Milton's team recruits top talent for live-fire Rice Village steakhouse

Local Foods Group is bringing another new restaurant to Rice Village. The Houston hospitality company behind Maximo, Lee’s, and Milton’s will open Benjamin’s, a new live-fire steakhouse.

Following the company success with full-service concepts — including a James Beard Award Emerging Chef win for Maximo’s Adrian Torres and a semifinalist Best Chef: Texas nomination for Milton’s duo Seth Siegel-Gardner and Kent Domas —LFG is launching an updated version of Benjy's, the group's eclectic, farm-to-table restaurant that operated from 1995 to 2020.

Slated to open next spring, Benjamin will take over what is currently the Rice Village location of Local Foods Market (2424 Dunstan). LFG co-owner Benjy Levit tells CultureMap that Local Foods Market served an important role during Covid, but that the time had come for the company’s take on a genre that remains many Houstonians’ favorite style of fine dining.

And no, he isn’t concerned that Houstonians love to complain on social media about the city having “too many steakhouses.”