Views without a Room: Skies and Benton’s close tonight
You still press the “B” button on the express elevator in the lobby of the Westin Crown Center Hotel to get to the restaurant on the 19th floor.
That dining room has been, for the last 17 years, a steakhouse named after artist Thomas Hart Benton; there have been several incarnations of the name, most recently Benton’s Prime Steakhouse. After tonight, the 12 signed Thomas Hart Benton prints that have hung in the venue for over two decades will return to their original owner (a trust that had the art on loan to the restaurant). More than a dozen longtime employees, including chefs, servers, bartenders and manager Brent Grider, will move on to other jobs in the two Crown Center hotels — the Westin and the former Hyatt — now both operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Starwood will rebrand the Hyatt as a Sheraton Hotel in January.
Tomorrow morning, at 8 a.m., Grider — general manager of Benton’s for the last four years — starts his new job as general manager of Milano, the Italian restaurant in the Crown Center complex. The Benton’s head bartender moves downstairs to the Brasserie restaurant, which will become the only restaurant operating in a hotel that once boasted three of the snazziest dining rooms in the city: Benton’s, the Brasserie, and Trader Vic’s.
Today marks the end of an era.
