Fabrice Benezit has quite a following.
We’re not talking about the 15 cooks working for the Cannes, France, native at The Charleston Place where the sweets department stays busy 22 hours a day. Or the chefs at Sorelle, the Broad Street hotspot whose dessert program is curated by Benezit.
We’re referring to his Instagram entourage of nearly 150,000 followers. His fans are hungry for Benezit’s pastry pictures and videos set to cheerful music. From posting photos of a passion fruit mousse with Champagne gelée to film of his three dogs — two bullmastiffs and one shih tzu — Benezit is balancing building an audience with his daily duties at the restaurants.
Social media’s influence is undeniable in this day and age. Across the state, the allure of TikTok, Instagram and Facebook fame is tightening its grip on restaurants. Today, 97 percent of consumers use at least one social media platform, a Datassential study found. And over half of consumers consult social media for food news and restaurant advice.
“It’s a fun page,” said Benezit, who seeks help with posts when he’s busy in the kitchen. “I’ve been lucky people have been following me for so many years.”
Fabrice Benezit.
Provided
The French food that inspired the chef was all over social media during the Olympics in Paris. There were the muffins that took TikTok by storm, videos of U.S. gymnastics team members reviewing the spread in the Olympic Village and gymnast Giorgia Villa’s viral photoshoot with wheels of Parmesan cheese.
France’s food scene shifted for the games, too, by opening about 80 temporary pop-up restaurants for the weeks-long competition. Throughout the games, the country’s leaders wanted to draw even more attention to its culinary traditions and the multicultural country it has become, according to a New York Times report ahead of the opening ceremony. Social media played a role in spreading the word.
Visitors to the country have probably noticed that Paris’s pastry scene is in the midst of a renaissance with a group of young, diverse owners who are shifting the mold of what French desserts should look and taste like. Benezit is contributing to that conversation in Charleston, showcasing his ability to keep up with the times — online and in the kitchen — while still stressing tradition and technique.
Benezit remembers visiting a nearby bakery for treats when he was growing up. He would watch the pastry chef working with passion and a smile on his face. From an early age, Benezit had found his calling.
He trained in France; first as an apprentice at a French bakery and later at the Escoffier Culinary Management School. Since moving to the U.S. 13 years ago, he’s led pastry programs at prestigious hotels in Washington, D.C., Florida and Hawaii. The Charleston Place hired him in July 2023.
Fabrice Benezit created this cigar-shaped dessert at Charleston Grill.
Right now, his sweets are served at three venues: The Palmetto Cafe and Charleston Grill at The Charleston Place and Sorelle, Michael Mina’s Italian restaurant on Broad Street. All three restaurants are owned by Ben Navarro’s Beemok Hospitality Collection, which will open The Cooper Hotel next year. Benezit plans to lead the dessert program at that waterfront property and its five planned dining destinations.
That’s a lot of sweets, but Benezit still has time to experiment. His four desserts at Charleston Grill lean classically French and rotate throughout the year. Right now, one is made to look like a cigar with chocolate ganache and squid ink meringue giving it dark shades of brown and black.
Benezit’s experience cooking with his Italian grandmother has made him a good fit at Sorelle, where he often fashions plates during service.
A dessert by Fabrice Benezit
Provided
“Chef Fabrice is a master of laminated dough,” said Sorelle executive chef Nick Dugan. “His chocolate croissant is remarkable.”
Among his other creations is a dessert called the Limone, a sweet clone of a whole lemon. The Meyer citrus masterpiece is made without a mold, using lemon curd, sorbet and a little cream to sweeten the skin, which is candied for five hours.
That’s what we call Instagram-worthy.