A month after declaring that his popular West Oakland barbecue joint was damaged beyond repair from a fire and other hazards, owner Matt Horn said Wednesday the restaurant has found a new home a couple of miles away.
Horn Barbecue, which caught fire last November and has remained closed amid its owner’s legal troubles, will now reopen 11 a.m. Friday at 464 8th Street, a short walk from the BART station in downtown Oakland.
“It’s first come, first served, so make sure you arrive early,” Horn wrote on his Instagram account about the big reopening. “A heartfelt thank you to everyone for your unwavering support–your love has been our strength during this time.”
The acclaimed barbecue eatery will open at the same address as one of Horn’s other restaurants, Matty’s Old Fashioned, a happy-hour burger spot, with the two sites apparently blending their menus in a hybrid setup.
The move will take Horn Barbecue away from its old home in West Oakland, where Horn owns a third restaurant, Kowbird, which is known for its fried chicken.
The barbecue site’s reopening resolves a messy saga that began last fall when the Mandela Parkway location mysteriously caught fire, just days after Horn had publicized that the building had been tagged by graffiti.
Oakland firefighters investigate the aftermath of a fire at Horn Barbecue in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. A blaze gutted the restaurant early Tuesday morning. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
The reopening also coincides with another resolution for Horn. Last week, he signed a new legal agreement with his former business partner, David Kim, who had sued him for $167,000 in allegedly unpaid wages.
Under the new agreement, Horn will make regular payments to Kim — whose attorneys previously had alleged that Horn had begun ducking them after initially sending checks. Details of the deal are confidential; an attorney for Kim declined to comment.
Horn also owes an $83,000 settlement to his former meat distributor over allegations of unpaid invoices, and he was ordered by a court last month to pay $64,000 to Cooks Company Produce, a San Francisco-based distributor that had sought damages from Horn over a contract dispute.
Horn’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The acclaimed restaurateur has received help along the way, including $130,000 from a GoFundMe launched after last year’s fire, plus $100,000 in federal COVID-19 relief money from Alameda County — funding that the county supervisors unanimously approved in February.