Millie's

C and I went to dinner at Millie's Diner last night. This restaurant is a Richmond institution. People travel to eat at Millie's. It's been featured in several well-known food and travel magazines. Every Richmonder recognizes how lucky we are to have Millie's and it's the first place we think of to take out-of-towners.

Despite being profoundly broke, C and I had things to celebrate. We're engaged! We're moving! And we finally, finally found somewhere to live. A frozen pizza was not enough for our excitement. So off we went. We arrived around 6:00 and were told there would be a short wait. There were open seats at the six-person bar so we settled in. I ordered a glass of Malbec and C had a Legend.

The wait was not short, but it wasn't unenjoyable either. My seat was right next to the open kitchen and we changed our entree choices several times as we saw each new dish leave the kitchen. C originally decided on the 20oz rib eye, but rethought his decision once he saw just how much over a pound of steak looks like. He settled on the pan roasted pork tenderloin and I went with the roasted half chicken.

We were seated a little after 7:00 in a cozy booth. Quickly delivered to us was a bread basket with the most incredible jalapeño corn bread I've ever had in my life. It was light, moist and flavorful, but it could have used a little more salt. Our orders were taken quickly and we settled in and took in our surroundings.

At every booth there is a little vintage jukebox. You can buy 3 songs for a quarter. I pulled out my wallet several times so C could pick a new selection. It felt similar to giving a child money to throw in the fountain at the park. C seemed so delighted by it.

My appetizer arrived first. I chose fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese. I'm not a huge fan of pimento cheese, but I love fried green tomatoes so I gave it a shot. The tomatoes were perfect in their cornmeal crust. The pimento cheese went well with the tomatoes, adding a surprising tanginess. My favorite part though, was the drizzle of basil infused olive oil around the outside of the plate. It was so unexpected, and a perfect addition to round out the flavors.

Then C's appetizer came. He chose chicken fried frog legs. Just thinking about it was making me nauseous, but I've always considered myself an adventurous eater. They looked like elongated drumsticks. They came with a chive biscuit and a drizzle of honey. I carefully used my fork to cut off a piece of "meat". It looked enough like chicken. I let it sit on the end of my fork for awhile, letting it cool, delaying the inevitable. Then I dove in. I was immediately repulsed. It did not taste like chicken. It was rubbery and the flavor was off. I could not believe how big they were. We watched an HBO documentary once about Louisiana and there were these backwoods country boys that hunted bullfrogs. They held them by the arms and head and skinned them from the belly down. I doubt I would have enjoyed the frogs legs before watching that, but those hicks definitely made it worse. C loved them. He looked like a frat boy digging into a dozen chicken wings before the big game (just kidding C!).

The entrees were up next. C's pork tenderloin with incredible. It was seared on the outside and stuffed with roulade. It rested on top of a stone ground grit cake and spaghetti squash puree. This meal with right up his alley. My chicken was juicy and flavorful and came with the lightest truffled celery root puree and swiss chard.

At this point we had been at Millie's for two and half hours. We were full and exhausted. I'll never understand how people can go on these restaurant marathons, sitting at a table for four hours. We ordered a piece of hazelnut chocolate torte to go and headed home. I tried the torte this morning. The flavor was incredible, but I would prefer for the hazelnuts to be ground a little more fine. What I love about tortes is the smooth, dense texture, this torte was almost gritty.

All in all we had an excellent time at Millie's. The staff was polite and attentive. My water glass was never less than a quarter empty. The food was incredible. C said it was the best dining experience he's ever had in Richmond. I'm sure we'll go back to Millie's someday, but we'll have to wait for another reason to celebrate.