The Benevolent King, the fine dining Maplewood restaurant owned by Israeli-born restauranteur Ben Poremba, has closed. In an Instagram post on July 17, Poremba announced the move and said, in part, “The King never truly recovered after our pandemic related closure.”
When the restaurant opened in 2018, it featured a Moroccan-inspired menu. On February 18, 2024, The Benevolent King was re-branded as a Japanese restaurant. Initial reviews were positive and customer response was good, but the business never fully recovered from the hangover of a COVID-19 temporary closure.
“We couldn’t run it the way we wanted to run it,” Poremba said. “We were closed for almost a year because of COVID. We renovated the whole space and we could never get the same kind of business we had pre-COVID. We never saw those numbers again. When a place is closed for a year, it’s hard to rebuild it and we were never able to rebuild it the way we had it before.”
Poremba’s Instagram post also noted his restaurant holding company Bengelina Hospitality Group, is currently relocating its commissary kitchen from Cherokee Street to Delmar Boulevard. That move comes as Bengelina concentrates its efforts along in the Delmar corridor in Midtown, east of the University City Loop.
On May 1, 2023, Poremba unveiled the new New York-style Jewish deli and market Deli Divine at 5501 Delmar Blvd. inside the Delmar Divine complex. More recently, his coastal Mediterranean grill Esca opened at 5095 Delmar Blvd. across the street from another new Bengelina restaurant, the Israeli-inspired Florentin.
“We’re seeing great, great feedback on Esca,” Poremba said. “Florentin was opened a month ago and we’re still not seeing the kind of numbers we want to see. We’re not seeing enough people coming in, but I think with the Israel hate right now, it’s been difficult to market it as an Israeli restaurant. We’re getting a lot of push back against this so we’re trying to stay strong and appeal to the Jewish community and the Israeli community.”
In positive news for diners, Poremba said the three Bengelina restaurants relocating from the Bontanical Heights neighborhood to Delmar Market District have scheduled opening dates: Nixta/Bar Limon will reopen this fall and Olio and Elaia will reopen in early Spring 2025. Meanwhile, Olio’s famous egg salad is still available at Poremba’s AO&Co at 1641 Tower Grove Ave.
