Our Review of Restaurant Villegas

Last Friday Janna and I went out with my folks to Restaurant Villegas in Okemos. Villegas is owned by Chef Eric Villegas of PBS' "Fork in the Road" fame. Villegas focuses on contemporary Midwestern cuisine, the excitement that the chef has for food is apparent in all of the selections available at his restaurant.

Villegas has been in Okemos for around 10 years and yet it's one of the few places I haven't been in Okemos. Granted, I was in college and law school for most of that time and now I live in Grand Rapids so maybe it isn't a surprise. In any event, Villegas is inviting with contemporary and rustic decor. The restaurant does a lot with the odd space that it has been given, while it's somewhat narrow and tight fitting it's still welcoming.

Now down to our real business at hand, the food! I started my meal with a roasted pork soup. Chunks of pork, kidney beans and other vegetables are served in a wonderfully rich pork stock. This soup was a true delight as it's very rare to find a pork soup of any kind, much less one that is made with pork stock. For my main course I had smoked pork shoulder topped with a jalapeño cream sauce served with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and green beans. The pork shoulder was perfectly smoked and seasoned. I freely admit that I am not a fan of cream sauces and this one in particular added nothing to the meal. The Jalapeño cream sauce didn't have even the slightest hint of Jalapeño and didn't add anything to the meal. Thankfully, it was little more than a topper for the pork as opposed to a main part of the dish. The mashed potatoes were excellent, not to creamy which is exactly how I like them.

Janna had a lovely salad and macaroni and cheese. No, this isn't your blue box mac and cheese, this was high class mac and cheese. Janna said that it had a nice kick to it. My mother had this strange Quiche concoction that she said was quite good. My father went with the NY Strip steak with chili butter, mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. The steak was grilled perfectly and the chili butter provided a welcomed kick to this steak. The vegetables were grilled to perfection.

Now, one can't have such a nice dinner and not have desert. I had the crème brule which was absolutely perfect. The custard was set perfectly and the vanilla beans were pleasing to the eye and pallet. One always knows a good crème brule when the caramelized sugar crunches and did this crème brule ever crunch! Janna had a Verona chocolate cake which was perfectly chocolaty. The cake was moist and the frosting flavorful. I freely admit that I had more than a bite of her cake, the fact that I liked it says a lot since I really am not a fan of cake.

Restaurant Villegas is a wonderful place, the contemporary Midwestern cuisine is the best in the state. Eric Villegas has been putting together great menus for his place for a decade and it really shows. He's a top notch chef and a credit to the Lansing culinary scene. If anyone is going to Lansing anytime soon, I highly recommend Restaurant Villegas.