Dining takes flight at Pellston Airport‘s Village Inn

March 8, 2006

The Village Inn of Mackinac Island was the winner of the 2004 Detroit
News People’s Choice Award for the Best Restaurant in Northern
Michigan.  And that same restaurant has a second, equally popular
locale in St. Ignace, meaning even more experience and an even wider
customer base.  So when Pellston Regional Airport was looking for a
fitting restaurant to round out the brand new renovation and redesign
that they were embarking upon a couple of years ago, The Village Inn
was a natural choice. 
Now firmly ensconced in their comfortable locale in the new Northern
Michigan travel hub, The Village Inn, which opened in July of ‘04, is
gaining new customers with every flight in and out of the little
airport - and plenty of new customers whose only destination is the
restaurant itself.
Pellston Regional Airport - while always efficient and functional -
wasn’t exactly a place where travelers looked forward to stopping. 
Outdated in its facilities and drab in its decor, it was simply
a convenient place to catch a flight - and that was about it.  

UPGRADE
So the extensive, beautiful, and well-thought-out redesign came as a
pleasant surprise to both local commuters and visitors to the area. 
With its complete renovation and great amenities - including a new
floor plan, natural woods and stonework, soft lighting, large stone
fireplace, wood carvings and Native American art by local artisans,
wi-fi Internet access, and comfortable (!) waiting and observation
lounge furnishings - the airport is now perhaps one of the nicest small
airports in the country, let alone the state.  So The Village Inn fits
right in.
“The airport asked us to come and be part of this, and they even gave
us the funds that we needed to build and furnish the airport location
of our restaurant to keep it in accordance with our other two
restaurants,” The Village Inn manager and chef Michael Danielson
explains. “And with the airport’s theme being ‘Northern Michigan,’ it
was an easy choice.  Our restaurant here is very beautiful - very open
- we seat around 100 people, and we actually look right out over the
airport runway.”
Surrounded by light woods and pale walls, the airport version of The
Village Inn is indeed airy and friendly, and has a comfortable and
rustic yet upscale feel.  While the restaurant itself is owned by
well-respected Mackinac Island native Ron Dufina (who owns all of The
Village Inn restaurants and gift shops), Danielson seems the perfect
person to helm the airport operation on a day-to-day basis. 
Equally friendly and enthused about the integrity of the restaurant and
its foods, he’s worked for The Village Inn for the past seven
years, prefacing his new airport position with working as the sous chef
at the Mackinac Island Village Inn location, where he studied under
Frederic Rasmussen, widely regarded as one of the top chefs on the
Island. 

SIGNATURE DISH
“Our airport location is extremely nice, and, as with all of our
restaurants, we serve to all price ranges,” Danielson says. “You can
get something wonderful to eat here for between $6 and $20, with
the highest priced entrée probably being our signature dish, which is
the Planked Whitefish.  And we have a very nice wine selection to go
with, including regional wines, plus a full bar that includes liquors
and aged scotches.”
But what to choose from, with so many menu choices?  The Village Inn’s
menu includes Certified Angus burgers, a variety of sandwiches (from
their Deli-Style Reuben to their Triple-Decker Club and their Vegetable
Wraps), pizzas, plenty of nice salads (“No iceberg lettuce,” Danielson
points out. “We use romaine and spring mixes, much healthier!”) and an
ever-changing offering of, as Danielson puts it, “creative specials,”
all of which he tries to also make as healthy as possible, something
not usually found in ‘airport food.’ 
“We do try to offer healthy choices,” Danielson affirms. “We don’t use
hydrogenated oils, and we use fresh ingredients, making things from
scratch.  We make our own sauces, we make our own desserts - I even
make our Thousand Island Dressing from scratch.” 

WEEKLY SPECIALS
There are weekly specials, too.  Wednesdays are Spaghetti Night, with
The Village Inn’s own handmade pasta and homemade sauces.  Fish is the
theme on Fridays, with All-You-Can-Eat Whitefish and Perch specials
plus Pan-Fried Walleye.  Saturdays are Beef Night, with plenty of
offerings for meat lovers, and Sundays feature Chicken Specials,
prepared in that same healthy Village Inn way.  The thing that’s really
great about The Village Inn is that it’s a great dining destination
even if you’re not flying to or from anywhere, and, in season, you’ll
get a taste of local foods, too.
The Village Inn supports local food growers, and they try to be active
in the surrounding communities. 
“We do a lot of things with local farmers,” Danielson says., “We buy
locally as much as possible, taking advantage of foods that are
available in the area seasonally.  It’s not uncommon for our guests to
be offered vegetables cooked four or five different ways, or to be
offered fresh fruit.  You don’t even really have to choose what’s on
the menu, especially in the slower season - it’s all about what the
guests want, so we can usually serve things that aren’t even on the
menu - all you have to do is ask. And you can feel good that it will
all be fresh.  We don’t just open some packages and feed people,” he
smiles. “We do a lot of real cooking here.”
 
The Village Inn of Mackinac’s newest location is open year-round inside
the Pellston Regional Airport in Pellston, just off of US 31, telephone
231-539-9511.