By Tamas Mondovics
To the delight of Brandon and surrounding area residents, a new restaurant known for its “rustic Americana,” cuisine with Southern and locally inspired flavor, coupled with its avant-garde cocktails, came to town last month.
The Mill Restaurant opened its second location in a 4,200 square feet corner space including a patio at 109 W. Bloomingdale Ave. in the former Sluggers Neighborhood Bar and Grill spot.
Thanks to local artist Istvan Torok and his team at Torok Studios, a 20 foot tall mural featuring parts from an old mill have been incorporated to reflect an artsy “steam-punk” look.”
The Mill opened it first location on Central Ave. in St. Petersburg in 2015, and has been honored by the Golden Spoon Award for Best New Restaurant in all of Florida. Award-winning chef, Chef Ted Dorsey and Managing Partner, Jason Griffin have also been joined by Brady Engh as the Director of Operations.
By the numbers, the new restaurant boasts of 180 seats, with 150 inside and 30 outside offering creative cuisine in a relaxed environment.
From its appetizers of watermelon and feta bruschetta, blue crab croquettes and sweet pea hummus to dinners featuring Dorsey’s smoke braised boar ribs, cider braised mussels, honey seared tuna or a crowd-favorite, meatloaf Wellington and charcuterie plates.
Dorsey described the menu as a craftsman’s approach to cooking with everything made from in-house to feed and nourish your soul.
“People instantly bond over food, and when they go out to a restaurant, they want all their senses to come alive,” Dorsey said. “I love it when I step out of the kitchen and see the smiles from all our patrons in the dining room. It is the connection between people and food that keeps us motivated to do what we do every day.”
Local residents and among the very first guests Ray and Maria Rivera were clearly impressed.
“We honestly are going to come back,” Ray said. “Everything we had tonight was delicious and we are both comfortable about the future of this new restaurant.”
Confident of its success Griffin emphasized The Mill’s rightful place in the community when he said, “We believe that Brandon and its rapidly expanding population deserve the very best and we plan on bringing our passion for food and craft cocktails here. We love what we built in St. Petersburg and we are excited to bring our unique dining experience to Brandon.”
The Brandon location will be serving dinner nightly: Tuesday – Saturday 4 p.m.-10 p.m. and on Sunday 4 p.m.-9 p.m. The Mill is closed on Mondays.
For more information or reservations, visit www.themilldtsp.com.
