SMOKE SHOW
Duke City BBQ serves up backyard barbecue in ABQ
Duke City BBQ keeps things streamlined with its “backyard barbecue” style. Patrons can expect consistent menu offerings with fall off the bone pork spareribs ($9.25 per half pound), succulent smoked half chicken ($8.50) and turkey ($10.25 per half pound), and flavorful sides like cream corn ($3.25 single, $6.25 pint) made in-house and loaded baked potatoes. A spicy barbecue sauce with just the right amount of a red chile kick is the ideal condiment. A tangy barbecue sauce is also available for guests who prefer more zing than heat at the restaurant located at 5500 San Mateo Blvd. NE. It is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. A full menu is available at dukecitybbq.com.
Co-owner Esteban Quezada took to smoking meats when the pandemic brought many things to a standstill.
“During COVID, I started doing a lot of like smoking,” Quezada said. “I fell in love with the smoking game. I like the process, the flavor, I like experimenting with new stuff. And then I just noticed that there weren’t many sit down barbecue spots in town. There’s quite a bit of food trucks. I figured I’m going to start a little sit down and add a little something different.”
The brisket comes lean and patrons will appreciate the more meat than fat ratio. Guests can also expect pulled pork that is tender and not greasy. A mustard vinegar sauce accompanies the pulled pork.
“The briskets are trimmed pretty well,” Quezada said. “They are (seasoned with) a very dry rub and we normally cook them for anywhere between nine to 14 hours. It just kind of depends on the type of brisket, the size, some cook quicker than others. And we do like to rest them for a little bit just to kind of let them come down to temperature on their own. And then on the pulled pork, those generally are 12 to 14 hour cooks as well.”
Duke City BBQ recently added pork belly to its menu.
“We pair it with our spicy barbecue sauce and a classic barbecue and it’s just oh my god, it’s like candy,” Quezada said of the pork belly. “We’ll do a dry rub first and then we’ll go ahead and toss it in the pan and cover it with both of our barbecue sauces. And then we’ll bring that up to temperature, let it boil, kind of get it to stick for a little bit, and then we will offer that with the sandwiches, the combos, the rice bowls and the stuffed potatoes.”
Rib lovers flock to Duke City BBQ for its giant Dino Beef Ribs ($25 per pound) that are served on weekends. It is served as a half rack with six ribs, each weighing one to two pounds per bone.
“The Dino ribs, we only run them on the weekends because they are kind of pricey,” Quezada said. “They don’t take as long as the brisket, those are generally like a seven to eight hour cook. We usually sell out of them on the weekends.”
Duke City BBQ also offers pork spareribs daily at $9.25 per half pound.
“The pork spare ribs uses a different rub than our other meats,” Quezada said. “That one is more sweet. It might be the brown sugar. A lot of people use honey. I don’t use it because right now there’s a lot of people that can’t have honey. We try to think of people when we’re doing the recipes. “
Quezada also takes glutenfree diets into consideration.
“There are a lot of glutenfree people that frequent the restaurant because we do offer a lot of gluten-free stuff,” Quezada said. “... Our barbecue sauces are made in-house and we have a base that we use. We add our own ingredients to a profile that we like. Right now, we only have two. We have a classic barbecue. It’s kind of a sweet, tangy barbecue and then we have a spicy barbecue that has that little kick to it. And we are working on a third one, like a more hickory smoky one.”
Popular sides include the cream corn ($3.25 single, $6.25 pint), which includes a bit of sugar and cream cheese, and the coleslaw ($2.99 single, $5.75 pint) made with tropical fruits.
“Our coleslaw, I think it’s a little different,” Quezada said. “Our coleslaw has pineapple, mango and cranberry.”
Duke City BBQ offers several sausages that are made in-house.
“We have the regular cheddar ($7.99) and then we have a green chile (pepper jack) and the jalapeño (cheddar),” Quezada said. “Our green chile sausage has been the favorite one, so we’ve been going through that one like crazy.”
The Jalapeño Torpedo is a great starter or ending to a meal.
“Everybody loves our jalapeño torpedoes,” Quezada said. “It’s a Texas Twinkie, pretty much. It’s a whole jalapeño stuffed with cream cheese, pulled pork, wrapped in bacon and then glazed with our special barbecue sauce.”
A jalapeño prepared as a torpedo is also featured on the 505 Stuffed Potato ($11.75). A regular stuffed potato with a choice of meat, sour cream and cheese is also available ($10.75).
“The 505 has sour cream, butter, cheese, beans, green chile and then a torpedo on top,” Quezada said. “A lot of people are kind of freaked out. They’re like, what’s a torpedo? It’s a jalapeño. And some people deep-fry them and some people just put them on a flattop. Ours are deep-fried and then we put them on a flat top and then we put them in a soy sauce and salt mixture.”
Duke City BBQ is wellrounded with sandwiches with choice of meat that range from $8.99 to $9.99, meat combos ranging from $9.25-$24.99, and desserts including banana pudding ($3.49), tres leches pudding ($3.49) and Rice Krispies treats ($2.29).
“We like to think of it as, we cook with a lot of love,” Quezada said. “We love the food and we love what we do.”