For Phil Rosenthal, there’s only one thing he loves more than food. It’s family. So he combined the two worlds with Max & Helen’s, a new diner that opened Tuesday with his daughter Lily Rosenthal.
The TV writer and foodie, who works with celebrity chef Nancy Silverton and his new son-in-law Mason Royal, spends a lot of time on Larchmont Boulevard in Los Angeles. And he has had a lease at 127 N. Larchmont for nearly 22 years.
“Years ago was the right time. It just takes years. It’s not easy in this city. There’s a lot of bureaucracy,” Phil said during an interview at Silverton’s other restaurant, Osteria Mozza in Hancock Park. “We’ve been under contract since 2004. It takes months just to get them to look at the plans, and then sometimes people change their minds. It’s like dealing with a studio.”
But Max & Helen’s, named after the late parents that viewers fell in love with on “Somebody Feeds Fill,” doesn’t have the Hollywood feel or the stuffy vibe of many restaurants in Los Angeles today.
“This is what happens when restaurants act like they’re really lucky to have you here, and I hate that. Hospitality should be the biggest part of the dining experience,” says Lily, the diner’s creative director. “You want to feel valued, and we’re so lucky that you, our guests, are spending your money on us. It may be really small things, but it’s attention to detail like that that really makes you feel like we care about you.”
She also hired staff, who were given the heavy responsibility of serving delicious food and helping to foster a community.
“This is about culture,” she added. “We’re trying to build a culture within Larchmont that’s not just about good food, but where you feel like you’re part of the community. That’s what it’s all about. So it takes a certain type of person to fill these roles.”
Phil Rosenthal is already well-known in the food industry thanks to 49 episodes of Somebody Feed Phil. He is also known for the fact that he spends his “every day in town” wandering around Larchmont, usually having coffee and breakfast at Go Get’m Tiger. But over the years of visiting and eating at some of the world’s best restaurants, one location in Season 8 stood out. It’s the famous Palace Diner restaurant in Biddeford, Maine.
“That’s something that stuck with me. I think it’s relatable. You remember when we found the best version of something we’ve loved our whole lives? It’s like ‘Rémy’s Ratatouille’ Ratatouille.’ You have that ideal version back in your childhood. It’s stronger than the food itself,” he says. “Diners are the heart of many communities. Rich, poor, and everyone in between can appreciate diners. Diners are disappearing from America, and with their disappearance we’ll probably lose our sense of community, and with it, we’ll probably lose our country. So we’re going to solve everything with diners.”
He’s smiling, but in a way he’s serious. “Think globally, act locally. This is literally our neighborhood. For me, it’s a way to show love to my neighbor. Now this is my hangout. It’s like how I was planning for my retirement.”
Larchmont is not cheap. In fact, it’s quite expensive. However, Phil and Lily promise that this is high quality and won’t come at an exorbitant price. “I’m going to make it as cheap as possible. I don’t do anything for the money, and I’ve never done it for the money,” he says. “It’s very important to me that it’s democratic with a small fee that most people can eat here. We’re committed to serving the cheapest coffee on the block.”
The menu includes drip coffee (but no espresso machine, so don’t expect a latte), two types of grilled cheese, an omelet of the day, and a selection of desserts including milkshakes, banana splits, and hot fudge sundaes. Additionally, Max’s Fluffy Eggs and Helen’s Matzo Ball Soup will also be featured in honor of their parents. There will also be a smoked salmon platter with sesame bagels from Courage Bagels, New Yorker Phil’s favorite bagel shop.
“It was no easy feat,” he says of collaborating with Courage. At first they said no, but he argued. “I said, ‘How about you, give me a bagel? We’re not going to do anything except heat it up. We’re not going to make sandwiches. The platter comes separately. They said, ‘You can have a sesame bagel.'” I said, “That’s great!”
However, not everyone always agreed on the menu. And there was one item he discussed with Silverton. The acclaimed chef decided that he didn’t need a burger because he wanted his patty to be melt-in-your-mouth. he pushed back. “That was a big point of contention,” Lily laughs.
“I said, ‘This is a diner, you have to have a hamburger.’ In her opinion, everyone else was having a hamburger. We went back and forth, and she said, ‘Taste how the patty melts.’ I tried tasting it. It was the best patty melt I’ve ever had in my life,” Phil recalls. “As soon as I swallowed, I said, ‘I still need a burger.’ My other point is that she happens to make the best burgers I’ve ever had.”
So the menu also includes burgers, hot dogs, and Max & Helen’s Not for Me hot sauce, the latter of which, according to Lily, is “for both the spice-loving and the slightly wary.”
Lily Rosenthal and husband Mason Royal
Working at the diner is Lily’s first foray into the restaurant world, and she’s learning everything she can.
“I used to just go to places that my dad would take me to. But now I’m married to a chef, and he runs this culinary operation, and I was able to sit up front and learn the whole process inside out. I was able to learn how much work and dedication it takes from behind the scenes to create what we see when we go out to eat. That’s all I want to do now: open a restaurant,” she says.
Now she dreams of opening other restaurants. Her father agreed, saying, “I want to be a VIP.”
And yes, they’re already thinking ahead and are hopeful they might eventually be able to open another Max & Helen’s in New York.
“We’d be very happy if this could grow into a big national diner chain. That would be great. But for now, we have to focus on getting this 100 percent right, because the worst thing you can do is get too big too fast,” Lilly says. “So the priority is to make sure this is perfect.
Let’s try one more time and see what happens after that, Phil added. “The quality of this work has to be maintained. I’ve seen it happen where restaurants that I’ve invested in start to get stretched too thin. The first thing that happens is the quality goes down. When I was making ‘Raymond,’ I got an offer that said, ‘Hey, do you want to make another show?’ “No, really not. I’m writing this show. This is important, this. Let’s make this good, and then we’ll talk later.”
Don’t expect Max and Helen’s “Somebody Feed Phil.” I told him that even though the title itself, “Phil Feeds Somebody,” is. But he wants to take it up on another show.
“What I would be happy to embrace is a documentary series about diners, exploring America’s great diners, exploring the idea of community, and showing how diners are made in four to six episodes,” he says. “It’s not just about food, it’s about something bigger.”
Max and Helen’s Diner is now open at 127 N. Larchmont Blvd. In Los Angeles.
