DC Harvest is known to its customers for healthy, classic, upscale American food.

But over the last couple of months, it’s developed another unfortunate reputation: The family-owned, independent restaurant on 6th and H Streets NE has been broken into three times in the last 10 weeks.

On Wednesday, co-owner Jared Ringel tweeted a photo of their upstairs kitchen, which was ransacked for a shocking third time. “Arthur & I are just numb,” Jared wrote.

“This is our baby,” said Arthur, the second half of DC Harvest, when DCist called the store on Thursday. “We’ve been here 6 and a half years. We want to be here for the public, for H street, there’s no one else here, no big company.”

Jared says the upstairs kitchen door was kicked in and destroyed, and that an unspecified amount of cash, along with multiple bottles of alcohol, was stolen.

DC Harvest is just one of a slew of local businesses that have been robbed or damaged since the start of the pandemic. Dio Wine Bar and Bar Bullfrog, also on H Street NE, sustained significant damage to their windows in April. Belga Cafe and Chat’s Liquors also experienced attempted robberies, according to Eater. Wine and liquor were among the main items stolen at a majority of these locations. (Bar Bullfrog didn’t report any stolen items, but its manager says security camera footage shows burglars were “clearly searching the bar area for alcohol.”)

These incidents are not limited to Ward 6. Mount Pleasant Spanish restaurant Mola was burglarized in April and lost at least $1,200 worth of liquor. Among the more extreme incidents was a break-in at Valley Brook Tea in November, when a man pepper-sprayed the owner and yelled “Chinese” and “COVID-19.” (There has been an uptick in hate crimes among Asian-American communities across the country during the pandemic.)

While the Ringel brothers are devastated by the seeming impossibility of being broken into so many times in such a short period of time, just as improbably, they’re not throwing in the towel on their business just yet. When DCist called the restaurant on Thursday, Arthur was in the middle of preparing food for the evening’s dinner shift and paused our conversation regularly to take orders from customers and sort vendor purchases.

https://twitter.com/DCHarvest/status/1367163031269105667

After the second break-in, the Ringels launched a fundraising campaign to help them replace stolen goods. Arthur says this kind of support has buoyed them during these difficult times.

Between donations and customers ordering takeout, Arthur says they’ve been able to beef up security. They also received grants through the city’s Streatery Winter Ready Grant program, Bridge Fund, and the Paycheck Protection Program, which he says have been very helpful (plus, they say, their landlord has been supportive of the business).

Other local businesses in the area, like Pie Shop DC, have called on Mayor Muriel Bowser and local officials to address the recent uptick in burglaries and attempted robberies at local restaurants over the past year. Jared tweeted that he’s coordinating with the Metropolitan Police Department and other H Street businesses to address the issue and apprehend what they believe to be a “serial burglar” targeting local establishments.

“We are aware of the recent burglary at DC Harvest,” wrote MPD spokesperson Kristen Metzger in an emailed statement to DCist, “There have been four total burglaries in that area since the end of January. We are actively investigating these incidents as possibly being related, as they all have similar burglary patterns. We ask that anyone who has information please call us at 202-727-9099 or text 50411.”

From April to March 2021, MPD reported a 42% increase in burglaries and a 34% increase in robberies in Ward 6. At least half of all wards in the District have seen an increase in burglaries and robberies since April, but the data did not specify how many occurred at local businesses.

Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen says he’s making affected businesses aware of the city’s Private Security Camera System Incentive Program, which offers a rebate if they install security cameras. Though DC Harvest suggested more late-night vigilance from MPD in a Twitter thread Wednesday, Allen says officers already patrol H Street around those times.

“What I think we’re seeing is that the burglaries are actually taking place from the rear of the properties,” he says. “So it’s about making sure that you’re also in the alleys, making sure you’re in the backsides of the buildings. And so that’s why MPD is already looking at their different deployment strategies and how they are deploying their resources.”

Allen acknowledges the recent increase in burglaries is not an isolated incident.

“So many people are more isolated, so much trauma goes unaddressed,” he says. “So those things can’t be ignored. Now, of course, that doesn’t excuse accountability. That does not excuse the negative thing or the violence that has taken place. But it’s important as we look for solutions overall that we don’t work in a vacuum.”

Despite the pressures of economic uncertainty during the pandemic and repeated break-ins, Arthur isn’t missing a step. He says he’s currently reconfiguring the restaurant’s menu because the pandemic has reduced demand for extravagant meals and pricey food.

“No one, I don’t think at least on H Street, anyone wants to pay $49.60 for an entree in a plastic to-go box,” he says.

DC Harvest was once an elegant concoction of bottomless mimosas, 14-ounce bone-in New York strip steaks, and whole roasted two-pound Rhode Island Black Sea Bass. It may well be that again someday, but Arthur says now’s not the time.

Despite all that’s happened to them, Arthur says they’re thinking of other businesses that have been weathered by the pandemic and trying to rebuild themselves and their community.

“On H Street people want good quality food like we’ve always served,” he says. “We’ve adapted.”

This story has been updated with comment from MPD and Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen