{"id":803619,"date":"2026-05-17T20:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803619\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T20:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:54:20","slug":"award-winning-benjies-munch-was-inspired-by-a-hollywood-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/803619\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning Benjie\u2019s Munch was inspired by a Hollywood film"},"content":{"rendered":"

Benjie De Los Santos did not figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up until after he turned 50.<\/p>\n

More than a decade later, he\u2019s got a sandwich shop, two food trucks that bear his name and a pile of awards. De Los Santos has won multiple San Antonio Grilled Cheese Festivals, claimed honors for his barbacoa tacos and earned raves for his chicken sandwich at Benjie\u2019s Munch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A first-time customer once remarked, \u201cIt\u2019s just a sandwich.\u201d To which De Los Santos replied, \u201cWell, yeah, but take a bite and tell me what you think.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The customer became a regular. Benjie\u2019s Munch has lots of them. Unique creations with knock-out flavors bring people back again and again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who else makes a grilled cheese with melted mozzarella and provolone, spinach artichoke dip and bacon between two slices of butter-toasted sourdough? Who else makes a chicken sandwich with red onion jam, pickled jalapeno slices, arugula and cilantro ranch dressing?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cI just like to play with food,\u201d De Los Santos said. \u201cI try to hit textures and flavors and presentations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Burgers are cooked and assembled on the flat top grill in the Benjie\u2019s Munch kitchen with toppings like fried eggs, candied jalape\u00f1os and plenty of cheese slices. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

He hits them so well one customer visited every Saturday for a year to try every item on the ever-evolving menu<\/a>. Then he started going through the menu again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019d have been able to do this a long time ago,\u201d said De Los Santos, 63. \u201cI\u2019d be on a beach somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Los Santos spent the better part of 35 years moving from job to job. He washed dishes at Luby\u2019s at 15, worked as a line cook at Olive Garden, managed a since-closed Fajita Junction and held a variety of jobs at several restaurants in San Antonio and Dallas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one point, De Los Santos sold insurance. After six months, he quit. <\/p>\n

Later, he spent eight years with the food-services company Sodexo<\/a>. His career changed in 2014 after he and his wife, Dawn De Los Santos, saw \u201cChef,\u201d<\/a> a film about a celebrity chef who quits a restaurant and finds a new career in an unlikely kitchen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dawn said, \u201cYou should do that.\u201d Benjie complied, cashed in his 401(k) and, like the protagonist in \u2018Chef\u2019,\u201d opened a food truck.<\/p>\n

\"\"Benjie De Los Santos looks over his catering and food truck schedule for the week of May 11 that is posted for him and his staff to see as they prepare in the Benjie\u2019s Munch kitchen. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

With hand-crafted sandwiches and sauces made from scratch, the concept became an instant hit. With a nod to Jon Favreau<\/a>, the lead character in \u201cChef,\u201d Benjie included a Cuban sandwich on his menu. With help from Dawn, the finance manager, son Diego, and parents Benny and Stella De Los Santos, a new career was launched and a run of good fortune followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2016, Benjie\u2019s Munch won the Barbacoa & Big Red Festival. In 2017, Benjie opened a brick-and-mortar on Bitters Road. In 2018 and 2019, Benjie\u2019s Munch won the San Antonio Grilled Cheese Festival and the awards kept coming, filling an entire wall of the restaurant.<\/p>\n

Ask Benjie to name his favorite item on the menu and he\u2019ll look at you in disbelief. That would be like asking parents to pick a favorite child. They love them all. What he\u2019ll tell you is this: So many people say his chicken sandwich is the best they\u2019ve ever eaten, he\u2019s renamed it, \u201cBest Chicken Sandwich Ever.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

One reason for the sandwich\u2019s popularity is the meat: sliced chicken with cracker crumb breading dipped in buttermilk. Another is the jalape\u00f1o slices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Benjie\u2019s Munch owner Benjie De Los Santos works in the kitchen at his restaurant on May 12, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cI want jalape\u00f1os on every part of the bottom bun,\u201d Benjie said. \u201cIt\u2019s got to hit all the right points and flavor profiles. One bite is going to be the same as the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjie\u2019s commitment to uniform taste and flavoring stems from a health crisis. Many years ago, he weighed more than 400 pounds. Gastric sleeve surgery reduced the size of his stomach and enabled him to lose 150 pounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI can only eat half a sandwich,\u201d he said. \u201cI want every bite to count.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

So does Diego, 28. He started in high school as a food truck helper and rose to restaurant manager. When the father retires, the son will take over. The future excites him.<\/p>\n

\"\"Diego De Los Santos, Benjie\u2019s son, works front of house at the Benjie\u2019s Munch restaurant on May 12, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cThe growth has been crazy,\u201d Diego said. \u201cI mean, we\u2019re just blessed that everyone has supported us. After people eat here for the first time, they say, \u2018Oh my gosh, I want to try everything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Diego has known his future for years. As a 15-year-old at Clark High School, Benjie didn\u2019t know what he wanted to be when he grew up. He just knew he needed a job. So he began washing dishes, earned an associate degree at St. Philip\u2019s College and spent three decades trying to figure life out.<\/p>\n

One day, he stepped into a theater, and when he came out, his future became clear. A film about a struggling chef would launch a career as a chef and restaurateur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benjie De Los Santos did not figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up until…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":803620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,70009,327155,327156,327157,3596,160301,7202,7203,282507,59297,358,7453,3187,7593,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,20705],"class_list":{"0":"post-803619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-barbacoa-big-red-festival","10":"tag-benjie-de-los-santos","11":"tag-benjies-munch","12":"tag-best-chicken-sandwich-ever","13":"tag-chef","14":"tag-jon-favreau","15":"tag-san-antonio","16":"tag-sanantonio","17":"tag-sodexo","18":"tag-st-philips-college","19":"tag-texas","20":"tag-top-story","21":"tag-tx","22":"tag-typefeature","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa","29":"tag-wc-750-1000"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116591910822532385","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}