James at the Mill Offers 5-star Dining Experience (Business Lunch)

James at the Mill
5 Stars
3906 Greathouse Springs Road
Johnson

Few restaurants offer the total experience necessary to get a five-star rating from the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal. Rarer still is it that those selections get a perfect score from every reviewer in our party.

That’s exactly what happened on a recent trip to James at the Mill, where excellence began with our warm reception and continued through the cool delectability of desert.

Diners who’ve been too intimidated by the restaurant’s upscale reputation should get over it and get to Johnson. James at the Mill is elegant but not stuffy, and this was the best outing we’ve had in some time.

The lunch menu is less pricey than some of the market’s ostentatious newcomers, and the fair is as filling as it is fantastic.

Chef Miles James deserves the accolades he’s received from the New York Times and Southern Living for using presentation and sophistication to turn his “Ozark Plateau Cuisine” into a pleasure bath for the senses.

We hit the complimentary bread basket like Marvin Hagler “working the body” in a prize fight. The gristinis (Italian breadsticks made with roasted garlic and molases), focaccia bread and Wilanda butter rolls were enough to make Dr. Atkins change his diet.

The female in our trio had the chicken and mushroom club sandwich ($11), which came with gaufrette chili chips and roast potato salad. She raved in particular about the “yummy” chips and her only regret was messing up such a beautiful plate of food.

Another diner loved the grilled tenderloin meatloaf ($11) with roast garlic mash potatoes, sautéed spinach and reduced veal stock. He said the meatloaf “tasted like steak.”

“It was all served stacked on top of each other,” he said. “Best vertically served lunch I’ve ever had.”

Our most critical guest chose the black angus and pepper jack patty melt ($8) that’s served with balsamic onion on grilled Pullman focaccia with roast potato salad. He wanted to see how James would fuse Mediterranean flavor with a Midwestern sandwich, and the result was the best sandwich he’s had since discovering New Jersey Sloppy Joes.

We dove into the deserts ($6 each) sampling the milk chocolate pyramid with frozen caramel hazelnut mousse, the strawberry shortcake and the homemade tiramisu. Incredible.

We also collectively agreed that our waiter could not improve upon his attentive yet unintrusive service.

In essence, the entire lunch was like that — perfect.