Restaurants & Bars
Harlem's Acclaimed Belle Restaurant Closing Permanently, Owners Say
The tiny, chef's-table-style eatery won a rave review from the New York Times, but is closing after six years in business.
HARLEM, NY — The restaurant Belle Harlem is closing permanently, owners announced this week, marking the end of a six-year journey that brought outsized acclaim to the tiny business on Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard.
"We have made the very difficult decision to close our doors," husband-and-wife owners Darryl and Melissa Burnette wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. "We are so very appreciative and grateful for our guests, particularly those who’ve become true friends and chosen family."
The Burnettes opened Belle in 2016, fashioning a chef's-table-style experience out of their 12-seat space near the corner of West 138th Street.
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Their entry into the restaurant world was hardly guaranteed: Darryl was an architectural draftsman until a Food Network segment about chef Marcus Samuelsson inspired him to go to culinary school, while Melissa had been working in the fashion industry before opening Belle.
But they found success in Harlem: three years after Belle opened, it won a starred review by New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells, who highlighted its personal touch and creative dishes like cheese-steak crostini, smoked pork tenderloin, and salads sourced from Darryl Burnette's own urban garden.
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"He brings a keen sense of what to do with ingredients as they come into season to the vegetables he grows on the roof of the Burnettes’ apartment building, a block away," Wells wrote.
Belle stayed open for much of the pandemic, expanding with sidewalk seating and briefly opening a next-door cafe, Ink, specializing in bagels.
The Burnettes did not mention a specific reason for Belle's closure, but said that reservations for the final weekend of service had been listed on OpenTable. (It was unclear whether any remained by Wednesday morning.)
"Thank you for making our dream a beautiful reality for the past 6 years," they wrote. "Keep an eye on us as other chapters await!"
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