Horn Barbecue reopens in downtown Oakland hoping to join neighborhood revival
A popular Oakland business that has had its share of struggles is now banking on a new downtown location for its comeback.
"I love you, and I'll see you again soon," said Tim Clarke. " All right, precious cargo."
Clarke came from a half-hour away to get this cargo. He was among the very first customers at Horn Barbecue's new location on 8th Street at the location of one of proprietor Matt Horn's other restaurants, Matty's Old Fashioned.
That establishment's burger menu has now been combined with the smoked meats that put Horn's name on the Bay Area culinary scene. It relaunched with a line at the door.
"The king," Clarke said, diving into his meal with relish. "Beef rib. Look at that thing. I mean, have you seen anything like that? Holy moly."
"We've stayed committed to the city," said owner Matt Horn. "And the city has shown up and shown love for us, so we're humbled."
It's been an up and down ride for namesake chef Horn. Last November, his popular West Oakland restaurant was significantly damaged in a fire just two days after being defaced with graffiti.That location on Mandela Parkway never reopened.
But now his barbeque, and his brand, are now planted in downtown Oakland where there are more than a few places to draw foot traffic.
"Swanson's market comes right down to 8th," Clarke said of the area. "There's just great restaurants all around town."
A recent study which found San Francisco's foot traffic had dropped in the last year also revealed a 20% increase in Oakland. When asked if downtown Oakland might be doing better than downtown San Francisco, Oakland resident Mahogany told CBS News Bay Area she thought so.
"I did say yes," she added. "Me, living here, downtown Oakland is more homey."
Mahogany has lived in Oakland for 30 years, the most recent stretch of that in downtown.
"San Francisco does have farmers markets and things of that nature, but it just feels so businesslike," she explained. "Everything is so rushy, rushy, hurry, hurry."
Oakland's core certainly faces its challenges. Like San Francisco, its office vacancy rate is high. That amount of space, however, is much smaller. Over recent decades, Oakland has placed a significant amount of housing downtown, another possible explanation for that reported increase in activity here.
"And then they built up downtown and that made it even better to me," Mahogany said. "Personally, it's just smoother to me."
"We brought our Michelin plaque," Horn said of the fire debris. "The other plaques we weren't able to recover. We were able to bring it over."
And now Horn Barbeque becomes another destination for that foot traffic, one more piece of what it takes to make a downtown recovery.
"There's just a desire to come together and pull together as part of the community," Clarke said of Oakland.
