Spice Buddy Den & Grill: Mom and pop restaurant serves comfort food to Pearland residents

Finding community has always been a top priority for Paul Wilburn. After working for many years in the public school system and cultivating his community there, he said it made sense for him to transfer that sense of community over to Spice Buddy Den & Grill, the restaurant he owns with his wife, Tasha Wilburn.

Beginning in 2008, Paul worked as a janitor for Houston ISD, where teachers encouraged him to enroll in college, he said. He worked for HISD until he opened the Pearland restaurant in September 2020.

Paul has always loved barbecuing, and the couple had previously sold their own line of salt-free spices. It was Tasha’s idea to open the eatery as she noticed many restaurants had to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and she already had experience in owning her own businesses, Paul said.

“When the opportunity presented itself, my wife called me and said, ... ‘I know you love to cook, and this would be something good that we could do together,’” he said.

Spice Buddy Den & Grill specializes in comfort food, including wings, fried catfish, Philly cheesesteaks, egg rolls, chicken tenders and burgers. The menu was formed through trial and error, Paul said, with lots of input from the customers.

He said he hopes to make the restaurant a place where people feel comfortable. Not only does Spice Buddy always have sports playing, but it also has old-school arcade games for customers to play, such as “Golden Tee” and “NBA Jam.”

“We want it to be somewhere where locals know you don’t get the same thing every time,” Paul said. “So really [we’re] just trying to create an environment of localness.”

Eventually, the Wilburns said they hope to build a patio for Paul to be able to barbecue. In the meantime, the couple said they are open to even more community feedback.

“The local community ... is who’s going to support you,” he said. “That’s who’s going to crave your food.”