalapeno jelly, $4.50 to $8. Southern sides include cole slaw, baked beans, collard greens, applesauce, potato salad, sautéed fresh corn, sweet corn grits, mac n cheese, green beans and house fries, $2 to $2.50.

A kids menu features grilled or fried chicken fingers, grilled cheese sandwich, BBQ chicken or pork sandwich, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, $5 to $6.

Desserts include bread pudding, banana cream pudding, key lime pie and assorted ice creams, $3. The cowbell sundae with vanilla ice cream, warm waffle brownie, chocolate sauce, crushed cookie, whipped cream and cherry is $3 and the candied pig sundae includes vanilla ice cream, candied bacon, chocolate covered popcorn, candied pecans, caramel, whipped cream and cherry and is $4. M Shack’s legendary hand-spun milkshakes join the menu at MBQue and include chocolate covered bacon, pecan pie, peanut butter, marshmallow brulee, Oreo cheesecake, bananas foster, cookies and cream, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, $3.50 to $5.50.