Benchmark American Brasserie — Restaurant in Texarkana

Last night, I insisted Eric (my hubby) take me to Benchmark American Brasserie for my birthday dinner because they have a superior vegan menu. I am not purely vegan; I consider myself vegetarian 🌱 and #chefbecky‘s food is phenomenal.

Y’all. I cannot tell you how many times I have given 🍆 eggplant parmigiana a try. I’ve tried it at 3-4 difference places and I’m always disappointed. I thought “Okay. You don’t like eggplant parm. It’s fine.”

I’ve eaten at Benchmark 2x in the last week, eating my way thru their vegan menu of Pineapple Fried Rice 🍍 (excellent) and Sweet Potato Tacos 🌮 🍠 (also excellent) and last night, when Chase, our devoted and dedicated server, asked me what I was thinking about and I said “I’m vegetarian”, he immediately suggested the Eggplant Parm. I hesitated, he noticed and assured me it was very good. I decided to give it one more try.

Eric and I started our 4 course dining experience with an item from the specialty menu:

🍤 Baja Shrimp Sope 🦐 Lightly fried masa Sope topped with guacamole, marinated shrimp, drizzled with chipotle ranch and topped with pineapple-coconut Pico de Gallo.

It is the only photograph I have to share (besides dessert) because I was HANGRY when I arrived and I smashed everything put in front of me immediately.

Next, I throughly enjoyed the been-on-the-menu-since-we-opened Blue Goat salad

🐐 Blue Goat Salad 🥗 Mixed greens,red onion, sliced pears, dried cranberries and toasted almonds, tossed in our black-rose vinaigrette, topped with fried blueberry goat cheese.

YUM. I have had it 2x in the last week and I’ll have it again. And again. And again. Damn Becky.

We also enjoyed 2 à la carte sides with our salad course:

🥕 Cayenne-honey Butter Carrots baby carrots sautéed in a cayenne-honey butter

🌱 Shaved Brussel Sprouts Sautéed with salt & pepper

Zoom 🏎️ 💨 G-O-N-E

🌟 For the MAIN COURSE 🌟 Eric woofed down the

🦆 Canard de Cassis 🦆 Seared duck breast topped with a sweet & savory red currant sauce, served with potatoes Romanoff and cayenne-honey butter glazed carrots 🥕

And I tried the 🍆 Eggplant Parm 🍝

Herb breaded pesto rubbed eggplant, deep fried, topped with arrabbiata and drizzled with a balsamic glaze over a bed of orecchiette tossed in arrabbiata with wilted spinach

😭 I almost cried when I took my first bite. It was absolutely HEAVENLY 😇 and I couldn’t talk for a moment. I was convinced I just didn’t like eggplant and Chef Becky’s God-Inspired creation had made a believer out of me 🙏🏾 ✨

I ate every single thing on my plate. Except the tiny bite I offered Eric, who commented “I didn’t think I was going to get any.”

Bro, you almost didn’t 😂

And to make this experience OVER-THE-TOP, we were surprised with dessert 🧁 🍨

I didn’t think I could— be we did. And I left nothing behind. 😋 🤤

This experience couldn’t have been any better. This was the best meal I’ve had, ever. Periodt.

Every single thing raise my expectation of what food should taste like. I am so thankful for Chef Becky and her husband Jason and all the wonderful and amazing staff at Benchmark. Can’t wait to experience the opening of Café Lucille 🎉 🥳

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 WORTH IT 💫 💫 💫 💫...

My dish was The Kabayaki Salmon in mild temp but which was perfectly cooked and laid upon a bed of risotto that needed salting in my opinion. My wife stole my mushrooms! For they are her passionate pallet delight and loved them! The mixed veggies on the side, excape my thought, I'll have to return sometime and try another dish with the relatively same sides.

My wife received her order of Yard Bird, here things went South, like Cajun south in which I heard in her words. "The broccoli had NO SALT." -No salt was on the table- "Pepper, pepper, pepper" to the point it would be considered obnoxious and destroying the chicken flavors. Had great potential, just too much pepper(jus) and absolutely no salt on the broccoli. -No table salt available on table-

Desert was declined by my wife, but I wanted more to scope so there was a disclosure by our waitress of, ....hoping I recall it correctly, a Lime In A Coconut.

A pan roasted shaved coconut built a nest for a brown macaroon pastry egg filled with a refreshing lime yogurt like filling inside. The pastry was a tad over done but the difficulty in itself was respectful.

In closing, we met Jason (owner) and if you ever dine there he as in himself was pleasant and appreciated. We find the focus of direction of the business and it fits and I must say he's in tough spot hidden in the corner and not north centre of prime. He himself makes it extremely difficult to lose one star on this review, but it is our first visit and we will return, I must have more.

A person does not have to wear uptight business apparel, not even to the point of a dress shirt, we stumbled in from desperation of a lazy Red Lobster and Dirty Could Care Less Chili's, we were going to give up, didn't really want Verona's, not that the food is bad just not in that 'mood'. We gave up, still wanting good food, clean place with decent service, we went simpler and chosen Reggie's Burgers....they were closing in 20 minutes. I remembered Benchmark over in the corner location from eating at Dixie Diner, not wanting Dixie, we found a place to dine instead.

Out of all, given if we had salt at the table I would rate a solid 4.5 for the focused market of intention.

The...

This was our first time at Benchmark. Great atmosphere & service, and all the food looked great too; I would rate the food tonight a 3.5. I tried the NY Strip with garlic & pepper sauce. Both the Strip steak and the Ribeyes were cooked perfectly. I had the Onion Soup as an appetizer. Good size and good taste. Who doesn't love melted Swiss cheese! A few too many croutons and not enough broth for me, but the taste was very good. The Gouda Bacon Mac had a large portion size but tasted a little floury, which overpowered the Gouda. The bacon was cooked perfectly, but there is never enough bacon for me.

The guys both had Ribeye with watermelon salad. Though I didn't try the steak, both of them raved about it. The yellow watermelon & cucumber salad in vinagrette was amazing, with just the right amount of tangy & sweet.

To top our off, we all had the Bourbon Bread Pudding. Topped with soft Italian meringue, pecans, and struesel, it was soooo good and not too sweet. It would have been perfect if it had been served in a bowl with some milk on the side to pour over it. (Okay, that might sound strange, but it's what we did growing up.)

Many excellent dinner choices and 70s music that was not too loud. Be sure to sit in Kayla's section - outstanding server!There is a lot to like about Benchmark....