Horn Barbecue has hosted friends-and-family events at their new Granite Park location. A grand opening is planned for January. Horn Barbecue Facebook photo

The buzz for new barbecue at Granite Park got a bit louder over the weekend with the soft, friends-and-family opening for a Bay Area restaurant owned by a Valley native.

Horn Barbecue, owned by Fresno native Matt Horn, made its debut in Oakland in 2020. Horn Barbecue gained recognition during the pandemic, and is slated for a grand opening soon at 4020 N. Cedar Ave., in Fresno. The restaurant will be the third Horn Barbecue; Horn also has a restaurant in Lafayette in Contra Costa County.

Horn’s Oakland location earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand distinction and has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes and “Food & Wine” magazine. The Valley native was hailed as a “trailblazer reshaping the future of barbecue in America.”

 

The restaurant celebrated its soft opening last week, with a grand opening planned in January, according to a Facebook comment from Horn.

Granite Park Property Manager Terance Frazier confirmed the restaurant is slated to open in early 2026.

Starting as a pop-up option during the pandemic, Horn’s unique mashup of Texas barbecue techniques with traditional Black South recipes — coined as “West Coast Barbecue” — has driven excitement among barbecue goers.

Horn is also a leading name in the barbecue industry, hailed as an up-and-coming barbecuer by the San Francisco Chronicle. He also has two published cookbooks — “Horn Barbecue” and “Kowbird” — and is a member of the Williams Sonoma Chefs Collective, as well as other culinary and cookware organizations and promoters.