Mid-Michigan Dining

• 940 Elmwood Rd.
• Lansing, MI 48917
• (517) 703-9616
• Website
• Menu

Boy, did we stumble on to something great here.  I drove by Benson’s Vinaigrettes last time my girlfriend got her haircut and said next month, that’s where we were going to eat lunch.  I found their website and was a little worried that I wouldn’t be all that thrilled with it.  I knew my girlfriend would love it and it’d be a nice change from all the bars and pizza joints I bring her to. 

Benson’s is located just behind the Lansing Mall.  It’s a really nice looking building from the outside with a LCD board underneath their sign that displays today’s entrees.  Inside, Benson’s reminds you of a deli.  The place is much bigger than it looks.  You walk through the dining room and get in line.  All of today’s food is on display in cases.  The menu is constantly changing.  You can get salads and wraps everyday, but that days entrees won’t be there tomorrow.  All the food is fresh and homemade.  The chef was standing in the dining room making sure everything was running smoothly. 

One of the ladies behind the counter asked what we wanted to eat.  My girlfriend went with a salad and a side.  She got the Cashew Wild Berry Roasted Chicken Salad and the potato salad.  The thing that really stood out was the Raspberry Vinaigrette.  You know a vinaigrette is made fresh when it has seeds from the raspberries in it.  She said it was one of the best salads she’s had in a while.  The potato salad had chucnks of potatos and bacon and we all know bacon makes everything taste better.  Every meal comes with a fresh slice of bread.  She got some kind of whole wheat bread to go with her meal.  You would think in a setting like this with gourmet food, it wouldn’t be enough to fill you up, but she had just a little bit of the potato salad left when we finished.  She left that little bit of potato salad to leave room the chocolate covered strawberry that came with her meal.  This was a huge strawberry dunked in chocolate then drizzled with just a touch of white chocolate

I was worried the food was going to be too fancy for me and I wouldn’t really like it, but I was wrong.  It just happened that for lunch the day we went, they were serving BBQ pork, so that’s what I got.  I had a choice of bread and I went with a sourdough.  They piled the BBQ pork on top of one piece of the bread and gave me a second to make a sandwich.  There was too much meat to make a sandwich.  I ended up scraping half the meat off and making two open faced sandwiches and tried to eat it that way.  I was trying to be careful and not make a pig of myself.  The BBQ was delicious.  It was a KC style sauce.  Really thick and sweet.  I also got a side with my meal.  I chose the Macaroni and Cheese.  Without even realizing it, I scarfed the bowl down.  My girlfriend just kind of stopped and stared and asked sarcastically if it was good.  Of course, it was.  I also got another slice of bread with the meal.  I chose the french bread.

We were very pleasantly surprised with Benson’s Vinaigrettes.  The atmosphere of an upscale deli was quaint with a small potted flower on every table.  This is another restaurant near the mall that we will definately visit again.