Benchmark Visited 3/10/2012 2 Forks

Benchmark 339-A 2nd St., (between 4th Ave & 5th Ave), Brooklyn, NY 11215

It has been about 1 1/2 years since I left Park Slope and there are tons of things that I really miss about that neighborhood.  But the one thing that I don't miss is the lack of good brunch places.  Apparently not too much has changed on that front.  I found myself back in the 'hood after getting my taxes done with Aarti and we decided to get something to eat.  Despite all the new places that we saw, we decided to stick with a tried and true place of Stone Park Cafe but it was a 30 minute wait.  So we decided to walk around and see what else was good nearby.  We stumbled upon Benchmark and I had remembered seeing it when I had lived there but never tried it out.  The outside is this super cute patio but since it was cold, there was no one out there.  So the actual restaurant is all the way inside the alleyway and it was like this little cottage tucked away off the street but it also looked like there was no one around.  At first we were a bit hesitant but after peaking inside, we saw a bunch of people dining and felt a bit better about trying it out. 

The brunch menu is a pretty standard brunch menu for the area: 3 egg omelettes, steak and eggs, benedicts, burger, etc.  They also had a pretty good looking 2 course menu for $14.  I opted for the 2 course special and got the Goat's milk yogurt with granola and fruit and the crabcake benedict.  Aarti got the eggs florentine ($12).  I generally mock those who get granola at breakfast because it seems like something you can just make at home yourself.  But the other "appetizers" on the menu weren't that appealing to me: seasonal lettuce or gazpacho.  The yogurt was actually pretty good - it was like Greek yogurt, it was thick and sour, but I love that kind of yogurt so that was a nice way to start the meal.  So I was excited to get my crabcake benedict.  Sadly it was a bit of a disappointment.  The benedict looked good from the onset with lots of hollandaise sauce and a pretty good poached egg.  But after my first bite I realized that the crabcake consisted of lots of filler and very little actual crabmeat.  Mixed with a very thick english muffin, all I could taste was bread/carbs.  Even with all the hollandaise sauce and yolk, I just couldn't muster a lot of love for the dish.  The potatoes were totally fine -- pretty much like your standard brunch potatoes. 

What I did like about the place was the service and it was a super cute restaurant.  I can see how once the sun comes out, eating on the patio here would be a nice experience, but hopefully they will step up the food before that happens.  Total bill: $19/pp with tip and tax

Photo Credit: Yelp