Inside Phil Rosenthal’s Diner Max & Helen’s: Larchmont’s new family spot

For Phil Rosenthal, there’s only one thing he loves more than food: his family. So he mixed the two worlds for Max & Helen’s, a new restaurant he opened on Nov. 18 with his daughter Lily Rosenthal.

Along with celebrity chef Nancy Silverton and his new son-in-law, Mason Royal, the television writer and food enthusiast spends much of his time at Larchmont in Los Angeles. And he has had a lease at 127 N. Larchmont for almost 22 years.

“Years ago, this was the right time. It just takes years. The city is not easy. There’s a lot of bureaucracy,” Phil says during our interview at another of Silverton’s restaurants in Hancock Park, Osteria Mozza. “We’ve had the lease since 2004. It takes months for them to look at your plans, and then sometimes they change their minds depending on the person. It’s like dealing with the studios.”

But Max & Helen’s, aptly named after his late parents, who audiences fell in love with in “Somebody Feed Phil,” won’t feel like Hollywood, and it won’t have the stuffy atmosphere that many LA restaurants seem to have these days.

“Something happens where restaurants have an attitude like you, the guests, are so lucky that we let you in here. I hate that. The best part of the dining experience should be the hospitality,” says Lily, who serves as the restaurant’s creative director. “You want to feel taken care of. We are so lucky that you, the guest, spend your money with us. It can be a very small detail, and it’s the attention to those details that really makes you feel like we care.”

She also hired the staff, who have a tough job: helping build community while serving delicious food.

“This is about culture,” she adds. “We’re trying to create a culture within Larchmont where not only is the food great, but you feel like you’re part of the community. That’s it. So it takes a specific type of person to fill those roles.”

Phil Rosenthal is already well known in the food industry, thanks to the 49 episodes of “Somebody Feed Phil” – and the fact that he spends “every day I’m in town” walking around Larchmont and usually having coffee and breakfast at Go Get ‘Em Tiger. But through the years of visiting and eating at some of the best restaurants in the world, one place from Season 8 stood out: Biddeford’s famous Palace Diner Restaurant in Maine.

“That one stuck with me. I think that’s relatable: when we find the best version of something we’ve loved all our lives, remember. It’s like ‘Ratatouille.’ You go back to your childhood and have the ideal version of it. It is stronger than just the food itself,” he says. “The restaurant is the center of many communities. Rich, poor, everyone in between can appreciate the restaurant. They are disappearing from America, and with that disappearance we may lose our sense of community, and with that we may lose the country. So we are going to solve everything with our restaurant.”

He laughs, but in a way he is serious. “Think globally, act locally. This is literally our neighborhood. For me, it’s a way to show love to our neighbors. It’s my meeting place now – it’s like I’ve planned my retirement.”

Larchmont isn’t exactly cheap, in fact, it’s quite pricey. But Phil and Lily promise this will be high quality without the crazy price tag. “It’s going to be as cheap as we can make it. I don’t do things for money, I never have,” he says. “For me it is very important that it remains democratic, with a small fee so that almost everyone can afford to eat here. I promise you that we will have the cheapest coffee in the area.”

The menu will include drip coffee (but no espresso machine, so don’t expect a latte), two different types of grilled cheese, an omelet of the day, and a plethora of desserts: milkshakes, banana splits, and hot fudge sundaes, etc. Additionally, Max’s fluffy eggs and Helen’s matzo ball soup will be featured in honor of his parents. There will also be a smoked salmon platter with a sesame bagel from Phil’s favorite bagel spot – yes, even as a New Yorker: Courage Bagels.

“That was no small achievement,” he says of the collaboration with Courage. At first they said no, but he responded. “I said, ‘How about you give us one bagel. We’re not going to do anything with it other than heat it up. We’re not even going to make the sandwich – the shell comes separately. They said, ‘You can have the sesame bagel.’ I said, ‘That’s the best!’”

But not everyone always agreed on the menu – and there was one item he discussed with Silverton. The acclaimed chef didn’t think a burger was necessary as she melts a patty. He pushed back. “It was a big bone of contention,” Lily laughs.

“I said, ‘It’s a restaurant. We have to have a burger.’ As far as she’s concerned, everyone has burgers. We went back and forth and she said, “Taste the patty melt.” I tasted it. The best patty melt I ever had in my life,” Phil recalls. “As soon as I swallowed, I said, ‘We still need a burger.’ My other argument is that she happens to make the best burger I’ve ever had.

So there’s also a hamburger, a hot dog, and Max & Helen’s Not for Me Hot Sauce on the menu, the latter of which Lily says is “for both people who like spice and are a little tired.”

For Lily, working at the restaurant is her first time in the restaurant world and learning everything she can.

“I would just go to the places my dad would take me. But now I’m married to a chef, and he’s in charge of this, and I’ve been able to sit in the front seat and learn the ins and outs of the process myself — how much work and dedication it takes from the back end to what we see when we go out to eat. This is all I want to do now: open restaurants,” she says.

Now she dreams of opening other restaurants. To this her father says: “I would like to be a VIP.”

And yes, they’re already thinking ahead, hoping that maybe they can eventually open another Max & Helen’s in New York.

“We would love if this could grow into a big, national restaurant chain. That would be great. But right now we need to focus on getting this 100% right because the worst thing you can do is get too big too fast,” says Lily. “So the priority is to make sure this is perfect.

One more and see how that goes, Phil adds. “The quality of this has to stay. I’ve seen it happen with restaurants I’ve invested in that start spreading themselves too thin. The first thing that happens is the quality goes down. I started getting offers when we were making ‘Raymond’: ‘Hey, do you want to make another show?’ ‘No, I really don’t. I write this show. This is important, this one. Let’s get this right, and then we can talk later. ”

Don’t expect to see Max & Helen’s in “Somebody Feed Phil,” even though, I tell him, the title “Phil Feeds Somebody” writes itself. But he would like to see it on another show.

“What I would be open to is a documentary series about the restaurant — just a four-to-six episode story about the making of our restaurant, as we explore the great diners of America and explore this idea of ​​community,” he says. “It’s about something bigger than just the food.”

Max and Helen’s Diner is now open at 127 N. Larchmont Blvd.