Ruben on the Road: Prissy’s Barbecue proud to be thriving in Tulia

TULIA, Texas (KFDA) - Ruben heads to Tulia to visit a local restaurant and learns why they are proud to be in the community.

Anthony Sanders, owner of Prissy’s Barbecue, says they started as the Texas Meat Engineers competition barbecue team. He says he didn’t really get into competition barbecue as it wasn’t his thing.

“I just wanted to cook good barbecue and hang out, so we quickly transitioned into a food truck that served Amarillo for about two years,” said Sanders.

Sanders says they saw a need in Tulia. The community has a lot of good restaurants that have been here a long time, but barbecue comes and goes.

“The people that help me here and work for us and my manager, we’re from Tulia. We’re buddies since high school, so we just came together and just decided to open up a spot in Tulia,” said Sanders.

Manager Shawn Castillo says the Panhandle is full of small towns, and the best thing about these small towns is that they have a lot of things going on.

“So with Tulia, it’s the same way, and why not Tulia?” said Castillo.

There are some restaurants like El Camino that have had a lot of buzz for generations. Castillo says maybe they can build something generational here too.

“You know, like all the rest of these small towns, they just kind of have their own little shtick or their niche, and it’s like maybe this could be ours,” said Castillo.

Sanders says his mom was Priscilla, aka Prissy. She passed away in 2019 and the restaurant is dedicated to her.

“She loved this town. She was integral to helping kids, you know, develop. Maybe kids that have gotten in trouble kind of get their lives back together, keep their grades up,” said Sanders.

Sanders says she was a justice of the peace and a librarian in the town she loved.

“It was super important for me to establish here and to get her name in remembrance here. Everybody in this town loves her,” said Sanders.

No one supports a person like their hometown, Castillo says. Growing up, one has that network of people that is a safety net to kind of fall back on.

“I think it’s cool for them to see that and know, like, if you stick around a little bit it’s not the end of the world, it’s not a bad thing. You can thrive here and grow, and you can have people at your back the whole time,” said Castillo.