Harold & Belle's
Creole restaurant, Restaurant in Los Angeles, CA
- Address
- 2920 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90018
- Phone
- (323) 735-9023
- Website
- haroldandbelles.com
About Harold & Belle's
Harold & Belle's has served authentic Louisiana Creole cuisine from the same Jefferson Park corner of Los Angeles since September 1969. The restaurant was founded by Harold Legaux Sr. and his wife Belle, New Orleans transplants who wanted to build a gathering place where friends from back home could reconnect, shoot pool, and share stories over good food. What began as a modest social spot with a bar and jukebox grew, after Harold Sr.'s passing in 1979, into a full-service dining destination under the direction of his son Harold Jr. and daughter-in-law Denise, who added linen tablecloths, candlelight, and a menu built around Shrimp Scampi, Crawfish Etouffee, and daily-made gumbo. A 1984 partnership with Al and Sue Honore allowed the restaurant to triple its kitchen and expand seating from twelve tables to thirty-five, cementing its place as a fixture of Black Los Angeles dining. Today the restaurant is run by a third generation of the family, Ryan Legaux and his wife Jessica, continuing more than five decades of continuous family ownership. Harold & Belle's is known for bringing true New Orleans flavor to Southern California, serving gumbo, etouffee, jambalaya, and other Creole classics in a setting that has long doubled as a community gathering place for celebrations, family dinners, and neighborhood milestones. The restaurant has been recognized publicly, including a 2022 partnership with Jack Daniel's honoring its legacy as a sustained Black-owned business. Through changes in ownership generation and decades of growth in the surrounding neighborhood, the restaurant has kept its founding mission intact: preserving New Orleans culture and cuisine while serving as an anchor of community life in Jefferson Park.
Harold & Belle's traces its roots to a dream Harold Legaux Sr. carried from New Orleans: a place where transplants from home could gather, talk over old times, and feel connected to the culture they left behind. He opened the restaurant at Jefferson and 9th Avenue in September 1969, initially as a casual social spot with a pool hall and bar rather than a formal dining room. When Harold Sr. died in 1979, his son Harold Jr. and daughter-in-law Denise took over and reimagined the business, adding linen tablecloths, candlelight, and an expanded Creole menu featuring Shrimp Scampi, Crawfish Etouffee, and gumbo made fresh daily. In 1984, a partnership with Al and Sue Honore fueled major growth, nearly tripling the dining room and kitchen. The restaurant has now passed to a third generation, with Ryan Legaux and his wife Jessica carrying the family torch forward. Over more than fifty years, Harold & Belle's has remained a family-owned anchor of Black Los Angeles, honored by Jack Daniel's in 2022 for its enduring legacy as a Black-owned business that has fed and gathered generations of the community around authentic New Orleans Creole cooking.
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