First Impression

John: If you’ve been reading the Dining Duo for the last two years, you might be saying to yourself right now, “Holy smokes, are Breech and Altork that lazy? Are they actually re-running their Milton’s review from summer 2008?” Yes, we are lazy, but no, we are not re-running an old column. A couple weeks ago, Tim and I heard a rumor that Milton’s was doing something that all restaurants fantasize about: they were planting their own organic garden. Now I failed organic chemistry and I didn’t like the 1993 movie The Secret Garden, but a restaurant with its own organic garden intrigued me.  An organic garden is the Holy Grail of restaurateurs everywhere. Everyone fights to have the freshest ingredients and lets just say that it doesn’t get any fresher then picking tomatoes or cucumbers out of a garden that’s 200 yards from your restaurant’s front doors. The building where Milton’s is currently located used to be a farmhouse, which means the next logical step for them after the garden, might be onsite cows and goats for fresh milk. Seriously though, if you see the garden, you will never want to eat anywhere else.

Tim: Yes, this is our third trip to Milton’s in the past three years. It’s starting to become an annual thing, like birthdays and Brett Favre retirement drama. But as Breech mentioned, every trip has been warranted as Milton’s has added new wrinkles to its menu. And it’s not wrinkles that are added out of desperation. Business is apparently booming (the mayor of Milton was there the night we went), so when Milton’s adds a fresh vegetable garden, it’s like when the Yankees add Stephen Strasburg to their roster in 2015. The rich get richer.

Appetizers

John: Since we couldn’t decide on two appetizers, we split the difference and ordered four. We got the Mescaline Salad, the Buttermilk-fried Buffalo Quail, the Garlic Basil Marinated Shrimp and the Crispy Oysters. The Mescaline Salad featured tomatoes and cucumbers fresh from the Milton’s garden. If you’re into fresh vegetables (and I’m pretty sure most people are), you’ll like the salad. My favorite appetizer though was the Garlic Basil Marinated Shrimp. The shrimp was served over goat cheese grits. I’m not a big fan of grits, but it turns out, if you make them with goat cheese and put shrimp on top of them, I become a fan.

Tim: I’ll start with the salad. Honestly, I don’t know if you put a garden fresh salad and one that came from the usual restaurant sources side by side, whether I would know the difference.  But it certainly felt fresher just knowing that the food came from about 200 yards away. I “accidentally” didn’t get to the oysters before they were gone (there were four of us at the table). The shrimp was indeed fantastic, but the highlight for me was the buffalo quail. The fried crust was crispy and infused with a not-too-spicy buffalo sauce, and the quail was perfectly tender. It was an excellent course all the way around.

Shrimp: John 9, Tim 8
Quail: John 8, Tim 9
Oysters: John 8, Tim N/A
Salad: John 8.5, Tim 8

Entrée

John: For the main course, we went with Blackened Tilapia, Rosemary and Basil Marinated Filet Medallion, Blackened Sea Scallops and Red Snapper. Apparently my new favorite food combination is any type of seafood over grits. The Blackened Sea Scallops were served over pimento cheese grits and I have to say, if I could afford it, I would eat Blackened Sea Scallops over pimento cheese grits every night for the rest of the decade. The scallops were big, juicy and plentiful. If you’re a fan of Red Snapper, you better go to Milton’s tonight and cross your fingers. The snapper is a special being served this weekend only (i.e. tonight might be the last night they sell it for awhile).

Tim: Someone should do a scientific study on the relationship between how hungry a person is and how that person describes the quality of his food, based on the level of hunger. We got started later than usual, so we were all pretty hungry by the time the entrees arrived. (This was evidenced by the fact that everyone’s plate was completely clean in four minutes and 39 seconds, a new Dining Duo record.) I don’t know if it was the hunger or the food or a combination of both, but everything tasted amazing. The steak was the big winner for me, though. It is served in a red wine sauce which perfectly complements the basil and rosemary in the meat. It also comes with a delicious, creamy penne pasta on the side.

Snapper: John 8, Tim 8
Scallops: John 9, Tim 8
Tilapia: John 7.5, Tim 8
Filet: John 8, Tim 9.5

Dessert

John: Since I was 6-years-old, I’ve been alternating between the same two cakes for every single birthday I celebrate. In odd years, I eat carrot cake. In even years, I eat German chocolate cake. One year I combined the two; it didn’t work out so well. The point here is that if I see one on a menu, I order it. Milton’s had carrot cake. I ordered it. The cake was topped with a ridiculously tasty cream cheese frosting. Mom, I hate to do this in a public forum, but you’re relieved of your cake making duties. Milton’s will be making my carrot cake for my 2011 birthday. We also had peach cobbler, so I think this is the part where Tim tells you I should be kicked out of Georgia because I don’t like peaches.

Tim: The carrot cake is served warm, so the icing just kind of melts and makes a mess on the plate, which is a good thing. As for the cobbler, I’m actually in agreement with Breech and his Midwestern fruit ignorance on this one. It was good, but there are no peach trees in the Milton’s garden. Also, it was a bit too peachy, if that’s possible. I’m still waiting for that cobbler that has the perfect combination of fruit and breading, where both are good and neither overwhelms the other.

Peach Cobbler: John 7, Tim 6
Carrot Cake: John 9.5, Tim 9

Final Impression

John: I went to Milton’s in April 2008 when Chef Boyd Rose had only been on the job for two weeks. He was serving food off of a menu that he didn’t create. This would be like asking an artist to paint a beautiful picture of the sky, but instead of a brush, he could only use a brown crayon and a magic marker. Now give Rose his own menu and two years to perfect it and what does he do? The man turned Milton’s from a good restaurant into a great restaurant. If you live in North Fulton, there’s no reason to drive to Buckhead for fine dining anymore. Go to Milton’s. Plus since you don’t have to drive down 400 anymore, you can use the money you’ll save on gas to order the carrot cake.

Tim: Although we’ve been to Milton’s multiple times, this was like an entirely new experience. And it wasn’t just the fresh vegetables. There’s a sense that Milton’s has arrived as a destination dining place in the area, and they know it. It’s not arrogance, but a warranted confidence that they have put together a good package that will appeal to the refined, but laid-back residents of Milton and beyond. I wasn’t overly impressed the first two times I went, but the fresher, crisper Milton’s has won me over.

John: John 9
Tim: John 9