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Type: Barbecue
Hours: Wed.-Thurs. 11:30 a.m.- 8 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun. 1 p.m.-8 p.m. Lunch delivery Wed.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m.
Good choices: Beef ribs, pork ribs, brisket, pulled pork, fried catfish, Key West shrimp, collard greens, Cuban black beans, BBQ beans, cole slaw, and french fries.
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa
Access: Street-level entrance; no wheelchair-access to restrooms.
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DOWN 'N DIRTY BAR-B-Q
168 Amory Street
Manchester, N.H.
(603) 624-2224
Restaurant reviewed 08/27/98 by Bob MacDonald
Some places sell the sizzle, Down 'n Dirty Bar-B-Q sells the smoke. In fact, when you get home from Down 'n Dirty, you can still smell the smoke, and, as Martha says, that's a good thing, because smoke is the essence of barbecue.
What most of us do in the back yard is often confused with barbecuing, but it's really grilling. As the Down 'n Dirty menu points out, barbecue means meat roasted for a long time over a smoldering hardwood fire. Smoke flavors the meat while the slow cooking tenderizes it.
Traditionally in the South, meat was suspended over an open-pit fire, something fire departments and building inspectors frown upon inside a restaurant, so you seldom find true barbecue around here. Down 'n Dirty has a large and expensive contraption that looks like your basement furnace. Meat goes in the top and is smoked by whole hickory logs smoldering in the bottom. The results are distinctive.
Down 'n Dirty does takeout and catering and has a handful of small tables. You can order from the table or at the counter when you come in the door. The sound of mostly laid-back blues adds to the atmosphere, and the walls are adorned with photos of old-time barbecue scenes, the restaurant equivalent of a thesis writer's review of existing literature in the field.
The Down 'n Dirty menu offers too many options to go into here. There's "just barbecue" _ pulled pork, chicken, ribs, and beef at various prices to which you can add barbecue beans, cole slaw, and corn bread for $1.75 to make a dinner. There are "plates" with assigned side orders. There are separate side orders. There's a family dinner that serves four or more for $28. Unless otherwise noted, prices listed here are for "just barbecue."
Beef ribs ($5.50 for two, $7.95 for three) are something we associate with Texas, and we remain on the fence as to whether they're worth the trouble. There's no way of predicting if they will be meaty or fatty or if you'll have to work around a lot of fat to get to the meat.
Of course the taste can't be matched by anything else, so if that's what you crave.... Down 'n Dirty's beef ribs were huge and smoked to a perfect interior redness then blackened just enough on the grill. They were so-so in the meat/fat ratio. If you want beef with a guarantee of no fat, go for the brisket ($3.75, $5.75), easily the best brisket we've ever eaten, thoroughly smoky and fall-apart tender as a result of long, slow cooking. It's enough to make you forsake New England boiled dinners and your local deli.
Pork ribs ($3.95, $7.50, $13.95) were meaty, juicy, tender, and much easier to deal with than the beef. Oh, yes, they were very smoky.
Pulled pork ($3.50, $5.50, $10.50) was tender, with blackened edges and completely penetrated by smokiness.
A BBQ chicken 'n dirty rice plate ($6.95) featured moist and tender chunks of what you might call "pulled chicken" that was bland by comparison with other dishes. The dirty rice tasted strongly of sage.
Key West barbecued shrimp ($5.95 for six) were smoky and blackened at the tails while remaining moist and tender, a neat trick.
Fried catfish ($5 for a side order, $8.95 for a plate) was light and sweet, a reminder (during National Catfish Month) of what a distinctive taste this is.
Down 'n Dirty's sauces are eclectic. The mild is described as a "traditional North Georgia tomato-based sauce"; the sweet has a New England touch with maple syrup; the hot is "traditional North Carolina" vinegar-based sauce with ground habanero peppers. We learned from a leaflet that there's an extra hot, but we never saw it, and the leaflet says, "You don't want it this hot."
Down 'n Dirty does not rest on its barbecue laurels. The side orders are excellent. BBQ beans: Think New England baked beans, only runnier and sweeter with little chunks of pork, as opposed to salt pork.
Black beans and rice were a meal in themselves, the beans being Cuban-style, nicely spiced with cumin and oregano. Collard greens were peppery and laced with bits of pork.
Fresh hand-cut fries did not let you forget they were once potatoes. Cole slaw was sublime, wide shreds of cabbage with a vinegar tang served icy cold. Hush puppies were crisp and light, and corn bread, included with most meals, was densely corny.
You can top it all off with a slice of rich sweet potato pie topped with pecans ($1.75).
Tips & hits
