THE ART OF FLAVOR

In our first Chef’s Table profile of our community’s most talented chefs, we sat down with restaurateur David Benstock at his celebrated IL Ritorno, one of three St. Pete eateries recently recognized by the Michelin Guide.

By NICK STEELE | Photography by SKYLER JUNE

St. Pete native Chef David Benstock started out as something of a culinary outsider.

“My mom grew up Orthodox Jewish, so we kept strictly kosher. I only ate what she cooked,” he recalls. “So, I never had pork. I never had shrimp. I never ate a lot of things. Food just wasn't a really big culture for me growing up.”

It’s a surprising revelation, given that he has since become one of the region’s most inventive and successful chefs—and the owner of a butcher shop.

The turning point came when he landed a job as a busboy at an Italian restaurant in Indian Rocks Beach.

“I had my job to do in the front, but I always gravitated toward the kitchen to see what they were doing. I thought what was going on in there was so cool,” he remembers. “It was a dream to be like those guys.”

That dream soon became reality. After a heart-to-heart with his mother about his ambitions—and the fact that he would have to step away from their traditions—he enrolled in culinary school in Denver.

“The first month, I went to a job fair and I found the RitzCarlton booth,” Benstock explains. “I talked to the chef and he said, ‘Yeah, we can get you on board right away. Shoot me an e-mail.’ I did, but no answer. I think I sent him eight or nine emails until he probably got sick of me, but I got the job within two months of starting culinary school.”

The hitch was that the Ritz was a two-hour drive away. Determined, he doubled up on classes, spending Monday through Thursday in 12-hour sessions, then working 40 hours across Friday through Sunday at the hotel. Within six months, legendary chef Wolfgang Puck opened Spago at the Ritz.

“I went from working at Outback to culinary school and then to fine dining with Wolfgang Puck. I had awesome opportunities, but I dedicated everything to cooking,” Benstock shares. “I loved everything about it and wanted to be the best. I would show up to work three to four hours early just to learn. I knew this is what I wanted to do…what I wanted to be.”

After more than four years with Puck, Benstock moved to New York City to work at The Modern, the Michelin two-star restaurant inside MoMA. He later spent time in Italy, absorbing regional traditions and techniques firsthand, before moving on to the three-star Michelin restaurant Quince in San Francisco and Scarpetta at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.

It was in Miami that he met his wife, Erica. A visit home in 2012 inspired the couple’s return to St. Pete and the opening of his own restaurant.

“It was always my dream as someone from St. Pete to open a restaurant here,” he shares. “And we’ve been open for almost 12 years.”

IL Ritorno—which fittingly means “the return”— immediately struck a chord with the community and has been consistently regarded as one of Tampa Bay’s best. This year, it was recognized by the Michelin Guide, which praised it for having “boldness and flavor in spades.”

Indeed, Benstock’s culinary artistry both bold and his ingredient-driven creations are packed with flavordriven innovation. Dishes aren’t simply prepared, they’re orchestrated—each element deliberately chosen and layered to create a symphony of tastes that radiate with natural vibrancy.

“When we first opened, we were trying to do another take on Italian. Everyone around had red sauce, Alfredo, veal Parmesan, all that stuff. We wanted to be different,” he offers. “I wanted to have all the techniques and the really cool ingredients I’d experienced over the years and bring that to St. Pete. We changed our menu seasonally back when no one else was. Every season we do a complete overhaul. Over the years, we’ve probably put 600 to 700 unique items on the menu.”

That’s because Benstock prefers not to repeat dishes if he can help it, instead letting peak-season ingredients guide his creativity.

“My passion gets relit every season because you get new ingredients,” he remarks. “That’s something to get excited about—the ingredients themselves. I also have a lot of talented guys in the kitchen who have ideas and are coming up with stuff. They’re coming to me like, ‘Hey, I want to do something like this.’ We talk it through, then we make it, taste it, tweak it…sometimes we do that 10, 20, 30 times. Their passion lights mine.”

His ever-evolving menu also isn’t confined to one region or cuisine.

“I bring to my food everything I’ve learned and experienced in the last 10 years of my career. I’m not making purely traditional Italian cuisine,” he notes. “You might see some Asian influences, French influences, Spanish influences. It’s really just my journey on a plate.”

That journey has earned Benstock many accolades, including a 2021 victory on Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay with his Short Rib Mezzaluna with truffle fonduta, an invitation to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City, a Golden Spoon Award and now Michelin recognition.

The aforementioned Mezzaluna, in fact, is the one dish you’ll always find on the menu.

“I think other people like calling it our signature dish more than me, because in my opinion it was a good example of who we were 12 years ago,” he admits. “I’ve thought about taking it off, but people here would go crazy if I did.”

For Benstock, food is less about a single dish and more about creating memorable connections.

“You can get ‘a meal’ anywhere,” he asserts. “I want to give them this incredible experience, instead of just, ‘Here’s a bowl of pasta.’ I want to blow their minds. Take our steak dish, for instance. It’s a complete experience. We have a beef tallow candle infused with rosemary garlic that we bring to the table before your steak comes out. It burns, then we bring out the steak, pour it over and we serve it with five different accoutrements. Then everyone at the table is talking about it and trying everything. That’s where the experience happens. You’re not just eating, it’s a conversation. ‘Oh, have you tried this? Have you tried that with this? Wow, that was incredible.’ And that experience becomes the reason you’re there.”

After nearly 12 years, Benstock says he’s never felt more satisfaction in the kitchen than right now—and he’s just getting started.