About

We built Your Neighborhood Restaurant Group from humble beginnings. Ben was running a butcher shop when he met Jason, who was operating a supper club out of his backyard. The butcher shop became Simpatica Dining Hall in 2004, and David came on as a partner in 2006. In 2008, our down-to-earth steak house and butcher shop, Laurelhurst Market, was born. Hawaiian plate lunches came in 2009 with Ate-Oh-Ate, followed by smoked meats at Reverend’s BBQ in 2014. That same year, Benny Bettinger became the chef at Laurelhurst Market, leading up to his version of Alabama-style chicken at Big’s Chicken in 2017. Our most recent creation, Sandy-O's, arrived in 2023 with sandwiches, burgers and subs. In 2019, Benny Bettinger became a full partner in Your Neighborhood Restaurant Group.

We’ve stayed humble. We create fun restaurants inspired by who we are and where we came from. Reverend’s BBQ was inspired by the BBQ and fried chicken of Jason’s hometown, St. Louis, and Ate-Oh-Ate came about after a trip to Hawaii, where Ben grew up. With all our spots, our mission is simple: to create a great neighborhood restaurant. (We even put it in our name!) We’re not trying to redesign the wheel; we’re still line cooks at heart, dedicated to building restaurants that fulfill our passion for food and community.

Our employees are the people that make it all happen, and it’s important to us to take care of them. We provide our back-of-the-house employees with free health and dental coverage, and start all employees at a highly competitive wage. We’re proud to create great neighborhood restaurants and a great place for people to work.

—Benjamin Dyer, David Kreifels, Jason Owens, and Benjamin Bettinger