Ben Michaels

Excellent homemade, individually prepared food; small daily menu of what is fresh. Private venue, casual. Interesting and welcoming owner/chef who played incredible Blues in the piano. Near Old Town. We will return. One-of-a-kind. Cash only.

This is not your typical restaurant experience! This is an escape for great food, lively conversations with new people and fun music! Thank you Ben for sharing some history and stories, fabulous food and drinks and the blues serenade (that was much needed as we had just dropped off a son at college). I would call this a hangout. The best kind.

Having lunch here has been one of the most unique experiences I've had. The owner, cook, waiter, entertainer, Ben served my group lunch by giving us the days menu which depends on what he makes that day. He then cooks every dish by himself and then played the piano for us while we ate. There was only 1 flan left by that time, but we split it and it was great. He also told us that he made all the Adobe bricks himself which made up the restaurant. Truly an unusual but great find.

I hadn’t been back in over 10 years, but sought out Ben Michael’s for dinner tonight. This quirky spot serves great food that depends on what the chef has on hand that day; tonight no filet mignon, but a great organic red soup from his garden (the beets colored everything else in the mix, lol). He greeted each guest personally before taking their orders, cooking everything, then sitting at the piano for a couple Beatles tunes and some wise words on eating healthy. I’ll definitely be back sooner next time.

Holy frijole, was this a magical place! We were skeptical at first: no one was seated inside and the only occupant of the building was sitting in a separate room on a couch watching television. We entered, timidly, but were instantly made to feel welcome by Mister Michael himself and were seated. By the end of the night, our impression couldn't have been more radically reversed. Here were the highlights: local beer, locally sourced and organic ingredients (including herbs grown in his yard), ambiance set by jazz which ended up being a live recording of his Juilliard-educated nephew and co made just two weeks ago, the flan, and then! he sat down at the piano and played the blues while singing improvised lyrics dedicated to us and including the details we'd shared with him about our trip. He