Saltie Girl’s Sweetboy: The Supremely Original Baked Goods of Ben Sidell
Fresh out of the oven, shards of dark and milk Valrhona chocolate dance through the cookie. A thick, crispy, chewy crust hugs an ooey, gooey center that practically melts. It’s all finished with a perfect pinch of Maldon sea salt that makes the cookie’s caramelized brown sugar base pop. When you order this miracle, it’s presented on a pedestal because “she deserves it,” according to its creator, Ben Sidell.
Fresh out of the oven, shards of dark and milk Valrhona chocolate dance through the cookie. A thick, crispy, chewy crust hugs an ooey, gooey center that practically melts. It’s all finished with a perfect pinch of Maldon sea salt that makes the cookie’s caramelized brown sugar base pop. When you order this miracle, it’s presented on a pedestal because “she deserves it,” according to its creator, Ben Sidell.
Ben is the founder of Sweetboy, a pop-up bake shop, and the pastry chef at Sunset Strip’s new seafood spot, Saltie Girl. His mom, Kathy Sidell, opened Saltie Girl’s new West Hollywood location following the success of its Boston flagship. That perfect pinch of Maldon on his cookie is the same salt you’ll notice incorporated into nearly all of Saltie Girl’s dishes and prominently displayed on their elegant tinned fish boards, which have become a celebrated staple of the restaurant. A trip to Portugal about a decade ago inspired Kathy to bring the seemingly mundane concept to her restaurants and elevate it. Ben says there’s something about the tins that feels “futuristic yet also like a throwback.” Hovering around 160 varieties ranging anywhere from habanero smoked oysters and mackerel with lemon capers to octopus in a paprika sauce, Saltie Girl is one of the prime destinations for tinned fish, or ‘conservas’, in the U.S.
“We imagined versions of wonderful classic New England dishes,” he says. “From our clam chowder to our lobster roll. I felt like it would be very, very cool to take classic desserts that we all know and love and find a way to reimagine them for today.”
With acting degrees from USC and Harvard, baking wasn’t exactly Ben’s expected career path, but he’s not that surprised that it’s become his full-time job.
“I knew that I would most likely be involved in the restaurant industry to a certain extent,” he says. “It really feels like it's in my blood.”
His grandfather was a banker in Boston and one of the first people to invest in restaurateurs in the city. His aunt owned her own restaurant on Boston’s famed Newbury Street. Working there was Ben’s first job, becoming familiar with the ins and outs of the business and learning to cook and bake from a very young age.
Cut to March of 2020 – our world was shutting down and acting opportunities were practically nonexistent. During that confusing time, Ben searched for a way to spread joy in the world, coming back to his roots.
“I'm a firm believer,” he says. “Of pursuing as many paths as possible because you never know what ends up happening or helping along the way.”
His first opportunity with Sweetboy came when a friend asked for some of his cookies after posting photos of them online. To Ben’s astonishment, actress Busy Phillips posted about them to her millions of social media followers, leading to hundreds of orders in his DM’s.
“I was like, well, I guess I have a business here,” and Sweetboy took off. For the next three years, Ben would wake up while it was still dark to whip up batches upon batches of cookies, then drive to every corner of the LA area to hand deliver them.
What pushes Ben even more than his work ethic and obsession of “The Great British Bake Off,” is his admiration for his mom. He describes her as “fierce” and a “strong badass woman.” Kathy was a film and tv producer for decades before becoming a restaurateur in her second act. Her journey gave him reason to believe he could carve a similar but distinct path too.
It took countless rounds of trial and error for Ben to create his most memorable treat (calling them simply a chocolate chip cookie is a criminal understatement). His theme of reimagining classic desserts also holds for his toffee-glazed, pull-apart sweet buns or, as Ben likes to call them, a cinnamon bun’s “sassy little sister.”
“We're so used to seeing buns fat and wide, rolled up,” he says. “(I thought) what if they were tall and elegant?”
While perfecting his recipe, he stumbled onto a tall springform pan in his pantry and had some fun with it.
“It was a happy accident,” he says. “They came out like gorgeous, glorious crowns. It looked like a mini castle. And I was like, well, I've never seen that before.”
Ben has since added some variations to his sweet bun lineup, like a pistachio sweet bun, a birthday cake sweet bun, and a salty everything bun that’s served alongside one of a myriad of caviar selections.
While Sweetboy chocolate chip cookies and sweet buns are the crown jewels of the pop-up, the Sweetboy at Saltie Girl menu is seasonal. Its opening menu late last year featured a yuzu persimmon tart. Soon, you may see a raspberry shortcake and a hot honey peach tart with honeycomb ice cream. Ben is confident all of his development at Saltie Girl will lead to opening his own brick-and-mortar commissary some day while still servicing Saltie Girl’s dessert menu.
“I feel really lucky to have Saltie Girl as a testing ground to see what works for my business.”
Although Ben and Kathy’s relationship has entered a new chapter since she became his boss, he’ll always view her as best friend and greatest collaborator.
“When my sister and I were kids, every night before we went to sleep, my mom would play a game of free association with us, which would basically ignite our imagination,” Ben says. “That is very emblematic of our dynamic as creators together. I have an idea and then she brings it to the next place, and then I bring it to the next place, and then all of a sudden it's fully evolved.”
