Yes, we are talking about the same Village Inn that is packed with families and the elderly looking to down coffee and pancakes after Sunday mass. For these reasons we stopped in on a Wednesday evening. Was it a coincidence that we decided to try Village Inn’s chili on Free Pie Day? Absolutely not. You know we’re all about that free pie. We can also say for certain that our waitress figured us for peasants who came for the free pie when we each ordered the cheapest thing on the menu – a cup of chili.  Restaurant go-ers will find on VI’s surprisingly extensive menu a pork green chili as well as a beefy red chili. How Festive. For this post we decided to divide and conquer; we sampled each of the chili options separately.

 

BEEFY RED

My expectations were not high considering I was at a place known for breakfast. I had to practically put my nose in the bowl to even get a whiff of the stuff —much to the enjoyment of the child sitting in the opposite booth. However upon tasting this dish I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn’t say it was necessarily bursting with flavor but it was your traditional chili with a nice kick on the backside. The chili was as advertised; beefy and red. I’m going to assume that the reddish color comes from the hot sauce they used to generate the heat.  All the ingredients blended together well in the bowl with nothing particularly standing out. I actually got some excitement out of discovering some corn mixed in there. It was something along the lines of “Oh! There’s corn in here!” Again I get an amusing look from the nearby little girl frantically coloring her kids menu. I would have loved to challenge her in Tic Tac Toe, but I needed to decide what slice of pie I wanted for dessert. I went with Strawberry Rhubarb. It was very sweet, but that’s not why you’re reading this. In conclusion, this chili exceeded my expectations. It’s traditional with a pleasantly spicy aftertaste.

Official Breggie Rating= 8

PORK GREEN

I was hoping this chili would be a sleeper dish but its trip to the Big Dance may be cut short in the second round. This cup came out with a strong Spanish aroma and a coloring with the same variety as fall. The pulled pork was tasty enough with a respectable consistency of sauce and meat. The flavor was dressed with green peppers as one would assume. There was a polite kick in the flavor that you would enjoy in the moment but forget about the moment you left your seat. Throughout the tasting I couldn’t help thinking there was something missing. It wasn’t until my free slice of pumpkin pie was sitting in front of me that I figured it out. What was missing was the tortilla! This chili tastes like the insides of an enchilada. I will describe the situation like this: have you ever bitten into a chocolate chip cookie and didn’t get any chocolate chips? It is not a bad sensation but it definitely leaves you wanting more.

Official Breggie Rating= 7.2

 

Next time you come to Village Inn, don’t sleep on the lunch/dinner portion of the menu.