Pondaseta Brewing Co.
After college, when Canyon natives Trever Martin and Kaleb West returned to the Panhandle hoping to open a brewery in West Texas, they intended to start their empire in Canyon on a property near the Square. That fell through, so the business partners settled on establishing an Amarillo taproom on Southwest 45th Avenue, with a small indie brewery within it.
That business took off, but Canyon kept calling their names.
“Having something in our hometown was always part of our dream,” West says. “What that looked like, we wouldn’t have been able to say.” Then Canyon Commissioner Cody Jones mentioned to them that the Santa Fe train depot on Second Avenue in Canyon might be available. That was late 2020. The city owned this historic facility and used it for storage.
“Everyone in Canyon has driven by this at some point and thought, ‘That should be something,’” West says.
As of March, after more than a year of construction and rehabilitation, that “something” became a full pizza restaurant and expanded brewery, the result of a partnership with the City of Canyon and the Canyon Economic Development Corporation.
“Trevor would probably say he never wanted to own a restaurant, but I always thought it would be cool to own a restaurant. I don’t know that I ever envisioned that being a reality,” West says. The duo had introduced a permanent food truck to the Amarillo location in 2021, which West calls a “stepping stone” that helped them develop a menu and build a food reputation to accompany their burgeoning craft beer empire.
When the Depot gave them the space and flexibility to add a real kitchen, West and Martin decided pizza was the way to go. “We landed on pizza because pizza and beer is such an easy combination,” West says. “You can be really creative with pizza.”
Beyond standards like pepperoni or meat-lover pizzas, the specialty pizza menu includes an incredible Brussel Balsamic Mozz (with crispy Brussels sprouts on a garlic base) and intense Korean BBQ (with house pulled pork, Korean BBQ sauce and sriracha mayo). Other pub-style options include fish and chips, wings, burgers and a spicy chicken sandwich.
Those options, they say, are for customers who come in more than once a week—and there are plenty—but don’t always want to order pizza.
The train depot first opened to the public in 1925, which means Pondaseta breathed new life into the space a century later upon its launch in March 2025. It’s a stunning space, with plenty of light, authentic vintage elements, and trains passing right outside the window. Lunch specials attract students and faculty from WT. A $5 draft beer happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. has become equally popular. Canyon has responded, and Amarillo fans are already making the drive.
“I mean, since we started talking about it and took over the building, started construction, everyone I talked to [said], ‘Canyon needs this. We can’t wait for it to come,’” Martin says.
“It feels like we’ve accomplished the connection-to-our-community piece [of the business model] that we’ve always wanted to access,” West adds.
1001 Second Ave.
806.656.5100
pondaseta.com
