Five-Year-Old Valley Barbecue Restaurant Barrel & Ashes to Close Tonight

Studio City barbecue restaurant Barrel & Ashes will close after service tonight, ending a five year run for the prominent Ventura Boulevard restaurant.

Barrel & Ashes opened in late 2014 as a first landing spot for chef Timothy Hollingsworth of Otium, after Hollingsworth left the French Laundry to move to Los Angeles. He and partners like Rory Hermann were early adopters of the modern barbecue wave that has now crested across Los Angeles, offering a focused Texas-leaning menu filled with housemade sausages, brisket, ribs, and large-format beef ribs. Hollingsworth eventually stepped away to focus on his television show and his Downtown restaurant, while Barrel & Ashes continued to serve along Ventura Boulevard, even growing its Sunday football watching bona fides and its bar business.

The final night of service for Barrel & Ashes is tonight in Studio City. Sprout, the group behind Barrel & Ashes and some of the city’s other most prominent restaurants, sent along the following statement to Eater:

Many thanks to our loyal guests and devoted staff for the support and enthusiasm. We are dedicated to helping our team find great opportunities in their next roles. It was an honor to do business in the Studio City community. We really enjoyed our run here.

Barbecue remains big business across Los Angeles despite today’s loss of Barrel & Ashes. Slab on West Third Street, Bludso’s on La Brea, and a myriad of smaller restaurant players across the San Fernando Valley and greater South LA all continue to compete not only against one another, but against a slew of upstart backyard pitmasters and pop-ups as well. Others, like Moo’s Craft Barbecue, operate weekly events at breweries and at Smorgasburg in Downtown, selling brisket and ribs to endless lines of waiting fans.

Barrel & Ashes. 11801 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

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