Livin’ the (BBQ) dream: Harrison’s food speaks for itself

There’s no comparison to Harrison.

That’s the catch phrase for Harrison Family Bar-B-Que and Catering in Nixon. From humble beginnings as a trailer with an outside table, to the restaurant building located near the intersection of state Highways 97 and 80, Larry Harrison has not only built his restaurant from the ground up, he also is living his dream.

“I always wanted my own restaurant and to work for myself,” Harrison says. “This is a blessed job and one that I always wanted to have. I like to put smiles on people’s faces when they eat our food.”

Harrison Family Bar-B-Que and Catering has a few distinctions. The business is the only barbecue restaurant in Nixon, and the only black-owned business in the city.

A native of San Antonio and graduate of St. Gerard Catholic School, Harrison met his wife, Phillis, while in college. Shortly after meeting Phillis, Larry found himself frequenting Nixon.

“I loved going to Nixon because it was out in the country,” he recalls. “I liked Nixon so much, I moved here once Phillis and I got married.”

Larry and Phillis reached a milestone last month as the couple celebrated its 29th wedding anniversary. They raised two children in Nixon as well.

The roots of Harrison Family Bar-B-Que and Catering can be traced back to the early 1980s after Larry and Phillis moved to Nixon. Larry discovered a new skill thanks to a couple of fellow members of Harris United Methodist Church in Nixon.

“I didn’t know anything about cooking barbecue until I met Sam Moore Jr. and Roscoe McKinney,” Harrison says. “They taught me how to barbecue chickens. I ventured with chickens until I mastered them, then I moved on to other things. Throughout the years, I developed my own style of barbecue. Everyone has their own style and no one can cook it just like someone else.”

Harrison worked as a truck driver for H-E-B in San Antonio from 1979-2000, and would drive daily from Nixon to San Antonio for most of that timeframe. Although he was gone from his wife and children during the week, Harrison never gave up on his dream.

“In 1996, I decided I could open my own restaurant,” Harrison said. “I wanted to spend more time with my family, and having my own restaurant and working for myself would allow me to do that. I was gone driving trucks so much during the week, that Phillis pretty much raised the kids.”

During the first four years of business, Harrison Family Bar-B-Que and Catering opened and operated out of a trailer with a table in front of it. Harrison was still employed by H-E-B during the first four years of his restaurant’s existence.

But in 2000, Harrison made the decision to spend more time with his own business. He left H-E-B, and built a restaurant building on property he purchased from the railroad.

While the restaurant is “officially” open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, Harrison Family Bar-B-Que and Catering is actually open for business longer than 15 hours a week. A lot of the business Harrison receives is through catering.

“We get a lot of call-in orders, especially from the oil rigs,” Harrison said. “Oil rigs are our biggest clients. We cater anywhere. You call, we go.”

Harrison also averages more than 50 patrons at the restaurant per day. Many of his dine-in customers are oil workers or people passing through town.

If there’s one thing Harrison does with his barbecue, he cooks it mesquite-style. He also takes pride in cooking his meats to perfection.

“I was taught to mesquite-cook my meats and that’s all I use,” Harrison said.

Harrison certainly doesn’t rush his meats. He cooks his briskets an average of 16 hours, and his chickens, ribs and sausages an average of four.

“I cook the meat until it’s done,” Harrison said. “You can’t be in a hurry in this business. You have to be patient and on point. This isn’t an easy job, and it doesn’t pay to be in a hurry.”

On days when Harrison caters, he starts his day at 4 a.m. — although the meat is already cooking. When Harrison is out catering on a weekday, Phillis operates the restaurant.

While the restaurant is not open during the weekends, Harrison’s food is still available. He caters on most weekends, and every fourth Sunday he rents the restaurant out to Harris UMC for fundraiser dinners.

Harrison has impressed many of his customers, including Stallion Waterline Services. Stallion has five locations in South Texas, including Kenedy and Victoria.

Another place Harrison can be seen is at the concession stands at Nixon-Smiley athletic events. While he does not serve his signature barbecue plates in the concession stands, patrons of Nixon-Smiley concession stands are fans of his chopped beef sandwiches, chicken nuggets and brisket tacos.

“I like working the concession stands because I like meeting people,” Harrison said. “A lot of visiting teams schedule their postgame meals with us so we feed a lot of teams after games. When people eat at the concession stand, they eat food — not junk food.”

While Harrison’s brisket tacos and chicken nuggets are available at Nixon-Smiley home athletic events, the items are not on the menu at the restaurant. The chopped beef sandwiches are, however.

In addition to the meat, sausage, ribs and chicken, Harrison also has a lot of customers feasting on his baked potatoes. There are three types of baked potatoes available for consumption — regular spud (butter and sour cream), Larry Spud (butter, sour cream, chopped beef and cheese) and Super Spud (butter, sour cream, chopped beef, cheese, brisket and sausage).

Harrison went through some tough times following the events of 9/11 as he had to take a job with Gonzales County in addition to running the restaurant. Thanks to a new development of business opportunities, Harrison was able to leave his job with Gonzales County and go back to running his restaurant full time.

“The oil boom allowed me to go back to doing this full time,” he said.

The oil boom isn’t the only thing Harrison credits for his opportunity to keep his business operating full time. He gives most of his credit to God.

“God gave me this spot,” Harrison said about the land upon which his restaurant sits. “If you put prayer in God and put Him first, He will make it happen. The No. 1 thing to being successful is keeping the faith. Just ask and God will deliver.”

Harrison is not only thankful for his blessings and opportunities to operate his own business he also plans on keeping things going for a while.

Harrison has plans to remodel a section of his restaurant into a private room for “anyone who wants to use it.”

“My goal is to keep on cooking,” he said. “If I didn’t enjoy this, I wouldn’t do it.”

There’s another distinction with Harrison’s business. Unlike many barbecue restaurants, Harrison Family Bar-B-Que and Catering does not serve alcohol.

“We don’t need to sell beer, we let our food speak for itself,” Harrison said.