Benjie De Los Santos didn’t work out what he needed to be when he grew up till after he turned 50.
Greater than a decade later, he’s obtained a sandwich store, two meals vans that bear his title and a pile of awards. De Los Santos has gained a number of San Antonio Grilled Cheese Festivals, claimed honors for his barbacoa tacos and earned raves for his rooster sandwich at Benjie’s Munch.
A primary-time buyer as soon as remarked, “It’s only a sandwich.” To which De Los Santos replied, “Properly, yeah, however take a chunk and inform me what you suppose.”
The client grew to become an everyday. Benjie’s Munch has plenty of them. Distinctive creations with knock-out flavors deliver folks again many times.
Who else makes a grilled cheese with melted mozzarella and provolone, spinach artichoke dip and bacon between two slices of butter-toasted sourdough? Who else makes a rooster sandwich with purple onion jam, pickled jalapeno slices, arugula and cilantro ranch dressing?
““I similar to to play with meals,” De Los Santos stated. “I attempt to hit textures and flavors and shows.”
He hits them so effectively one buyer visited each Saturday for a yr to attempt each merchandise on the ever-evolving menu. Then he began going by means of the menu once more.
“If I’d have been in a position to do that a very long time in the past,” stated De Los Santos, 63. “I’d be on a seashore someplace.”
De Los Santos spent the higher a part of 35 years transferring from job to job. He washed dishes at Luby’s at 15, labored as a line prepare dinner at Olive Backyard, managed a since-closed Fajita Junction and held a wide range of jobs at a number of eating places in San Antonio and Dallas.
At one level, De Los Santos bought insurance coverage. After six months, he give up.
Later, he spent eight years with the food-services firm Sodexo. His profession modified in 2014 after he and his spouse, Daybreak De Los Santos, noticed “Chef,” a movie a couple of movie star chef who quits a restaurant and finds a brand new profession in an unlikely kitchen.
Daybreak stated, “It’s best to try this.” Benjie complied, cashed in his 401(okay) and, just like the protagonist in ‘Chef’,” opened a meals truck.
With hand-crafted sandwiches and sauces comprised of scratch, the idea grew to become an immediate hit. With a nod to Jon Favreau, the lead character in “Chef,” Benjie included a Cuban sandwich on his menu. With assist from Daybreak, the finance supervisor, son Diego, and fogeys Benny and Stella De Los Santos, a brand new profession was launched and a run of excellent fortune adopted.
In 2016, Benjie’s Munch gained the Barbacoa & Large Crimson Pageant. In 2017, Benjie opened a brick-and-mortar on Bitters Street. In 2018 and 2019, Benjie’s Munch gained the San Antonio Grilled Cheese Pageant and the awards stored coming, filling a whole wall of the restaurant.
Ask Benjie to call his favourite merchandise on the menu and he’ll have a look at you in disbelief. That will be like asking mother and father to choose a favourite baby. They love all of them. What he’ll let you know is that this: So many individuals say his rooster sandwich is the very best they’ve ever eaten, he’s renamed it, “Greatest Rooster Sandwich Ever.”
One purpose for the sandwich’s reputation is the meat: sliced rooster with cracker crumb breading dipped in buttermilk. One other is the jalapeño slices.
“I need jalapeños on each a part of the underside bun,” Benjie stated. “It’s obtained to hit all the proper factors and taste profiles. One chunk goes to be the identical as the opposite.”
Benjie’s dedication to uniform style and flavoring stems from a well being disaster. A few years in the past, he weighed greater than 400 kilos. Gastric sleeve surgical procedure decreased the scale of his abdomen and enabled him to lose 150 kilos.
“I can solely eat half a sandwich,” he stated. “I need each chunk to rely.”
So does Diego, 28. He began in highschool as a meals truck helper and rose to restaurant supervisor. When the daddy retires, the son will take over. The long run excites him.
“The expansion has been loopy,” Diego stated. “I imply, we’re simply blessed that everybody has supported us. After folks eat right here for the primary time, they are saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish to attempt every little thing.’”
Diego has identified his future for years. As a 15-year-old at Clark Excessive Faculty, Benjie didn’t know what he needed to be when he grew up. He simply knew he wanted a job. So he started washing dishes, earned an affiliate diploma at St. Philip’s School and spent three a long time making an attempt to determine life out.
Someday, he stepped right into a theater, and when he got here out, his future grew to become clear. A movie a couple of struggling chef would launch a profession as a chef and restaurateur.
