The award-winning pitmaster behind Prime BBQ shares practical grilling tips—and his deeper philosophy on why hospitality matters most
By Kyle Marie McMahon
As Memorial Day weekend approaches and grills across North Carolina begin to fire up, Christopher Prieto wants you to think beyond rubs, ribs and brisket when it comes to serving your guests. “If we just cook them good food, they’ll leave satisfied. Our job is to fill them,” he says. “The only way we can do that is through service.”
Prieto, the culinary force behind the award-winning Prime BBQ in Knightdale, has spent decades mastering the science of barbecue—from fire control and meat sourcing to homemade sauces. But more than anything, he sees barbecue as an act of service. “I love to serve people,” he says. “We have to live beyond the tray. We look at our guests and ask, ‘What are they thinking right now?’ They are standing in line for barbecue that hasn’t even opened yet, and obviously, they’re hungry, but they made a decision to come here. How can we look at that customer and not care for them in the same way they care for us? It’s just a reciprocation of duties, reciprocation of care, and intentionality.”
Prime BBQ opened in May 2020, amid the COVID-19 restrictions that upended the restaurant industry. It forced Prieto and his team to quickly pivot, relying on to-go orders and relentless hustle—but never sacrificing care. “I hand-wrote thank-you notes in every bag that went to pre-order just to pump home that this is meaningful to me. You are meaningful to me,” he says. “I can only make the food so good, right? But you come to me because you work hard, and you want me to fill something more than your hunger. You want to be served well. It’s moving the food aside and saying, ‘How can I see, love and value in this person?’”
Now four years in—and fresh off a James Beard Award semifinalist nod—Prieto remains laser-focused on hospitality. Whether it’s his full-time staff counselor or a youth pastor-turned-server trained to read body language, every element at Prime BBQ is designed with service in mind.
It’s a value rooted in his earliest food memories. Prieto grew up in a Puerto Rican household where dinner meant connection. “My mother had a tenacity for serving us on a very deep level,” he recalls, saying he never heard his mother sigh when a request was made. “She said, ‘This is an opportunity for me to love and serve my son.’ And I thought, that’s just how you should be.” Meanwhile, his father, who was the one who introduced Christopher to Texas barbecue, taught him precision, learning how to grill together, pre-internet. “I started the discipline of writing down all my notes and understanding [barbecue] from there.” And by age 13, these combined influences had him designing his dream restaurant on paper. Those who look at the drawing, still hanging in Prieto’s office, will realize it’s the exact design that came to life in Prime BBQ.
And for home cooks planning their own Memorial Day cookouts, Prieto’s best advice isn’t about smoke rings or marinades—it’s about intention. “Grilling is about creating an experience. Take care of the people around your table. That’s the real recipe.”
Still, for those who want their barbecue to shine, Prieto offers a few technical tips:
When talking about grilling on a 22-inch diameter Weber grill, he does half with a chimney of around 2-4 pounds of charcoal, which should last your entire grilling session. He likes to keep it at four items on the grill at a time to sear (about 2 minutes per side) before moving it to the void side. Once all the meat is there, he closes the lid and keeps the damper running, which allows the smoke and heat to not only impart flavor but also to break down collagen and bring everything to temperature without sacrificing moistness.
And if you really want to step up your skills, Prieto offers in-person and virtual barbecue classes covering everything from ribs to brisket. Whether you’re a backyard beginner or aspiring pitmaster, his philosophy remains the same: serve with purpose.
His final recommendation? Consider how to improve the experience for your guests. When his wife was pregnant with their fourth (they now have five) child, she craved baked potatoes. But at one point, while trying to whip in sour cream, she became emotional—it was not only difficult, but it made the potato cold. So Christopher stepped in, and within 30 seconds, he whipped up a sour cream sauce mixed with garlic, apple cider vinegar and Dijon, which ended up becoming a popular topping on Prime BBQ’s loaded baked potato (and a favorite of his wife).
For Prieto, barbecue is more than a technique. It’s a way to connect. Whether you’re firing up a backyard grill or feeding a stadium crowd, he believes the best meals begin with intention and end with gratitude. Recalling a video of multiple generations of Prieto’s making mofungo in Puerto Rico, he says, “You can see the joy around the table. It’s just a very rare thing to experience in life. How food brings us together.”
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 hr
Servings: 15
Ingredients
For more from Christopher Prieto, keep an eye out for our summer issue, hitting stands July 1st!
