Miller Union

Lured by meeting Chef Satterfield at my cooking class this week, I finally made it over to Miller Union! This westside restaurant has been popular for a year bringing in rave reviews as well as big names looking for a great meal. I met friends for a drink on the patio after a long day and was determined to stay for dinner.

The drink menu was well developed featuring a number of house specialty cocktails in the now popular old school/classic cocktail style. I tried the Artichoke Spaceship. I am not really sure about the name, but I am sure about recommending this drink. If you have been reading recently you will know by now I have been on a bourbon kick the past few months. Assuming I may need to move on to more refreshing drinks soon, I settled into what I thought would be one of my last rich drinks of the season.  The Artichoke Spaceship was surprisingly light, and crisp. The bourbon was offset by bitters and lemon juice. It was served up and garnished with what I think was lemon or orange peel. Delicious. The wine list and other available spirits is enviable. I am looking forward to working my way through the drink list.

As an appetizer we tried the feta snack. We were not sure what we were getting and were pleasantly surprised. This mixture of feta cheese, buttermilk, olive oil, course salt, and fresh pepper made a fantastic dip for carrots, and red a black radishes.

I convinced a friend to stay for dinner. Moving inside, we were lead to a cozy two top. While the restaurant does have many tables, it is divided into several rooms making it much easier to have a conversation. The decor is stylized and classic.  For dinner we started with the butter lettuce salad topped with green goddess dressing. The dressing was flavorful and creamy, the greens were fresh and included fennel a favorite of mine,  but overall the salad was a little less inventive and layered than I had expected.

The entrees  were perfect. My friend gave the house made sausage a try. It came out over pureed rutabagas and we added a side of the best brussels sprouts I have ever eaten. The sausage was spicy and rich.

My entree was the duck. I guess along with bourbon, duck has been a winter staple for me (lucky me!) The duck was seasoned perfectly, served medium over a bed of farro with apples and pecans and along side a celery root puree. The sweetness of the apples played well off the flavor of the duck and the celery root puree lighted what could be a heavy dish. I will be back for this one before the menu changes to spring!

Miller Union is the perfect place to dive into Atlanta's growing batch of farm to table restaurants. Chef Satterfield is doing it right. The food is amazing and the prices are reasonable. I would recommend taking a trip over to this Westside gem.