June 3, 2025 – There’s a great moment in a special Monterey Bay installment of KQED’s popular “Check Please!” series when host Leslie Sbrocco chants, “I love lumpia!!”
She’s not alone in her affections, which is one reason why the team behind the lumpia that inspired her outburst, The Butter House in Seaside, is adding a second restaurant called Benny Walker’s in downtown Monterey—with similar strengths and its own identity.
Emphasis on *one* reason, and *its own* identity.
Other reasons to love on The Butter House include, but aren’t limited to, epic indulgent daily specials on the dry erase board, pork belly fried rice, award-winning fried chicken, shrimp-and-cheddar grits, pork chile verde Benedicts, lemon-curd-and-blueberry pancakes and, yes, butter. (Note the lettering on the open floor plan of TBH that reads “Everyone loves butter!”)
In the “Check Please!” episode, the guest/flavor ambassador who presented Butter House as a great place to eat, local administrative assistant Kim Lammie, also cited the inventive specials, chicken and waffles, cinnamon rolls and a welcoming atmosphere.
BTW, Leslie Sbrocco, the lumpia are excellent, and that gets at the familial feel of the place, which welcomes a rich diversity of ages, backgrounds and appetites.
The recipe belongs to Ben’s grandma and represents one he’s been making since he was tall enough to reach the wrappers on the counter.
Other guests also gave ringing endorsements of the lumpia, with one buying a TBH “Lumpia” t-shirt because he was so into them.
The new spot will occupy the former Britannia Arms at 444 Alvarado St. in downtown Monterey, which represents a homecoming of sorts for husband and wife owners Ben and Susan Mosqueda, who met as neighbors on Spaghetti Hill and worked together at Crown & Anchor.
The Butter House formula works so well that I figured the second venture would replicate the prescription.
And it will, partly, channeling the Cali-Americana + Filipino flair flavor on the plate, a focus on employee synergy, and the emphasis on warm vibes in the room.
Ben describes a “family-fun restaurant that has a bar,” with specialty cocktails—they have already secured a liquor license, which made their beverage program pop in Seaside—while staying food-forward with additional cross-continental inspiration.
He’s workshopping items like chicharron-crusted deviled eggs, chicken fried ribs, “Spaghetti Hill spaghetti,” and La Scala-inspired chopped salad.
“New food, new methods, local produce,” he says, then hesitates before teasing an intended focus. “Also, Alvarado doesn’t have a barbecue joint.”
The design architect and contractors are already at work, and the optimistic open date is early December—”an early Christmas gift,” Ben says—the more conservative (realistic?) timeline being early 2026.
There have been some milestone plot developments that deliver this hospitality pair to this new adventure.
Among them:
1) On-boarding Butter House GM/Benny Walker’s partner Jeff Walters, a longtime industry pro and corporate restaurant manager who sought the sort of independently owned culture and ownership the Mosquedas cultivate—and now has a chance to expand it.
“It allows us to grow this team and grow this family,” he says.
2) The spontaneous experience, per Ben, of observing long lost friends rediscovering one another across the open floor plan of Butter House.
“They see each other, they hug, they remind us what we do is bigger than food,” he says.
3) The joy of a fresh challenge, relayed courtesy of Susan, who experienced a blend of relief, happiness and restlessness when adding Walters allowed more time for her and Ben to hang away from work.
“Bringing Jeff on gave us time to reunite away from The Butter House,” she says, adding that after a while she detected a hunger to spread their specific sort of comfort food.
“Throughout the years, we take pride in the fact that there is growth, even in a small business,” she says, “and it goes to show that if you come in and do good things, for us and our family of staff, there will be new opportunities to embrace.”
And, 4) Receiving the external validation from “Check Please!” that they’ve got something good cooking.
“That was a big moment,” Ben says. “We’re only five years into it, and I know the big dogs have been around for 25 or 30, but hopefully we can be the new longevity restaurant.”
Which is a hope, like a love for lumpia, that the growing tribe of Butter House fans share with enthusiasm.
More at The Butter House website; the Benny Walker’s site is under construction and will be updated here when live.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
