This new restaurant combines Columbus’ industrial history with southern cuisine
The new Millhouse Kitchen and Bar strives to combine Columbus history with a twist on southern cuisine on the banks of the Chattahoochee River.
The restaurant is attached to the historic former grist mill that was renovated into the City Mills Hotel that opened in 2021. Millhouse Kitchen opened its doors just before Christmas.
Because of the southern history of the building, Executive Chef Rocco Caggiano wanted the menu to feature southern cuisine to go along with it. The menu took southern dishes and made them more elegant with high quality ingredients, he said.
“It’s something that hasn’t been done in this town and is a new experience as well,” he said. “And so we’re really excited about that.”
Elegant Southern Cuisine
Caggiano has worked in private clubs in Savannah and Atlanta for the past 20 years, he said, so coming to Millhouse Kitchen has been a change.
“It’s been a great experience to be able to start from the ground up as far as the restaurant side of it,” Caggiano said.
One of the southern staples on the menu is a twist on shrimp and grits — a dish Caggiano often cooked while growing up in the Savannah area. The Millhouse Kitchen’s version of the dish features sauteed shrimp with tasso ham, peppers, onions, Tabasco and butter with stone ground grits.
“It gives it a nice rich flavor,” he said. “So, it’s a little bit different than the traditional shrimp and grits that you would normally get.”
Another popular item on the menu is the restaurant’s take on chicken and dumplings: Chicken + Spooned Biscuits. It’s a rich dish with spoon dumplings with hearty chunks of chicken, Caggiano said. The food is cooked in a little crock pot, so it comes out steaming.
“We created a menu that was fresh and brand new,” he said.
Preserving history in Columbus
Developer Ken Henson and the Historic Columbus Foundation are credited with the preservation of the grist mill, General manager Mike Patterson told the Ledger-Enquirer.
The deal to revitalize the site and turn it into a boutique hotel and restaurant began in 2018, three years after Henson purchased the property. Previously, the property operated as a grist mill until the late 1980s, and was one of five mill sites included in the Columbus Industrial Riverfront National Landmark District.
“Preserving as much of the history as we could was vital to the overall success of the development,” Patterson said.
Along with being the first location in Georgia to generate electricity off of the Chattahoochee River, the mill’s hurst frame is one of the last intact frames in the world, he said. Millhouse Kitchen bills itself as stewards of history that it can preserve and provide to guests as a “visual history lesson,” Patterson said.
When building the restaurant, developers took care to preserve and reuse as much of the original materials as possible, spokesperson Cassie Meyers explained.
“We salvaged everything that we could — even the hardwood floor when you walk into the restaurant,” she said. “It’s all wood from the mill.”
A barn door near the entrance, stairs leading to nowhere still stand in a corner near the restaurant’s elevator and the wood used to build the bar are all staples of the grist mill.
The decor of the restaurant was carefully designed to tie into the mill’s original look, Meyers said, with the colors meant to be soft and inviting because the building itself is the focal point of the restaurant.
“We didn’t want any loud or crazy colors — just muted and classic that really give the fine dining experience that you expect,” she said. “But it feels a little more close to home.”
If you go...
Guests must make reservations online to dine at the restaurant, general manager Mike Patterson told the Ledger-Enquirer, and will remain so for the next few months. The bar is operating on a first-come, first-served basis, Meyers added.
Reservations are a way to avoid overwhelming the restaurant’s kitchen staff and ensuring high quality service amid high demand, Patterson said. Currently, Millhouse Kitchen is booking around 100 reservations a night, Meyers said.
“We will try to accommodate some walk-ins as available,” Patterson said. “But we really encourage everybody to make reservations.”
Restaurant patrons should be aware that online directions to Millhouse Kitchen will lead them to the hotel’s parking lot, Patterson said. While guests can access the restaurant from this parking lot, they can make a right after crossing the railroad tracks on 1st Avenue and go around 300 feet to find another parking lot for the restaurant.
Millhouse kitchen has a number of dining rooms along with its main dining room that guests may choose from, including private dining and event space. The restaurant can accommodate groups up to about 70 people, Patterson said, and provide space for a business meeting or rehearsal dinner. Additionally, there is patio seating that can hold around 60 guests, Meyers said
The restaurant’s location provides a good view of the river from its various dining rooms, Patterson said, and guests can see the pedestrian bridge from several areas throughout the restaurant.
“In the spring and summer and summer it’s going to be a really nice view for dining guests throughout their meal,” he said.
This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
