Houston's settlers built their city on a barbecue bayou, and for decades their city sunk two feet a year into the smoky, tangy quagmire until they found a solution: drain the swamps of the sauce and slather it on their ribs. Eat your way out of a hungermire with today's Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of comfort food and drinks at Duke's. This Groupon must be redeemed within three months. Choose from the following locations:

• Gramercy Park
• Murray Hill

At two bric-a-brac-bedecked locations, Duke's offers a dose of Southern spunk and hospitality through huge servings of comfort food and cocktails. The menu features hearty salads ($13.99–$14.99), towering sandwiches ($10.99–$12.99), and Duke's specialties, such as "Fall-Off-the-Bone" ribs (half slab $15.99, full slab $20.99) and Miss Dixie's buttermilk fried chicken breast slathered in creamy gravy ($15.99). Big, meat-free hungers can be quenched with a helping of Ma's Macaroni and Cheese ($12.99) or a Southern-style veggie burger ($10.99), whereas begging sweet tooths can be silenced with Aunt Fanny's fried chocolate-chip cookie-dough ice cream ($6.25). For brunch, which is served with a basket of warm muffins and strawberry butter, you can design your own omelette ($9.95) selection and fuel your meal-tank with four Southern-style skillets ($10.99).

Each day, Duke's celebrates the invention of ROYGBIV and sports with flat-screen TVs, streamered ceilings, ballooned walls, and colorful lights. Sit at the bar and sip a kitschy 16-ounce cocktail, such as Trash Can Punch or Duke-A-Rita (served in a jar with a candy lime), while watching a game; or move your feast fest to a table, where you can enjoy all the same amenities from a few feet lower, making it possible to hear Mother Earth quietly complaining about her aching tectonic plates.

This Groupon is not valid for happy-hour specials.

Reviews

Duke's Gramercy Park location is Gayot rated and has received an average rating of 3.5 stars from MenuPages users. More than 100 Yelpers give it a three-star average, and Citysearchers give it an average rating of four stars. Some reviewers are mixed about service, but many talk about the tasty food:

• Like a great Southern honky-tonk, Duke's has friendly bartenders, is ablaze with neon signs and is chock-full of knickknacks. – Gayot
• Food and drinks were all delicious – Rachel, MenuPages
• finally a place that understands good food and drinks super cool music – happy hour partier, MenuPages