(Seguin) — In observance of National BBQ Day, a local restaurant today will be celebrating its 60 year anniversary with 60 cent tacos. Nearly 60 years and three generations later, Davila’s BBQ continues to operate as one of the top barbecue places in the state of Texas.
Third generation Pitmaster Adrian Davila now leads the restaurant by continuing the tradition of his family recipes and tonight invites the community to come out and celebrate the history of the business.
That history includes Adrian’s grandfather, Raul Davila, who first learned how to butcher and make sausages at a meat processing plant. The family says based on his experience as a butcher and his family roots of vaquero cuisine, he first opened the Davila’s BBQ in an old abandoned school house in 1959.
Today Adrian continues to celebrate the traditions of Latin America and Texas. He is said to include inspirations from the vaquero lifestyle of his own family history, infusing classic brisket, ribs and sausage with Latin flavors and ingredients.
Adrian says in the end what has made the business a success is the community that has come out to patronize the establishment year after year. He says throughout the years, the various generations have come to identify Davila’s in their own unique and special way.
“Of course the old school people, they still want to see my grandfather holding that fork, coming out of the back and knowing that he is doing the cooking because nobody can ever cook as good as my grandfather. Other people can identify with my dad when he started the catering business. You identify it that way because when you cater somebody’s wedding or quincenera or graduation party, those are all embedded memories that are special and they hold near. So each generation had it’s own identity with our business and our business has progressed over the years and changed with the pop culture of the times and now, the newest generation because of (the kind of) response I get around town, they identify us with the food trucks and social media and these television appearances. They identify with Davila’s in a different way and they experience it in a different way,” said Adrian.
Much of the restaurant’s business today has been inspired by Adrian’s creative ways to market its family recipes and to showcase the talents of the local pit master.
Adrian has not only released his South Texas and Latin-inspired cookbook, Cowboy Barbecue but has been featured on various national cooking shows and contests.
In fact, Adrian will again be competing in a new Food Network BBQ show — a show soon to be announced. During the show, Adrian hopes to continue sharing the BBQ techniques that have been passed down to him by his grandfather.
To celebrate its anniversary, Davila’s will be selling 60 cent brisket tacos today between 5 to 7 p.m. Individuals will be limited to two tacos per person.
For each brisket taco purchase, customers will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win a free BBQ combo meal each week for a whole year.