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  • From: grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: Milltown restaurant opens today
  • Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 21:43:50 -0400

Just got back from dinner there. Waitstaff still not firing on all cylinders (either that or they're doing a damn-fine Federal impersonation, only moreso), but the kitchen is running at 100%, at least in the Mussels department.

I didn't manage to memorize the menu, but what I remember are as follows:

Apps: $4 Guglhupf bread (oh $2 Federal Baguette, ye shall be missed)
a soup, some salads, some nachos, a cheese plate, a sausage plate. Didn't try any of them, which is probably why I'm forgetting half of what was a fairly extensive list.
Sandwiches: burger, Big Pork Sandwich, grilled cheese, ribeye, probably something involving chicken as well
Entrees: mushrooms au gratin, a polenta thing, ribs, some variety of chicken, fish tacos, steak frites, mussels done 4 different ways

I had the mussels. They melted delightfully in my mouth, moreso than about any other mussels I can recall having in recent memory. They left behind a bucketful of buttery wine with big hunks of onion, shallots, and whole cloves of garlic; bread was helpfully supplied for sopping up said elixir. Also a big plate of fries, of the "so thin that a lot of them wind up kinda crispy" variety.

15 beers on tap, of which 3 aren't yet operational. Pretty good cross-section, assuming you're not looking for mainstream american crap. If you've been to Federal, will seem familiar to you. Another 100 or so beers in bottles. I don't like bottles so I can't really speak to that, but there were a damn lot of them.

People at tables seemed to be getting somewhat frantic service from what appeared to be a decidedly Federal-esque understaffed waitstaff. People at the long bar-like communal table in the middle of the room didn't appear to be getting served at all, or at least I didn't in the 10 minutes I sat there. People at the actual bar got excellent attentive service, and the food came out in an entirely reasonable timeframe.

They could use a traffic-control type maitre d'/host/hostess/whatever, as the place is just slightly too spread out for it to run itself. Lotta people milling around in the middle of the room trying to figure out what to do/where to sit.

But it's their second night, and if that's their only problem, then they're doing just fine, especially given how many people were crammed in there. As I was walking up the street towards the place, I was trying to think of other joints in Carrboro that fit the same niche, and I couldn't think of any (there's Tylers, but I rarely eat food at Tylers that manages to exceed "passable"), and I was thus much afraid that Milltown would be overloaded with eager Carrboroians. And it was. And with food that good, and in the $7 - $15 range, I suspect it's going to stay that way.

Now if only Greenbridge would hurry up & get built so I can move into it, I'll have the next 10 or so years of my life all set.

Ross

Bob Wall wrote:

Went to Milltown for lunch today. All in all thumbs up. Then again I'll eat anywhere.

Bob




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