Horn BBQ is open. Here’s a look inside the famous chef’s first Fresno restaurant

Matt Horn is in the back of his new barbecue restaurant showing off a pair of massive offset smokers, designated as Pit A and Pit B.

A fire of seasoned white oak burns in the front of each. A pipe on the other end pulls the heat (250 degrees) and smoke (clean and oxygenated) out across the meats.

On this particular day it’s pork shoulder and turkey breast, chicken and short ribs, beef ribs and ... brisket.

That’s Horn’s favorite and to hear him talk, cooking it is almost spiritual.

“The brisket makes you work for it,” says Horn, who, at 38, has earned numerous awards for his barbecue, including a James Beard Award nomination and a mention in the prestigious Michelin Guide for restaurants.

“It’s a very long cook.”

The way Horn does it takes 14 hours out in the smoker. When you get it right, “it’s like magic.”

Horn Barbecue opens in Fresno

The smokers have been running nonstop since Horn Barbecue opened last Tuesday, for its first full week of service inside the former Yosemite Falls Cafe at the Granite Park complex.

The restaurant has just opened for the day and already there’s a line. By one count, it’s been 40-minutes from the parking lot to the door. Not that anyone seems to mind.

The food is served in what Horn calls Central Texas style, with the meat cut to serve, by weight, right in front of you. It’s plated on trays or in fold-over cardboard boxes to go. Sides are served in clear plastic tubs.

The standard menu has brisket, obviously, and ribs and hot links; what Horn calls the trinity. On Fridays and Saturdays, it adds beef ribs, with meat that is fall-off-the-bone tender.

Just one is big enough for a meal.

There’s also pulled pork, chicken and turkey. People sleep on the turkey, Horn says.

Eventually, he’s hoping to add tri-tip (this is Fresno after all), whole hog, lamb and maybe a few fish plates, to “express ourselves bit more.”

For all the Texas-vibes, Horn’s barbecue sauce is Kansas City inspired, with a bit of sweetness, Horn says. There’s also a Honey Mustard sauce. But that’s it.

The side dishes are southern, inspired by Horn’s mother, who can be seen moving around the restaurant, taking orders, bussing tables and otherwise helping the place run.

There are collard greens and potato salad, mac and cheese, coleslaw (to cleanse the palate) and so-called pit beans (deep black in color and finished inside the pit to capture some smokiness).

For dessert, it’s peach cobbler and banana pudding, with “old school vanilla wafers,” Horn says.

Bay Area standout comes home

Horn is a name in foodie circles, known for running a series of pop-ups in Oakland and San Francisco, where guests would wait in line for hours just to get a taste. He eventually opened a brick-and-mortar, which was awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2021; the first ever Black-owned barbecue restaurant in the country to earn this distinction.

Horn’s restaurant was named one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in America and Horn was named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs in America.

There were features in Forbes Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Framed copies adorn the walls at the new restaurant.

But Horn Barbecue has its roots in Fresno.

The chef was raised here, went to Bullard Talent and Edison High School, where he played football and ran track. It’s also where he learned to barbecue. He was well into his 20s at the time, had just quit a job working in retail and found refuge in making food in his grandmother’s backyard.

“I burned a lot of barbecue and learned a lot of lessons out there,” he says. But, “cooking, that was kind of like my place of zen, my place of peace.”

So, even as the accolades came in, the goal was always to return home.

Restaurants closed in Elk Grove, Oakland

Getting here hasn’t been without its struggle or controversy.

After establishing himself in Oakland, Horn quickly expanded his business with restaurants in Lafayette and the Sacramento suburb Elk Grove. In 2022 (the year he first teased plans for a Fresno restaurant), Horn started a new venture, Kowbird, selling signature fried chicken sandwiches out of a spot in west Oakland (there is a same-named cookbook, his second).

But that same year, SF Gate reported on allegations of financial mismanagement and unsafe working conditions.

Kowbird has since closed. As did his restaurant in Elk Grove, which Horn says was kind of hidden away, making it a challenge to get established. He eventually hopes to reopen.

And the delay in opening the Fresno restaurant caused some to question the business, Horn says. But that comes when you’re a public figure. “I just want to come and serve my community,” he says; the same one where his parents built their construction company.

“The way I do that is food.”

Horn continues to operate his restaurants in Oakland and Lafayette, splitting his time between the Bay Area and Fresno. Eventually, he’ll make a permanent move back and Fresno will become core to his business.

“This will be home base.”

This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 8:15 AM.