Dukes Bar B Que

Yesterday for lunch I headed to Dukes Bar B Que inbetween Aiken and New Ellenton, South Carolina. Dukes boasts over 30 items on their buffet. A lot of people in the area prefer Dukes Bar B Que to some of its competitors since they have a larger selection of side dishes. The buffet also includes fried chicken. Some of the more talked about sides include the brocolli casserole, the squash casserole, the sweet corn nuggets, fried ocra, and mac & cheese. They also have cabbage, turnip greens, cole slaw, potato salad, rice, hash, tomatoes and ocra, fried pork skins, and the list goes on. Personally, none of the sides are that great except for the sweet corn nuggets and tomatoes and ocra over rice. The rest of the sides just dont have enough "southern" flavor for me. The fried chicken is good. My mom says it is just like her grandmothers fried chicken. That is impressive to me since I have witnessed my great-grandmother turn a live chicken into dinner.

But the important thing about this restaurant is the barbeque. The barbeque is chopped, moist, and has a pretty good smoky flavor. Since it is chopped, there are some parts that some people might find less desirable, like skin, burnt peices, or fat, but it is only a small portion of the barbeque. Next are the sauces. Dukes offers a variety of sauces including a mustard based sauce, Crosby sauce (thin, somewhat spicy, red sauce), mild (red sauce that looks mustard based), spicy (red sauce), a spiecier version of the Crosby sauce, and a vinegar based sauce. In my opinion, none of the sauces are that great and do not really complement the meat. I usually mix the mild and spicy sauces. The price has risen dramatically in the past few years, and is up to 9 dollars for lunch. It seems a little high for me.

Overall, the barbeque at Dukes is well above average, and the sauce is below average. I eat at Dukes frequently.