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When you get up to the counter at Lexington Market’s new barbecue joint, Country Kitchen, you better know what you want—the women who work there don’t suffer fools gladly. And there’s room for error, even given the small menu featuring fried and barbecue chicken and a few other Southern comfort staples, because the plastic sign doesn’t necessarily match the offerings. Don’t order the coleslaw; they don’t have it.

The upside of this brusque service is that in two minutes flat you have a massive container of food. With the meat of your choice come two heaping sides and two slices of white bread that you can use to mop off your sauce-soaked face. The chicken ($3.81 for the leg dinner, $4.58 for the breast dinner) was tough—too tough for the plastic fork provided—and there wasn’t nearly enough sauce. The ribs ($5.50 for the dinner) didn’t have that problem. In fact, we could barely see the meat for the dark, rich, and pleasantly spicy sauce, although we once again had trouble getting the meat off the bone and ended up so covered in sauce that we needed a sponge bath. While Country Kitchen’s meat isn’t that great, the sides are damn near heaven, from the fat, candy-sweet yams to the wonderfully creamy mac ’n’ cheese. Our personal favorite is the potato salad: It’s the love child of deviled eggs and potato salad, with thick chunks of both luxuriating in rich goo, and topped with a sprinkle of Old Bay in waist-expanding perfection.

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