'Top Chef' Poisoned Beloved Brooklyn Tree, Prosecutors Say

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — The celebrity chef who poisoned a beloved Brooklyn tree has left his neighbors stumped.

Former “Top Chef” Adam Harvey, 33, was hauled into court last month for sneaking into his Windsor Terrace neighbor’s backyard, drilling holes into her tree and filling those holes with herbicide, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.

A neighbor spotted a masked Harvey drilling holes into the tree, then filled those holes with liquid from a large white container he brought with him on April 30, according to a criminal complaint.

Harvey, who owns Bar Salumi on Fourth Avenue, was charged with criminal mischief and criminal trespass during his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on May 15, prosecutors said.

Harvey had been complaining for months that the tree created too much shade and blocked the solar panels he installed on his Seeley Street row house, which he bought in 2017, residents told the Daily News.

He hopped the fence of 184 Seeley St. after the tree’s owner declined his offer to chop down a tree he told her was dead, according to the Daily News report that includes photographs of the "attempted arborcide."

The seven-story silver maple tree has been shading Seely Street for more than 60 years and is now struggling to survive after the chef’s attack on April 30, according to prosecutors and the Daily News.

“He has outraged everyone in a half-mile radius,” said one neighbor.

Said another, “It’s arrogance and a wrong sense of entitlement to come here and destroy his neighbor’s property.”

This isn't the first time Harvey ticked off his Brooklyn neighbors — the celebrity chef drew ire when his marketers spray-painted his new restaurant's logo on the sidewalks of Gowanus and Park Slope.

Harvey took to Instagram to address the complaints and told another local business owner, "(We) don't give a damn about your potential loss of business."

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