Dukes Bar-B-Que is the name of numerous unrelated

barbecue restaurant A barbecue restaurant is a restaurant that specializes in barbecue-style cuisine and dishes. Barbecue restaurants may open relatively early compared to other restaurants, in part to optimize sales while barbecued foods being slow-cooked by the pro ...

s in South Carolina, all founded by descendants of Manuel Dukes.

History

The sons of Manuel Dukes, who was born in rural Orangeburg County, South Carolina around 1875, became noted

pitmaster Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

s in the area and catered events which became a family business. The Dukes were of German origin, and historians have suggested that this may have influenced their use of mustard-based barbecue sauce, something which became common among other German families in the

Midlands of South Carolina The Midlands region of South Carolina is the middle area of the state. The region's main center is Columbia, the state's capital. The Midlands is so named because it is halfway point between the Upstate and the Lowcountry. The main area code is ...

. Their barbecue is considered typical of the Midlands-style. Over time, the Dukes became known for serving "rust" sauce which includes both mustard and tomato. In the 1950s, Manuel Dukes' sons and daughters began to found restaurants in cities like Orangeburg,

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Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

, and Aiken. The first of these restaurants were founded by Danny Dukes in the towns of Cope and Branchville. A more well known restaurant was founded by Earl Duke on the intersection of Chestnut Street and Columbia Road in Orangeburg in 1955. The restaurant later moved to Whitman Street. The extended family of the Dukes' also founded numerous "Dukes" restaurants around that time, based on the success of the name. They have since become a well known part of Orangeburg's restaurant scene. As of 2017, some Dukes restaurants were still owned by members of the family while others had been sold. The restaurants are based around all-you-can-eat buffet-style dining. They are known for dishes like pulled pork,

fried chicken Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...

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and rice, and other side dishes including collard greens,

mac and cheese Macaroni and cheese (also called mac and cheese in Canada and the United States and macaroni cheese in the United KingdomBBC, RecipesMacaroni Cheese/ref>) is a dish of cooked macaroni pasta and a cheese sauce, most commonly Cheddar sauce. The t ...

, black-eyed peas,

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, corn nuggets, potato salad, coleslaw and white bread.

References

{{Coord, 33, 29, 25, N, 80, 50, 33, W, display=title Barbecue restaurants in the United States Restaurants in South Carolina

History

See also

References