Silver Linings Cookbook: How A Bad Date Led Me To Lansing's Best Mexican Restaurant

​Lansing, Michigan. It’s not Grand Rapids and it’s definitely not Detroit. To put it bluntly, this part of Michigan only feels like an ‘exciting’ place if you attend Michigan State University. Pardon my cynicism, but as you can imagine, it’s incredibly hard to go from Los Angeles and New York to the painfully quiet streets of Mid-Michigan. I made the leap for work purposes, and though it’s merely temporary, I find myself craving the busy streets of a big city more and more as each day passes.

Aside from avoiding the MSU crowd like the plague and spending time with friends from work (seriously, thank God for them!), I haven’t really made much of an effort to write about Lansing. Every weekend I escape to Grand Rapids, but you’d think after a year and a half in I must have found something in Lansing worth writing about aside from reasons not to date college students. Of course, there’s Michigan's Capitol building, but what else? I began to look back at my time here and then it hit me that I had, in fact, found something months ago that was totally worth sharing: Pablo’s in Old Town Lansing.

I realized that I had likely blocked out Pablo’s from my subconscious because when I initially went there, it was on a really bad date. That being said, a great restaurant shouldn’t be discounted simply because of a date gone awry. From what I did remember, the food there was incredible. It turned out this date-gone-wrong actually gave me the chance to discover an authentic Mexican restaurant right here in Lansing. Silver lining? I’d say so!

Since it had been a minute, I knew I needed to brush up on my Pablo’s menu. And so, with better company this time, I made the venture back to this Lansing gem.

The first time I ate at Pablo's the weather was nice and warm, so we dined outside and I didn’t get to see the restaurant’s interior. This second time, however, it was January in Michigan, so eating inside was the only option. It’s pretty simple inside, but they do have some nice artwork to jazz it up a bit. 

A nice perk about Pablo’s is that they serve breakfast all day, so if you’re craving eggs at 4 in the afternoon, you can get it. The only thing the menu was missing that I was hoping to get this time is Ceviche, so that was a bummer. My first time there I got the veggie burrito, so naturally, I wanted to try something else. This time I got the steak fajitas. I rarely eat meat but was in the mood for it this time. While the fajitas were good, the meat was pretty fatty so I really didn’t eat much of it at all. I’d say between the two, my preferred menu choice would be the veggie burrito. I mean, it was so good it stayed on my radar months later. 


Coming soon…

I’m going back to California next month for a visit and can’t wait to find new things in my former home to share with you – and maybe even some old favorites! From South Orange County to Los Angeles, it’s a long overdue reunion with one of the places I love most.