Belle Isle

What started as a dream of a divey natural wine bar with fun, slightly trashy fare turned into something unintentionally elevated- minus the pretention. I started Belle Isle with co-owner Zac Schwartz (of Lake Inez), alongside partners chef Jay Moore and Patrick Ciappara, and together we built something else entirely: a playful space, dripping with character. We're lucky to have a staff who gets it, bringing collaboration and care to every dish.

The space was me and Zac's brainchild: zero plans or drawings, just creation on the fly. The project took longer than we hoped, but that creativity couldn't have come from a blueprint. The aesthetic lives somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle of a Greek grandmother’s taverna, a Mexican hilltop casita, and cottage-core charm, mostly through material (Mexican tile, lime-plastered walls, reclaimed mahogany ceiling) that only gets more charming with age.