Horn Barbecue
9700 Railroad St
Elk Grove, CA 95624
While visiting Elk Grove for a family event, Mrs. TVWB and I stopped by Horn Barbecue for a 3:00pm lunch. This visit violated my rule that the best barbecue lunch is had right at 11:00am opening, and perhaps that's why some of our food wasn't as good as we would have liked.
Matt Horn has earned his reputation as a legend in Northern California barbecue. He's a James Beard nominated pitmaster that has published two cookbooks and has been featured in many prestigious national publications. Matt grew up in Fresno, CA and learned to barbecue in his grandmother's backyard. He developed a barbecue style he calls West Coast Barbecue which leans heavily on Central Texas barbecue fused with food traditions from the Black South as well as creative, innovative aspects of California cooking. Matt made national headlines when his first barbecue joint in a rough neighborhood in Oakland, CA was burned down by arsonists. Not to be deterred, Matt pushed forward to open a new restaurant in a different part of Oakland, plus restaurants in Lafayette and Elk Grove, with plans to open a location back in Fresno where it all started.
The Elk Grove restaurant took over the former location of Slow & Low Smokehouse. It's a big and spacious room, with a bar along one wall. Service is disjointed in the sense that you order and pay for food in one location, then go to the bar to order and pay for drinks separately, even if just a soft drink. This location for Horn is relatively new and perhaps they were still working the kinks out of the service model. The food ordering was smooth but a bit slow. They're using the model often found in Texas joints, but not common here in California, where you step up to the counter to order side dishes, then slide over to the meat cutter who slices meats by the 1/4 pound to order and arranges it on a paper-lined tray, then lastly paying the cashier.
We ordered brisket, pork belly burnt ends, spareribs, turkey, mac & cheese, collard greens, cornbread, and banana pudding. Our favorites were the spareribs and the turkey. The brisket was tender but lacked the peppery punch that I've come to expect from the Central Texas style barbecue that inspires Horn. The pork belly burnt ends were a big disappointment; they looked good and had good flavor, but were tight, not tender. I liked the cornbread, the collards were fine, and while the mac & cheese looked promising as it was scooped from the hotel pan, it ate kind of dry. The banana pudding was pretty good, as I recall.
I would definitely say that Horn Barbecue is worth a visit, but I'd try to get there at opening time when everything is fresh.
Here are some pics.
9700 Railroad St
Elk Grove, CA 95624
While visiting Elk Grove for a family event, Mrs. TVWB and I stopped by Horn Barbecue for a 3:00pm lunch. This visit violated my rule that the best barbecue lunch is had right at 11:00am opening, and perhaps that's why some of our food wasn't as good as we would have liked.
Matt Horn has earned his reputation as a legend in Northern California barbecue. He's a James Beard nominated pitmaster that has published two cookbooks and has been featured in many prestigious national publications. Matt grew up in Fresno, CA and learned to barbecue in his grandmother's backyard. He developed a barbecue style he calls West Coast Barbecue which leans heavily on Central Texas barbecue fused with food traditions from the Black South as well as creative, innovative aspects of California cooking. Matt made national headlines when his first barbecue joint in a rough neighborhood in Oakland, CA was burned down by arsonists. Not to be deterred, Matt pushed forward to open a new restaurant in a different part of Oakland, plus restaurants in Lafayette and Elk Grove, with plans to open a location back in Fresno where it all started.
The Elk Grove restaurant took over the former location of Slow & Low Smokehouse. It's a big and spacious room, with a bar along one wall. Service is disjointed in the sense that you order and pay for food in one location, then go to the bar to order and pay for drinks separately, even if just a soft drink. This location for Horn is relatively new and perhaps they were still working the kinks out of the service model. The food ordering was smooth but a bit slow. They're using the model often found in Texas joints, but not common here in California, where you step up to the counter to order side dishes, then slide over to the meat cutter who slices meats by the 1/4 pound to order and arranges it on a paper-lined tray, then lastly paying the cashier.
We ordered brisket, pork belly burnt ends, spareribs, turkey, mac & cheese, collard greens, cornbread, and banana pudding. Our favorites were the spareribs and the turkey. The brisket was tender but lacked the peppery punch that I've come to expect from the Central Texas style barbecue that inspires Horn. The pork belly burnt ends were a big disappointment; they looked good and had good flavor, but were tight, not tender. I liked the cornbread, the collards were fine, and while the mac & cheese looked promising as it was scooped from the hotel pan, it ate kind of dry. The banana pudding was pretty good, as I recall.
I would definitely say that Horn Barbecue is worth a visit, but I'd try to get there at opening time when everything is fresh.
Here are some pics.