I’ve really been looking forward to going to The Mill ever since I first read about it. It only opened in July, and the menu seemed really interesting to me, and my curiosity was further piqued when I saw that Creative Loafing named Ted Dorsey as the Best Chef in the area. We planned to get together with our friends Chuck and Vito for Sunday Brunch, and I find that brunch can often be a great way to test out a new place.
First thing I should mention is that it’s directly across the street from The Oyster Bar on Central Avenue. The building where they are located is undergoing some renovation, and there was no overhead sign to find the place, so when we were walking around the building, we weren’t able to find it right away.
We sat down and ordered some drinks along with The Breakfast Club Cheese and Charcuterie tray for the table to share. Chuck and I both got a bloody mary, and I think the bloody mary was the one part of the meal I wasn’t super impressed by. A bloody mary is a drink that can be jazzed up in a lot of different ways, but I felt like this was a bit on the bland side. Stephan and Vito ordered from the drink menu with mixed success – Stephan got a drink called a “Geared Up” with Hendricks Gin, mezcal, a cucumber-grape puree, provence syrup and a salted rim, which was okay, but not something he was super enthusiastic about. Vito ordered a “Guajiro in Iceland” with Reyka vodka, sherry, lime juice, mint, habanero syrup, and mango puree, which I thought was delicious, and I ordered one following my bloody mary.
The Breakfast Club Cheese and Charcuterie plate was full of great flavors and inventive selections – it came with duck bacon, lamb bacon, breakfast sausage, smoked salmon, mini biscuits, pickled zucchini, blue cheese and a second cheese I don’t recall, along with an assortment of condiments – honey, a golden raisin mustarda, bourbon mustard, Florida orange marmalade, and a “64 degree egg,” which was a small egg that was sous vide at 64 degrees and served soft. It was interesting, but the stars here for me were the duck and lamb bacons, as well as the golden raisin mustarda.
Next it was time for the entree selections, and it was tough to choose. They had a lot of really tasty and interesting options, and I absolutely want to go back to try more. I settled on the Southern Fried Farm Raised Trout Benny, which was a ciabatta english muffin, fried trout, and poached eggs served with preserved lemon hollandaise and pickled red onions and a dill creme sauce and came with home fries. It was absolutely delicious and the pronounced lemon flavor in the hollandaise was a nice touch.
Stephan opted for the Soho Montreal Corned Beef and Hash, which came with potatoes, onions, peppers, smoked corned beef, brown butter rye mustard bechamel, and eggs. The picture makes the portion seem small, but the dish was deep, so you aren’t seeing a lot of the food here. I snagged a bite of the corned beef and it was excellent.
Vito got the Espresso and Raisin Bread French Toast, and the portion was pretty enormous. I ended up finishing his plate, and the french toast was great, but the coffee flavor really made this stand out. It was a perfectly cooked, and there was a lot of interesting flavor here.
Chuck went for the “You’re Still Up? Burger,” which was an 8 oz burger, a sunny side up egg, peppered bacon, jalapeno swiss bechamel sauce, onion rings, and a side of the home fries. Chuck likes his burger cooked much more than I do (I’m a medium rare kinda guy), but luckily, the egg and the sauce keep the burger moist if you like your burger cooked all the way through.
After their first round of drinks, Stephan and Vito moved on to the “Ain’t Nothin’ But A G Thang,” which is a cocktail comprised of Bols Genever (Google tells me this is a gin), suze (a variety of bitters) pineapple shrub, honey and chinese five spice, and man… that was a tasty drink! I’ll likely be ordering this on my next visit.
Everybody’s meals were absolutely delicious, and I would happily eat any of them again. Beyond that, there are plenty of options to try to decide from when we go back for a return visit (and there WILL be a return visit!). I think a dinner here is absolutely in our near future, but for now, I can pretty easily say that I found my go-to brunch spot in St. Pete, which is something I’ve found a bit lacking. I really can’t wait to come back for dinner.
Dining Around Tampa Bay 