Is Benton scrumptious now?

Usually thumbing our noses on the suburbs is what we Little Rockers do greatest whereas maneuvering down Interstate 30 on the way in which to Sizzling Springs, and who can blame us? There’s loads to lodge grievances about within the Benton-Bryant belt, significantly as seen from the freeway: retail and architectural banality, an extra of gun outlets, an enormous billboard subsequent to an Applebee’s that shouts “WARNING: PREPARE TO MEET GOD.” Then once more, Benton gave us musical gem Adam Faucett. And NFL player-turned-zydeco legend Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes. And scenes in “Sling Blade” and “White Lightning.” And, we found lately, a brand new wave of fine eats, largely because of restaurateurs Craig Roe and Heather Baber-Roe. Should you’re heading westward and wish to skip the quick meals choices, listed here are a couple of spots we scouted in your eating pleasure.

Stephanie Smittle

ROBER: Cocktails + Culinary
302 W. South St.

ROBER’s tagline places cocktails forward of its meals, and its menu has precisely one web page of foremost meals choices adopted by 9 pages of drink decisions. There are flights of scotch and sipping rum and whiskey and wine and bourbon; wines by the glass and bottle and quart; and a refreshingly considerate record of nonalcoholic choices that features a non-alcoholic champagne — one thing we didn’t even know existed. None of meaning the eats aren’t good, thoughts you, but it surely does telegraph the restaurant’s intentions to flip the script in relation to socializing over a chew. The massive draw, because of a bevy of buzz on social media, is the bacon flight — an totally Instagrammable pound of pork stomach ready 4 methods after which displayed on a metallic stand embossed with the restaurant’s title, the slabs hanging vertically by metallic clips, to be whittled away at with an accompanying pair of shears. There’s a strip flavored with ancho pepper and espresso, one candied with brown sugar, one dipped in pistachio and Ghirardelli chocolate and — the star of the bunch, for my part — the Korean BBQ. Numerous as these choices are, you’re gonna wish to order one thing to interrupt up the porcine parade; we opted for the whipped feta with lemon and honey, and don’t have any regrets.

The downtown Benton spot is split into three areas: a glossy eating room with low lighting and high-backed furnishings, a comfortable bar and the Mary Ellen Lounge, a sitting space playfully and lovingly outfitted in homage to proprietor Heather Baber-Roe’s grandmother. Brubeck was on the field once we walked in, adopted later by a clean jazz model of “Saving All My Love For You,” each by some means completely befitting of ROBER’s persona.

Niecy’s
1016 W. South St.

With all due respect to the stalwart greasy spoon that’s Dan’s I-30 Diner, it’s cool that there’s a brand new child on the town — one whose menu boasts massive biscuits, chocolate gravy and a breakfast burrito to beat all breakfast burritos. Once we pulled off of Benton’s foremost drag right into a strip mall and entered this spacious diner, we noticed a tiny desk providing free Bibles and a 24-7 prayer hotline. Martina McBride’s “A Damaged Wing” was enjoying on the speaker overhead, to be adopted by “Cowboy Take Me Away” and “Daddy’s Arms,” no much less.

BIG BISCUIT: The Biscuit wall at Niecy’s.

The service was immediate, the usual two-egg breakfast was completely stable and the espresso, which Niecy’s brings in from J. Brooks in Memphis, was piping scorching. On our record for subsequent time: the scratch-made jelly rolls, the Thoughts Your Coconuts yogurt parfait or the quick stack. Proprietor Denise Whitworth, aka Niecy, labored for her nephew at close by Holy Curler Bike Store earlier than deciding to leap again into restaurant work; it’s clear that phrase has gotten out to Bentonians that Niecy’s is the place in your sit-down breakfast. (Grabbing donuts is one other deal completely; see Dale’s beneath.)

Jalapeno margarita and tacos at Baja Grill

Baja Grill
224 W. South St.

Should you’re in want of some eclectically stuffed tacos or an creative margarita, that is your spot on Benton’s South Road. Brightly lit and seemingly constructed for household outings by which the youngsters should be entertained however mother may wish to get a bit buzzed, it’s the B-side to ROBER’s elevated environs. Bonus factors for a couple of issues right here: a good mocktail menu together with nonalcoholic takes on a margarita and a mule; a strong choice of tequilas and mezcals; and a menu merchandise titled “My Pal Does Not Need Something,” a doubled portion of the small guacamole with two sides of queso.

Stephanie Smittle

Dale’s Donut Store
919 Navy Highway

Earlier than visiting Dale’s Donut Store, it was largely barbecue joints at which I’d noticed indicators that learn “Open ’til _____ or till we promote out.” However Dale’s Donuts has such an indication, and clearly the warning is warranted; after I arrived at 10:32 a.m. on a Wednesday in January, the donut case was properly picked over, bismarcks and blueberry cake being the clear unfavorites amongst working-class Bentonites (what offers, y’all?). Nonetheless, the crew was enthusiastic and the inside paid homage to the donut dive’s lengthy legacy on the town, with dozens of declarations affixed to the cinder block partitions with clear packing tape. “4-bag restrict on children’ free donut holes!” “No payments bigger than 20.00 accepted!” One doodle in marker signed by an Aimslee M. declared “Dale’s Donuts: Yum!,” every letter of the message in a special donut icing coloration. Yellowing newspaper articles from the Saline Courier instructed tales of the late Dale Atchley’s decades-long mission to maintain the individuals of Benton geared up with cinnamon rolls. An previous black-and-white photograph of two shirtless children holding an American flag was captioned “Mr. Dale and his brother Joe: Happy with Their Nation, ‘America.’ ” The cornflower blue siding that caps off an in any other case tavern-like constructing is, as a colleague famous, the stuff of David Lynch’s desires, and the absence of any computer systems on the entrance register leaves Dale’s significantly well-situated to maintain slinging donuts by the dozen within the occasion of a know-how apocalypse. You completely gained’t be ordering a macchiato, and also you gained’t miss it, both.

Stephanie Smittle

Valhalla Restaurant and Axe Throwing
224 W. South St.

Like a sports activities bar with out the deafening decibels, Valhalla shares a constructing with certainly one of its sister eating places, Baja Grill, and boasts its very personal axe throwing lounge upstairs.

Stephanie Smittle

The cocktail choices listed here are arguably far more inventive and complicated than they should be at this decidedly unfussy pizzeria: an elderflower-tinged margarita, a cinnamon whiskey and pear juice-based concoction referred to as “Develop A Pear” and a small however rotating native craft beer choice that bespeaks some beer experience, with choices from New Province Brewing Co., Flyway Brewing and Memphis’s Wiseacre Brewing.

Stephanie Smittle

In the meantime, Valkyrie Axe Throwing beckons patrons to hop up a flight of stairs, take a perfunctory tutorial and hurl a blade as quick as they’ll towards a corkboard bull’s eye. Once we have been there, a starry-eyed couple on a date was making full use of the alternatives axe throwing affords to flirt with a possible sweetheart; take word, would-be Valentine’s Day celebrators.

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