She ate

Shortly after I became a member of the Lansing School Board, I had the opportunity to tour Willow Elementary School. I hadn’t been in that building before, and during the tour, I was completely blown away by the enthusiasm and love that poured out of the principal, Steve Lonzo.

When I learned last year that Lonzo was retiring, I was incredibly sad for the district. While I, too, don’t want to work forever, there are some people who I wish could, and Lonzo is one of them. But then I learned that he and his equally impressive wife, Re’Shane Lonzo, were purchasing the old Leo’s Outpost on South Pennsylvania Avenue and converting it into a restaurant and cigar lounge. Even better, the Comfort Zone is located in my county commission district, which matters to literally nobody but me.

To be frank, I was apprehensive about the amount of smoke that we would inevitably encounter while eating dinner in a cigar lounge. But while I did have to wash my hair that night and hang my coat outside, behaviors that reminded me of my undergraduate days, the smokiness inside the building was much less than I anticipated. The ventilation system is top of the line, and the smell of smoke was virtually unnoticeable by the time we sat down.

The Comfort Zone is a far cry from Leo’s Outpost. It’s draped in purple, with textures and lighting that make you want to hire a babysitter and find a corner to sit in with your husband. If a building can be sexy, this one is. It has been absolutely beautifully renovated and was very clearly a labor of love for the Lonzos.

Mr. She Ate and I love a crab cake, and we were excited to try the Comfort Zone’s version. The appetizer was expensive, $32 for two large crab cakes, and our server didn’t bring smaller plates for us to use while we ate. Not a problem for myself and my spouse, but this could be extremely awkward if you were with a colleague with whom you didn’t want to share a plate. The crab cakes were above average, very large and drizzled with romesco sauce. However, for that price, I expected much more lump crab meat.

For my entrée, I chose the hand-cut New York strip steak ($55), which the menu claimed would come with mashed potatoes and fresh broccolini. What was actually on my plate was broccoli, which I still love, but there’s something about those long broccolini stems. When I placed my order, our server didn’t ask me how I wanted the steak prepared, which gave me pause, but to his credit, he came back a few minutes later to inquire.

The steak was wonderfully medium rare, as I requested. The sear on the outside was crisp, while the texture inside was smooth. It was topped with a generous amount of herby compound butter, which complemented every bite. I would definitely order this again.

Mr. She Ate chose the chicken alfredo ($25), which he reported as being unoffensive but not particularly memorable. What was memorable was that when we stood up to leave, who should walk in but my co-reviewer and his fabulous better half? We sat right back down with them and proceeded to talk each other’s ears off until their entrees were delivered to the table.