Russell Crowe donated $5,000 to save a Beirut restaurant beloved by Anthony Bourdain that was wrecked in the blast, saying 'he would have probably done so if he was still around'

• Actor Russell Crowe donated $5,000 to save a restaurant destroyed in last week's Beirut explosion in honor of the late chef Anthony Bourdain.
• Bourdain, who died in 2018, dined at Le Chef in 2006 on his show "No Reservations," calling it "a legendary spot."
• Le Chef was one of the hundreds of businesses that had their premises torn apart in the August 4 blast, which killed 135 people.
• Crowe confirmed he made the donation on Twitter, after a cofounder of the crowdfunder mused whether a donor named Russell Crowe was the Oscar winner.
• "On behalf of Anthony Bourdain. I thought that he would have probably done so if he was still around," Crowe tweeted.

Actor Russell Crowe said on Wednesday that he was behind a $5,000 donation to help rebuild a Beirut restaurant beloved by the late TV chef Anthony Bourdain.

Le Chef was one of hundreds of Beiruti businesses destroyed on August 4 when a huge store of ammonium nitrate exploded at the capital city's port, killing at least 135 people and injuring thousands.

Bourdain, who died by suicide in 2018, dined at Le Chef on the 2006 Beirut episode of his show "No Reservations" and called it "a legendary spot, famed for its simple, straightforward, home-style classics."

Crowe tweeted on Wednesday that he had made a donation to Le Chef "on behalf of Anthony Bourdain."

The disclosure was in response to a tweet from Rich Hall, a former Middle East correspondent for the Independent, who cofounded a crowdfunding campaign to save Le Chef.

Hall had mused whether the person who had donated $5,000 under the name Russell Crowe could really be the Oscar-winning actor.

—Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 13, 2020

"I thought that he would have probably done so if he was still around," Crowe wrote.

"I wish you and LeChef the best and hope things can be put back together soon."

The crowdfund aims to raise $13,000 to rebuild the restaurant, and has raised more than $10,000 as of Thursday morning.

Le Chef was set up in the Gemmayze district in 1967. The neighborhood is a stone's throw from the port where the August 4 blast originated.

• Read more:
• The deadly explosion in Beirut highlights a danger potentially lurking in some of the world's ports
• Anthony Bourdain wins posthumous Emmys for travel series 'Parts Unknown' more than a year after his death
• People share how Anthony Bourdain influenced their love of food and travel in moving tributes