People don’t typically think of Fresno as a place where chefs and restaurateurs go to win awards and be named on lists of the world’s best restaurants. Michelin doesn’t even cover Fresno, with its closest starred restaurants being in Paso Robles and Sacramento.
That dearth of hype may be a benefit, according to some, though in any case, it means that the list of be-accoladed chefs in the area isn’t a long one. Arguably at the top of this short list stand a pair of pitmasters: Matt Horn of Horn Barbecue and the Vallejos (Anthony and Tasha) of Mega Texas Barbeque.
Horn, a Fresno native and Edison grad, was named one of Food & Wine’s best new chefs in 2021, a year after opening Horn Barbecue in Oakland. He was recognized as a Michelin Bib Gourmand (awarded to “restaurants worldwide that serve exceptional food at great value”) the same year, and in 2022, was a James Beard Award semifinalist for best new restaurant. Following his success up north, Horn returned to Fresno in January to open a new Horn Barbecue at Granite Park, behind Club One Casino on Cedar and Ashlan (meaning Fresno does have some Michelin representation, if only in a roundabout way).
Anthony and Tasha Vallejo’s Mega Texas Barbeque, meanwhile, started in 2013, serving out of an Arco gas station on McKinley for its first four years of existence. Gradually building a grass-roots following (a gas-roots following, one might say) they were nonetheless named one of Texas Monthly’s 50 best Texas-style barbecue joints in the whole country in 2024. They’ve since received high-profile praise from no less luminaries than comedian Bill Burr (a lesser accolade than Beard or Michelin to be sure, but arguably one reaching a broader audience). Mega Texas has been going strong ever since, with long lines and a crowded dining room basically standard at their Calwa location on Butler and Orange in southeast Fresno. (Anthony Vallejo, an objectively large man, says “Mega” was his nickname during a stint living in Texas, hence the name).
Horn, on the other hand, lately has faced a rash of restaurant closures – SFist reported in February that he had closed all of this Bay Area locations, though the downtown Oakland restaurant has since reopened – not to mention having been dogged by lawsuits, as well as a Fresno Bee exposé published in mid-March, detailing allegations of bounced checks and unpaid wages at his Fresno location. Through it all, Horn Barbecue Fresno is, as of this writing, still operating…