Ethical Meat Trailblazer Belcampo Shutters at Hudson Yards

Sustainable California butchery and restaurant group Belcampo has permanently shuttered its NYC outpost at Hudson Yards, marking another high-profile, mid-pandemic restaurant casualty at the flashy, billion-dollar Manhattan development.

A representative for Belcampo confirmed to Eater that the company no longer has a presence in Hudson Yards and, for now, has no set plans to move elsewhere in NYC. Hudson Yards has already filled the vacancy with NYC’s third outpost of Miznon, the popular Israeli fast-casual restaurant, which opened on November 20.

Belcampo’s Hudson Yards location has been closed throughout the pandemic amid operating restrictions that were put in place for health safety in NYC. In August, a representative for the company told Eater that “the inability to have indoor dining due to COVID-19 has caused us to operate our restaurants differently, including making the difficult decision to suspend operations at some of them, including Hudson Yards.”

The restaurant and butcher shop did not reopen when NYC malls were allowed to open back up — without indoor dining — in early September.

Belcampo’s Hudson Yards location, which opened in March 2019, was heralded as the company’s splashy East Coast debut. The restaurant, which featured only meats raised on its sprawling California ranch, was slammed with hourlong waits immediately after opening, pushing the restaurant to temporarily shutter its takeout counter due to “unprecedented demand.” But the spot was later deemed a critical miss, with Eater critic Ryan Sutton finding offerings like the 28-day dry-aged burger to be “thoroughly average” and the charcoal-rubbed ribeye both overcooked and over-salted.

Belcampo has five retail and restaurant locations across California that are currently open for outdoor dining, takeout, and delivery, according to its website, plus an online shop that delivers nationwide.

The closure is the second high-profile loss for Hudson Yards following the shutdown of fine dining spot TAK Room in August. Headlining chef Thomas Keller pulled the plug on the project after the restaurant “could not find an economically viable path to continue operating without expected seasonal, New York tourism and traffic.” The Hudson Yards location of Keller’s bakery chain Bouchon Bakery also shuttered at that time.