Old Village Hall – Lanesboro, MN

I spent the day on Sunday riding my bike from Harmony Minnesota to Houston Minnesota following the Root River Bike Trail. If you enjoy biking, it does not get much better.
After the 55 mile ride, we stopped in Lanesboro and had dinner at the Old Village Hall Restaurant. Needless to say I needed to take in some calories. If you are in Lanesboro, don’t miss this place.
www.Oldvillagehall.com

What a wonderful little place this is. It is a small town restaurant that understands good food. Old Village Hall is unpretentious, home cooking with a fine dining flare. The food is very fresh. They feature regional ingredients when possible. I noticed on their web site that they feature multi-course special menus etc. It appears that they have seasonal dining events. We ordered off the standard menu. I started with the Mixed Greens with marinated beets, goat cheese and toasted walnuts topped with a honey balsamic vinaigrette. The salad was light and fresh, though I found the beets to be undercooked. Not a deal breaker. I think if the pieces were smaller it would have been better. The Vinaigrette was good. One of my fellow diners ordered the soup of the day which was an asparagus leek soup. It was outstanding.

For the main course I chose the Pistachio crusted porterhouse pork chop with an ancho chili mustard sauce served with a wild rice pilaf and sautéed vegetables. This was also really good. The pork was perfectly cooked. It was tender and juicy. I expected the sauce to be spicy, it was more on the sweet and tangy side. A very nice companion to the pork. The rice and sautéed asparagus were also good. Sometimes I find wild rice to be a bit bland. Theirs was seasoned properly. I also ordered a glass of the Mark West Pinot Noir. It paired well with my salad and entrée. Though it was very clear that this bottle may have been opened the day before or had been sitting open for a while.

My fellow diners enjoyed the Oven roasted jerk rubbed Atlantic salmon with a pomegranate sauce served with a sweet potato and corn hash and the Grilled hand cut beef tenderloin topped with a green peppercorn demi glace served with gorgonzola cheese mashed Yukon potatoes and sautéed vegetables. Both reported that these dishes were excellent.

None of us were in a dessert mood. So we skipped it. I am sure it would have been good.

Service was fine though a little inexperienced. The server was very nice but a bit slow and disorganized. They mixed up our first courses and entrees.

All in all I think this is a great little spot to dine. The food is good, service is unpretentious and you can get a nice bottle of wine. The perfect end to a day hiking or biking.