Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Foodies on the Road: Duke's BBQ (Walterboro, SC)

My travels to Edisto Island, SC luckily took me through Walterboro, SC where I stopped for dinner at Duke's BBQ. The format is an all-you-can-eat buffet that is exactly $9 with tax. It's completely no frills. Walk up and pay, grab some disposable plates and forks, and serve yourself (including drinks). There is no bread on the actual buffet, but once you pull your salivating face away from the buffet, you find loaves of white bread scattered around the tables. What this place lacks in style in presentation, it more than makes up with the quality in every dish.

The two main events on the buffet are the pulled pork with mustard barbeque sauce and fried chicken. There were several variations on the sauce, most prominently a spicy version, but I stuck with the original. Even though this is a BBQ joint, the fried chicken was still excellent and juicy down to the bone. Somewhat of a specialty (and still mysterious to me) was the BBQ hash, slow cooked pork chunks in a sweet sauce intended to be eaten over white rice. There are lots of vegetables, but few truly vegan items since this place is quintessentially Southern in style. The green beans and stewed tomatoes were my top picks on this trip. On the first pass through the buffet, I dismissed the amorphous fried items I first thought were popcorn shrimp (and a complete throwaway compared to all the other masterpieces on the buffet). But instead they were awesome corn fritters. There were at 2 large trays of desserts at the end of the line but I only saved room for the banana pudding which rivaled some of the best grandma made recipes I've had. There were no vanilla wafers or artificial banana flavorings. This stuff was definitely from scratch and worth saving some room.

I was fascinated with the drive thru at this place. I didn't get a good look at the menu, but I believe you could drive by and order items a la carte from the buffet. The hours posted were weekend only so you may want to call ahead to make sure they are open. This location is an easy stop off of I-95 and I very highly recommend it.

Duke's BBQ
949 Robertson Blvd
Walterboro, SC 29488
(843) 549-1446

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