The French brasserie from Benu chef Corey Lee that opened a decade ago in Hayes Valley, Monsieur Benjamin, is set to close at the end of June, for undisclosed reasons.

Lee and the team posted a message about the closure on the restaurant website and on Instagram, saying that Monsieur Benjamin's last day of service will be Pride Sunday, June 29.

"It’s been a great run, but our ten year lease has come to an end and we’ve decided to close this location," the message says, giving thanks to patrons, staff, and suppliers.

Monsieur Benjamin entered the scene during a moment of peak restaurant mania in SF, at the height of the last tech boom, and it came with prices to match — notably higher than the city's many neighborhood French bistros, though the quality of the execution was high as well. Dishes like coq au vin, cassoulet, and steak frites all received special twists and upgrades from the kitchen, and the restaurant was known for a solid bar program as well.

"For a casual restaurant, we went to great lengths to cook everything from scratch, and source the same products we use at our fine-dining restaurant," the official statement says, adding, "We are proud and grateful to have been a fixture in the neighborhood, and a comforting restaurant for so many regulars."

It's notable that while Monsieur Benjamin survived for the past decade, through the burst of the tech bubble and the pandemic, another, even larger and more ambitious French brasserie that opened nearby in that same time period, Bon Marché in the Twitter building, barely lasted a year before calling it quits. (And another posh restaurant in the building, Dirty Water, which reportedly came with a $4 million buildout, also opened and shut pretty quick.)

The Chronicle notes that Chef de Cuisine Jason Berthold left the restaurant in 2019, about two years after the business was hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit — during a spate of such lawsuits across the restaurant industry. Berthold reportedly fired the kitchen supervisor named in the complaint.

Berthold now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and is the executive chef at a country club there.

Benu continues to hold three Michelin stars — one of only three restaurants in San Francisco to do so. And in 2021, Lee opened a third restaurant, the Korean barbecue-inspired San Ho Won in the Mission District, with chef-partner Jeong-In Hwang. San Ho Won now has one Michelin star.

The departure of Monsieur Benjamin leaves a second prominent vacancy in Hayes Valley's restaurant scene, with the former Jardiniere/Baia spot sitting vacant as well since March.

Photo via Instagram