In the hands of Fort Myers’ most celebrated chef, Harold Balink, food transforms from sustenance into connection—a magnetism that tethers every diner in his 150-seat restaurant.
For nearly 30 years, Harold has shaped the local culinary scene while collaborating with dozens of charities, often from their founding. His farm-to-table restaurant, Harold’s, represents the summation of a life lived in service.
At 26, the 6-foot-4 former football tight end became one of the youngest executive chefs in the area at Captiva Island’s South Seas Resort. There, he met his late wife, Julie, before joining Fort Myers’ decade-defining Cru in 2009 as co-owner and chef. As he advanced in his career, Harold began to view his role more as a servant than a chef. “Growing up, my parents never donated money or offered church tithings—they didn’t have it to give,” Harold says. “But they did have time, and of that, they gave plenty.”
Harold and Julie embraced that philosophy, partnering with grassroots organizations like SWFL Children’s Charities and its Southwest Florida Wine & Food Fest, where he still curates artful dinners alongside top vintners. They auctioned off countless private dinners for as many as 40 people—often the highest-grossing items for organizations like the Heights Foundation, Golisano Children’s Hospital and Pace Center for Girls.
In 2015, his world fractured when Julie was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. He sold his stake in Cru and opened Harold’s as a 34-seat restaurant, open only Wednesday through Saturday for dinner service, leaving days free for doctors’ appointments and chemotherapy sessions. He documented their journey on social media with Julie’s permission—laying bare how pain, when voiced, can become a thread of solidarity rather than a source of isolation.
When she passed in 2017, Harold considered applying to the Peace Corps and moving abroad. Instead, he found refuge in his kitchen.
Guests flocked to the small dining room, driving a perpetual two-month waiting list. In 2021, an expansion allowed more diners to experience what Harold had built: a restaurant that gives back simply by existing, where a working-class Colorado native serves his grandmother’s Bolognese alongside dishes that reflect decades in the industry.
This fall, Harold will open his next venture, Vybe Whiskey and Wine, in the Bell Tower Shops. His impact on generations of chefs is also evident up and down our coast. Mentees—like Zach Geerson at Silver King, and Josh Zeman at Sea Salt—are shifting and propelling the dining landscape, inspired by the man who laid himself bare—unafraid to get it wrong.
Every November, Harold writes down a daily gratitude and shares it online. The posts often read like poetry, tracing the push and pull of life and loss. The replies echo the same refrain: “Thank you for writing what we all feel.” —Chanda Jamieson