I visited Miller Union earlier this week with my family. It’s the current darling of the Atlanta foodie scene, and I have to say, I was underwhelmed. The decor by ai3 (they did FLiP and a slew of other new Atlanta joints) was beautiful, but felt very austere. I think they should ditch the tablecloths and some of their other “fine dining” accoutrements.
Miller Union is the marriage of Steven Satterfield (who most recently worked at Watershed, the venerable southern restaurant in Decatur) and Neal McCarthy (a well-known restaurant manager, recently at Sotto Sotto in Inman Park). The service was friendly, but a little slow for our 9pm Tuesday-night reservation. I expect a lot more attention when dining at off-hours.
I wanted to try the dishes I had read about, so we ordered the fried cheese grits and the farm egg baked in celery cream as our starters, the poulet rouge and braised rabbit as our entrees, and the herbal ice cream trio for dessert.
The fried cheese grits were bland. I liked that they were using the stone-ground grits that Watershed uses, but there was no zing in this dish. My former employer- The OK Cafe- does a much better version. The farm egg was good, but it wasn’t the promised “orgy in my mouth” that I had read about on some food blogs. It would be a great brunch dish, but tasted much too breakfast-y for 9pm.
The entrees were sumptuous, and I have to give recognition where it’s due. If I go back to Miller Union, it will be for the braised rabbit over grits. It was creamy, rich and everything I look for in a main course. The poulet rouge involved several small cuts of chicken with crispy skin baked on top. It came with a side of vegetables, and again, Satterfield’s Watershed training showed in his skillful preparation of the veggies. We cleaned the plate.
I had read several people’s account of the herb ice-creams as surprisingly good, and while I found them interesting, it’s not something I’m going to crave. The herbs were thyme, rosemary and sage. I think the dish would be better with smaller portions of the ice creams (I couldn’t even finish mine- three full ice cream parlor scoops…I was expecting quenelles). And I also think adding some food coloring to the dish would help…the only way to tell the flavors apart was the small sprig of each herb placed atop each scoop. Again, an interesting dish, but not one I’d recommend. My mom and brother hated it.
Ultimately, I think Miller Union lacks soul. There were some good dishes here and there, but I didn’t get a great feeling from my visit, and ended up liking Wednesday night’s restaurant much better.
food- 22
service- 21
decor- 17
