A Fire Gutted a Beloved Oakland Barbecue Joint and the Owners Still Gave Away 150 Turkeys for Thanksgiving

Matt and Nina Horn set up a Go Fund Me and pledged to rebuild their popular restaurant after a fire gutted it.

The day after an early morning fire gutted beloved Oakland, California institution Horn Barbecue, pitmaster and 2021 Best New Chef Matt Horn and his team handed out roughly 150 Thanksgiving turkeys in their annual giveaway and vowed to rebuild their flagship business.

“We are equal parts heartbroken and grateful for the love we have received from our family, friends, and community about the fire that took place at Horn Barbecue yesterday, especially with the holidays around the corner,” Matt Horn told Food & Wine after the turkey giveaway today at his burger joint Matty’s Old Fashioned. “Despite it all, our commitment to the city of Oakland, and more importantly, the people of Oakland, is unwavering. [We’re] so grateful that we still got to give turkeys away to families this holiday season.”

Horn’s wife Nina organized a Go Fund Me to help renovate the space and support the restaurant’s staff, and the barbecue community and fellow chefs like Nyesha Arrington and Kwame Onwuachi have shared messages of support for the Horns and their staff.

“As we process this tragedy, our thoughts are with our dedicated team and loyal customers who have made Horn Barbecue more than just a restaurant, but a vibrant part of the Oakland and Bay Area community,” the Horn Barbecue Team posted on Instagram Tuesday. “To continue our mission of service and to help our hardworking staff, we are reaching out for support.”

Two days before the fire, someone vandalized the building with graffiti and tried to break into the business’s trailer, Horn posted on Instagram earlier this week. Oakland officials are investigating the blaze but wouldn’t speculate on the cause, according to SF Gate.

The proximity of open flame to rendered fat from years of smoking whole hogs and brisket make fire in the pit rooms and smokehouses of America’s barbecue restaurants a business owner’s number one concern, especially late at night. 2019 Best New Chef Bryan Furman lost his Atlanta barbecue restaurant B’s Cracklin’ Barbecue to fire in the middle of the night. Rodney Scott cooked barbecue on a tour around the South to raise money to rebuild the cookhouse at his flagship restaurant in South Carolina in 2013. And the smokehouse at North Carolina’s landmark Skylight Inn caught fire in 2019. Third generation pitmaster Sam Jones, chief of the volunteer Ayden Volunteer Fire Department, responded to the fire at his family business.

Horn earned the F&W Best New Chef accolade in 2019. The self-taught pitmaster told restaurant editor Khushbu Shah that he dreamed of a “black building, and from the front door, I saw people lined up down the block." That dream manifested into an Oakland mecca for smoked brisket, ribs, hot links, specials like burnt ends, and popular side dishes like mac n’ cheese. Lines formed daily down the block.

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