Last summer, Belse opened as the largest vegan restaurant in New York City history on the Bowery, the historically rough stretch just north of Chinatown. Belse was about five times larger than the city’s average vegan restaurant with seating for nearly 200—the capacity of a subway car.
Matt Marshall
In a city where space is very tight, Belse opened with a unique challenge: too much space. “We’re too big to fail,” Belse owner Steve Bellamy told VegNews a few months after opening, when the challenge of filling hundreds of seats per day was becoming clear.
As a dedicated vegan looking to save animals one meal at a time, Bellamy could never imagine a public defeat for the city’s largest vegan establishment. It was a high-visibility vegan venture that needed a successful outcome.
Belse quickly became a fixture in the NYC vegan community, becoming the go-to spot for…