By Annie Piekarczyk / STAFF

In the heart of the Crabapple Area in Milton, Milton’s Cuisine and Cocktails offers a unique Southern dining experience that will leave you wanting more. The restaurant is a beautiful 150 year old renovated and preserved Farmhouse that serves “New Southern” cuisine, combining new, bold tastes with a historic atmosphere.

But unlike your regular Southern restaurant, operating partners Jimmy Carter and Executive Chef Boyd A. Rose are putting a twist on their Southern comfort food, incorporating locally grown, organic food into their weekly specials. They are also in the process of transforming their restaurant into a green facility. From produce, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to proteins, pork and fish, Milton’s is buying most goods, if not all, locally. In efforts toward becoming a green restaurant, they’re taking it even further. As of Friday, Carter signed the lease to own a three-acre land lot adjacent to the restaurant, in which Carter and Rose intend to cultivate some of their own crops. 

Go Green Guru?

About three weeks ago, Carter and Rose had a meeting with a green guru from Atlanta, who told them about the many zero-waste facilities in Atlanta. “It just made all the sense in the world for us to do that too,” said Carter. “This is absolutely the right thing to be doing. We automatically started buying locally after we heard about it.”

Soon after they began to buy locally, they introduced their local ingredients into the specials plates, and just about everybody who tried the specials were very excited about moving toward a greener restaurant. 

“We bought heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers the other day and we mixed it with a lemon-mint vinaigrette, and within 15 people coming in, all of those plates were gone – just sold out. We had 15 orders, and the first 15 people who came in grabbed them up and loved them,” said Carter.

Environmental practices are becoming an integral part of businesses in Atlanta, and Carter and Rose are bringing some of the “green” thinking Atlanta’s restaurants and businesses are known for to their own restaurant in Milton. They strive to one day soon become a zero-waste zone, with a motto of reduce, reuse and recycle. They’d also like to become a farm-to-table restaurant, growing the majority of their produce in their own back yard. 

“It’s just the right thing to do,” said Carter. “By buying locally, not only are you getting fresh ingredients but also reducing your carbon imprint on the area.” Rose agreed; only the freshest and tastiest ingredients on his plates. “It’s always important to cook with the freshest ingredients possible, whether it’s herbs, produce or protein. If we can get it locally, we will,” said Rose.

For the past few weeks, the produce for their specials have been coming from Moss Hill Farms as well as the Milton and Alpharetta Farmers markets. 

By keeping business local, Milton’s not only promotes other local businesses but really aims to become a community restaurant. Throughout the process of cultivating their own land and growing their own produce behind their restaurant, Carter also hopes on being able to use some of the local horticulture programs from the local high schools in assistance with growing the vegetables.

“We recognized when we came here, we are a restaurant, yes. But at the end of the day, we’re a community based restaurant,” said Carter. “And that’s more than just opening up your restaurant doors every night. It’s about buying locally, giving back locally and supporting local businesses.”

Carter said they won’t know for sure what they’ll be growing in their farm land just yet, but plans include okra, heirloom tomatoes, heirloom cucumbers, collard greens – and even Chef Rose plans on building some bee boxes for his own honey, while he also cures his own bacon.

Rose’s exquisitely composed dishes are not only stunning in appearance, but they taste as good as they look. In his own words, everything he sends out from the kitchen is cooked from the heart. 

“Everything I ever make, I make it so my flavor combinations come together flawlessly. Everything on the dish goes together very well,” said Rose. “You eat with your eyes and nose first, and then you taste it.” And you won’t be let down. It’s good Southern food, but prepared with the freshest ingredients possible. He uses classic cooking techniques with local ingredients to create the same types of Southern food he ate as a child in Huntsville, Alabama, but prepared lightly and with a twist.

So if you’re looking for a little bit of the old or a little bit of the new, you’ll be able to find it at Milton’s. And not only will your dining experience be tasteful, but you’ll also be in one of the North side’s first restaurants on its way toward becoming a zero-waste facility, farm to table restaurant.