Harlem's Celebrated Reverence Restaurant On Brink After Break-In

HARLEM, NY — Reverence, the celebrated fine-dining spot on Striver's Row, is in a precarious position after a burglar smashed the restaurant's window and made off with valuable electronics, its owner says.

The break-in, around 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 5, was carried out by a person who managed to break Reverence's "exceedingly thick glass window" and then crawl through the glass into the store, chef-owner Russell Jackson said in a video message this week.

He proceeded to "ransack the restaurant," Jackson said, making off with what police say was $5,500 worth of electronics. That equipment had been used to operate the restaurant each day, leaving Reverence in a difficult spot.

Now that Reverence has reopened, Jackson hopes neighbors will help it weather the storm. A "rescue rally" launched this week asks patrons to either make a reservation — the preferred option — donate to a GoFundMe, or buy discounted gift certificates and merchandise.

The stakes are high: with the strains of the pandemic still present, the burglary could determine "which way the pendulum will swing for us," Jackson said in the video.

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Jackson, a noted San Francisco chef who once competed on "Iron Chef America," opened Reverence in 2019 in a historic building on the corner of West 138th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.

Its cuisine is an "ode" to Jackson's native California, he has said. Earlier this year, Reverence won a rave review by Eater critic Ryan Sutton, who praised its "light" cooking style and fairly affordable $98 tasting menu.

During the pandemic, Jackson kept Reverence afloat by selling to-go meal kits, and joined an effort to craft nationwide guidelines for safely reopening indoor dining.

The last few weeks have been a particular challenge for Reverence, which is run by a tiny staff of roughly four people.

"We have the difficulty of emotionally having to bear this," Jackson said.

An investigation into the break-in is ongoing, an NYPD spokesperson said.

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