Meet The Benjamin, Hollywood’s New Destination for Burgers, Martinis, and Art Deco Glam
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“I sell t-shirts, I don’t need to open a restaurant,” was Ben Shenassafar’s line whenever someone asked him if he was going to open one in L.A. “Ben Hundreds,” as he is also known, is the co-founder of streetwear brand The Hundreds and Family Style Food Festival. And now, despite his initial reluctance, he is indeed the Ben behind The Benjamin, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after new reservations.
Shenassafar had a change of heart in early 2023, driven by nostalgia for a certain kind of dining experience. “I wanted to put something together that’s really special that L.A. doesn’t have,” he says. And by that, he means the sort of timeless American restaurant, with great burgers and martinis, that feels ubiquitous in New York (Polo Bar) or Chicago (Au Cheval), but less so here.
Shenassafar reached out to his old friend and nightlife vet Jared Meisler (Gin Rummy, The Roger Room, The Friend) to start exploring the idea. The pair drove past the location, on the corner of Melrose and Formosa, and knew they’d found the spot. “I really love Art Deco and it’s an Art Deco building,” says Meisler, who designed the space. “I also really liked the size — it’s big enough to create a nice energy, but small enough to be intimate,” he adds.
The duo paired up with restaurant marketing veteran Kate Burr, founder of A LA MODE consulting as their third partner, who helped oversee design details, menu concept, and more. “I was out to dinner with Ben in 2023 and he told me about the restaurant and we started vibing off the idea,” Burr says. “He was bringing something to the city that didn’t exist here yet, and that was exciting to me,” she adds. They tapped chef Johnny Cirelle (Bestia, Bavel, Spago) to design the menu and beverage director Nathan Oliver (Church & State, No Vacancy, Ink) to sort out the cocktails … and before long, The Benjamin was born.
Here’s everything you need to know about this hot new Hollywood destination.
The vibe is classic American bar meets Art Deco glam.
The dimly lit, 58-seat dining room is located within a historic 1920s-era Deco building, and the interior vibe feels like a postcard from that very era. “We wanted to create a classic room that felt like it had been around forever,” Meisler says. The L-shaped space is anchored by the 15-seat solid oak bar at the center and beset by wood paneling, oversize mirrors, and vintage wedding-cake glass pendants throughout. “The booths are the same height as a bar stool, so everybody is at eye level,” Meisler says of the raised, high-back mohair booths, which allow diners to easily survey the room.
Brazilian marble tables were custom made for the space, and seating options include banquettes, booths, floating tables, as well as bar seating. The bathrooms feature checkerboard marble on the floors and part of the walls, and Gucci wallpaper on the rest, designed with a black, white, and orange lily pattern. An outdoor patio area is also coming later this summer (which may help you actually crack a reservation). The design details extend to wardrobe, too: the attentive front-of-house staff are outfitted in black chore coats designed by The Hundreds and made locally in L.A.
The burger has main character energy.
The starring dish here is The Benjamin Burger; in fact, chef Johnny Cirelle says the entire menu was built around it. “The team wanted to have a restaurant/bar burger, as opposed to a smash burger, which is already so ubiquitous in L.A.,” he says. The substantial eight-ounce patty is made with mostly brisket and a little bit of chuck sourced from Rocker Bros. Meats. Pickles help cut some of the richness, and the bottom of the burger is lined with a very lightly griddled onion, which Cirelle describes as somewhere between grilled and raw (he typically orders his burgers with both).
The team wanted to have a restaurant/bar burger, as opposed to a smash burger, which is already so ubiquitous in L.A.— Chef Johnny Cirelle
The bun is a seeded brioche that’s a hybrid of a milk bun and a brioche, baked in-house. The patty is topped with New School American cheese, a high-quality cheddar that melts like an American cheese, minus the processed ingredients. Cirelle describes the housemade hickory sauce as a mix between a steak sauce and a smoky barbecue, with extra umami from the addition of gochujang paste. It is, of course, served with fries, also made in house, and cut on the thin side, in the style of a true French fry (à la Mickey D’s), dusted with sea salt and parsley to finish. If you order nothing else, let it be this.
The rest of the menu is stacked with comfort food classics.
The list of starters is packed with nostalgic favorites like deviled eggs, Parker House rolls, and shrimp cocktail, with a few surprises thrown in as well. Produce-forward items like a hamachi crudo with mandarin ponzu, and a chopped Green Goddess salad help lighten things up as you head toward the mains.
Speaking of mains, a whole roasted branzino, made with a red chimichurri, is a sleeper must-order. This “red” version of the classic South American herb sauce is made from a combination of Calabrian chiles, Aleppo pepper, smoked paprika, and Fresno chiles, plus fresh herbs and a dash of fish sauce for acidity. Inspired by the famous dish at Barbuto in New York, the Benjamin’s roasted heirloom chicken is another impressive main. The flattened half heirloom Mary’s Chicken is brined and (mostly) deboned before being pan-roasted and finished with salsa verde. Pink watercress adds a peppery last bite on top.
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When it comes to sides, the twice-baked potato is the standout, which can be topped with bacon lardons or, if you’re feeling fancy, a scoop of Astrea caviar for $80. As for desserts, an area Burr masterminded alongside Cirelle, there’s a super-moist carrot cake with mascarpone cream cheese frosting, finished with candied walnuts and carrot peels for texture. Decadent brown butter chocolate chip cookies are served with a sidecar of whipped cream for dunking, and a sticky toffee pudding is in the works.
The namesake martini comes with potato chips.
A cocktail and an appetizer in one? The namesake Ben’s Martini is made with Monkey 47 gin, dry vermouth, and lemon oil, and comes served with housemade potato chips on the side. “That’s just how I like to have my martinis,” Shenassafar says. The rest of the menu is a love letter to martinis in general, with some inspiration from popular 1980s iterations like the Porn Star Martini, Dirty Martini, and Espresso Martini. Beverage director Nathan Oliver incorporated ingredients from Cirelle’s food menu in the drinks, such as capers, bay leaf, and yuzu. “I like to keep a culinary focus on everything,” Oliver says.
Not a martini fan? There’s also a selection of spritzes like the Garden Cup (sparkling Cava, Campari, mineral water, cucumber, strawberry, lemon, orange) or a yuzu spritz, as well as seasonal drinks like a spicy berry margarita (El Tesoro Blanco, strawberry oleo, shiso, lime, serrano) that will rotate along with the regular menu. There’s mocktails too, including a lemongrass Collins (lemongrass, raspberry oleo, lemon, mineral water) and the N/A Groni, a sober take on the Negroni made with Amass Riverine, Aperitivo, red verjus, and orange.
Keep the party going after dinner at The Moon Room upstairs.
Once you’re done with your meal downstairs, head up to The Moon Room (in the former Bathtub Gin space), also operated by Meisler, for more drinks and dancing. Inspired by ‘70s-era New York and Paris, the disco-fueled hot spot opens the night with live piano music and finishes with disco-inspired DJ sets.
Kelly Dobkin is an L.A.-based writer/editor and former New Yorker. She has contributed to Bon Appétit, Grub Street, Michelin, Here Magazine, and is a former editor at Thrillist, Zagat, and Eater. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter. Follow Resy, too.
