{"id":6193,"date":"2017-03-30T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=6193"},"modified":"2017-03-29T10:55:08","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T15:55:08","slug":"the-villa-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2017\/03\/30\/the-villa-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"

324 Pujo St \u00b7 Lake Charles \u2022 436-6251<\/em><\/p>\n

By Mario Pacetti<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I wanted to do a follow-up to my review for The Villa. Now, while I was beyond impressed with my food, it was cooked in a controlled environment, since the owners hadn\u2019t opened yet and I was the only person eating. All the real time madness wasn\u2019t going on.
\nI decided to do this follow-up for my recent birthday. Since a couple of close friends had birthdays around the same time, we decided to make it a dinner party of around 15 people.<\/p>\n

My first visit to the Villa had been about a week before they opened. At the time, boxes were being unloaded and the place was still in disarray, as was to be expected.<\/p>\n

When I walked through the door this second time, I was truly impressed at what a wonderful-looking restaurant this was. They were already quite busy, and there was another party about our size sitting upstairs. We sat at the tables across from the bar along the wall, which was the perfect spot to get to see exactly how the room flows when it\u2019s busy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I must be honest; I was a tad concerned about how well the kitchen was going to do with so many people sitting down and two large parties because it\u2019s not the biggest kitchen I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

Once we all finished getting our drinks and chatting it up for a bit, we got down to business. I decided to go with the lasagna, while Chelsea decided to go with the gamberetti, which I highly recommended.<\/p>\n

The lasagna was brought out on a large round cutting board with a little salad and some bread on it. I loved the rustic old world look. I put b\u00e9chamel sauce in my lasagna. Not all places do that. That ingredient really makes the rest of the dish pop.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I could have eaten half a pan of that lasagna, and I would have been happy in my misery of being stuffed.<\/p>\n

The gamberetti was a home run; the shrimp were nice and big and cooked to perfection, and the flavors were all married together with just the right amount of each.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019d come in before they were open, I hadn\u2019t gotten a chance to try the rosemary bread with the basil dipping oil. I made a point to get this with our dinner. I am a dipper, and the basil oil was the bomb.com; its color was a deep green, and it was full of flavor and had a nice smoothness to it. The bread was very earthy, and the freshness of the rosemary jumped out at me.<\/p>\n

Now, in everyone\u2019s opinion, the show-stopper was the Wild Mushroom and Truffle Chicken. The dish came with an airline chicken breast that had a very crispy skin \u2014 which I love \u2014 topped with one of the best damn mushroom cream sauces I\u2019ve ever had. It was on a silky smooth bed of Parmesan mashed potatoes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The mushroom sauce was talked about quite a bit; we were discussing all the things we would love to try it on. The sauce was bold and full of flavor. If you\u2019re a mushroom fan, you truly can\u2019t go wrong with this dish.<\/p>\n

As I said in the beginning, I was concerned about how busy the place was and how the staff would handle the crowd. I must say that kitchen put out some high quality food in a very timely manner, and they never seemed to miss a beat. I saw a restaurant full of happy customers, and I know everyone at our table will be going back. I couldn\u2019t have chosen a better place to spend my birthday with my good friends. Thanks to The Villa for a great night. We will be back!<\/p>\n

On a small closing note, I know I\u2019ve never written about Southern Spice<\/b>. I\u2019m not exactly sure why, because I\u2019ve never had a meal I was dissatisfied with and I\u2019ve eaten there often.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Well, the other day, Chelsea, Garret and I stopped in for lunch. I noticed the menus had had a face-lift and it appeared some new items were being showcased. But it was Chelsea\u2019s bacon cheeseburger that stole the show. There were no surprise ingredients or over-the-top bells and whistles; just a perfectly cooked burger that looked picture quality when it came to the table.<\/p>\n

You know how you see the burger ads from the big burger places? I always say, \u201cI sure wish I would get a burger that looks like the ones in the ads.\u201d Well, this burger was the one that looked like it should have been in those ads. And it tasted as good as it looked. Stop by Southern Spice in Lake Charles or Moss Bluff and give that burger a shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

324 Pujo St \u00b7 Lake Charles \u2022 436-6251 By Mario Pacetti I wanted to do a follow-up to my review for The Villa. Now, while I was beyond impressed with my food, it was cooked in a controlled environment, since the owners hadn\u2019t opened yet and I was the only person eating. 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