Finding a recipe you love, tucked away and folded in an old cookbook, or a distant memory of the Europe trip from five years ago and the ice cream you had at a shop with a name you can't pronounce, maybe more modernly, a note written on your phone with a vague description of the dessert you had at your friend's housewarming party a few weeks ago. Ben Sidell will take that recipe and tear it apart, but what he gives back will be better than what you remembered.   

Saltie Girl, the New England-inspired seafood restaurant, has only two locations, one in Boston and one in LA. The West Hollywood location is home to the restaurant's executive pastry chef and owner Kathy Sidell's son, Ben Sidell, aka SweetBoy. Sidell opened his dessert business only a few months into the pandemic, and when the second location of Saltie Girl opened in 2022, Sidell was quick to hop into the leading dessert-making position. Curating an expansive dessert menu for the restaurant, while still caring for his own brand. Constantly updating his repertoire of baked goods that are inspired by nostalgia, travel, intrigue, and inimitable flavors.‍

What are your first memories of falling in love with and being inspired by the art of baking?

I first fell in love with baking when I was little. I would spend hours in the kitchen at my aunt’s food shop watching her and my mom turn simple ingredients into gorgeous masterpieces – mile high meringues, moist coffee cakes, and the silkiest cheesecake you’ve ever seen. Taken by the magic of eggs first and foremost. Their shelled existence, holding back endless possibilities.

What makes the cut on a Saltie Girl menu? Who and what do you consider when you’re creating recipes & curating what a Saltie Girl dish/dessert has to offer?

My mom and I are brain partners so before I start my RnD, it mostly begins with a conversation with her. Discussing season flavors, garnering inspiration from food porn online, or remembering a treat from decades ago shared in a foreign place. Once we land on a profile, I try to expand from there. Is it hot or cold, silky or crisp? From there I create two different desserts with similar ingredients but opposite applications.

In operating Saltie Girl, do you have any rules, rituals, traditions, or expectations that you feel are unique?

Saltie Girl is first and foremost a family owned and operated business. My mom is the CEO, my stepdad is the CFO, my stepsister is Director of HR, our COO has worked with my parents for 22+ years. I mention this because I try to make every new employee feel like an extension of our family. Leading with heart and compassion. Listening and guiding. It is so important to us that our employees feel considered, seen, and appreciated. So I guess, I like to welcome them into the family.

You’ve described baking as a craft that requires discipline and focus, but you’ve also talked about discovering “freedom” within those rules. How do you honor a classic recipe while deciding when and how to alter it?

In order to “fuck it up,” how I lovingly refer to sitting a recipe on its head, you really have to understand why people love the classic version of the dish and then pull apart each component. For me, my first three touch points are texture, taste, and nostalgia. What is the landscape of the bite in my mouth, how are the ingredients balanced, and where does this spoonful take me in my mind. I like to see where in those three I can take a left turn while still having a road map back to the original. Staying rooting in a fundamental element of the dish, while soaring to a new or different plane.

Before SweetBoy, you were acting. Has your background in acting influenced the way you approach hospitality, creativity, or storytelling in the culinary space?

Acting certainly finds its way in, whether it’s through storytelling with a dish or dealing with a difficult guest. I truly love combining my passion for baking with my love of acting. Cooking on camera, producing a shot or a reel. The combo of the two is my heaven.

 Saltie Girl is deeply rooted in New England seafood, while SweetBoy grew from a personal passion into a business in 2019. When creating desserts for Saltie Girl, how do you ensure that they fit into the restaurant’s identity while still reflecting your creative vision?

The genesis of Saltie Girl was to take familiar New England seafood staples and reintroduce them through a contemporary or foreign lens. When my mom opened Saltie Girl ten years ago, the only tinned seafood people commonly knew was bumblebee. When we opened, we had over eighty different varieties of tinned treasures. I think this ethos directly correlates to my vision for the dessert programs at Saltie Girl. A reintroduction to known and loved classics. A playful twist or nod to familiar classics. 

Growing up in a family in the restaurant business, what insights have you taken and applied to SweetBoy? Have you done anything intentionally different? 

A lesson I learned from my grandfather, who owned three restaurants in his time, is that just because we don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s not worth investigating and potentially using it to create. He did the OPPOSITE, haha. If he didn’t like something, it wasn’t going on the menu, no matter how well the special sold. My mom and I discuss this a lot. It is so important to put your personal preferences aside to consider what sells, what resonates with people, and what will potentially move the needle. A lesson from him and her I repeat to myself often.

 As you continue to develop SweetBoy, what do you envision it becoming? How do you plan to grow while remaining true to the identity and philosophy that initially inspired you to start?

SweetBoy was born out of a want to spread joy. I started delivering through LA in the darkest moments of the pandemic and being able to give even the slightest bit of relief from that moment in time was incredibly rewarding. I don’t know what lies ahead for SweetBoy. My commitment to using excellent quality ingredients and doing my best to spark a glimmer of light with every bite. I just created a blog on my website where I have started to share recipes. Seeing people respond to them and bake them is wild. The ultimate goal would be to marry my acting with my baking on a show or having a show with my mom, but I digress…

Gathering around food and 'breaking bread' with others is a generational pillar of humanity & culture—in your years working with food professionally and personally, what is it's meaning for you? What does food mean for you? 

Food is love. It is connection. It’s inspiration and memory. Community and joy. A warm hug from something in your past or a bright zing propelling you forward. Food is magic.