Bethlehem soul food restaurant moving to New Jersey

 By Ryan Kneller

The Morning Call |
Aug 07, 2019 |

South Bethlehem is losing a little bit of soul — soul food, that is.

Hot Plate Southern Kitchen, which opened in December 2017 at 201 E. Third St., will hold its last day of business on Wednesday, Aug. 7, according to a now-deleted video on the business’ Facebook page.

The restaurant “hit a roof” in the Lehigh Valley and is set to move to 387 Bloomfield Ave. in Montclair, N.J. later this month, co-owner T.R. Burns said in the video.

Hot Plate Southern Kitchen owner T.R. Burns holds a plate of chicken and waffles in the south Bethlehem restaurant's dining room. Hot Plate is expected to move to Montclair, N.J. later this month. (APRIL GAMIZ/THE MORNING CALL)

“We can’t grow no more,” Burns said. “… It has to be a certain dynamic between the property you’re in and the place you are doing business in. And some of them dynamics changed drastically.”

Hot Plate, offering Cajun shrimp, honey-dipped fried chicken and other southern fare, occupies a south Bethlehem bi-level space that previously housed Shankara Vegan Restaurant and Organic Juice Bar. Read more here