RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

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