The Mill Pond Steakhouse - 5 Star Comfort Food

    As many of you know and some of you have come to realize I live in South Carolina, and due to the city in which I live (Sumter) I am within easy driving distance of every major South Carolina city. I'm within 2 hours of Columbia, Greenville, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and many of the South Carolina islands. This means I get to have some of the best food in the southeast (and depending on the restaurant, the country) and I don't have to wait to go on vacation. Having said that, one of my absolute favorite places to eat is The Mill Pond. It's a perfect comfort food meal is in the tiny town of Rembert about 15 or 20 miles northwest of Sumter. The restaurant is really in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and unless you see the tiny sign on Hwy 521 pointing to Boykin Mill you will go hungry that night. Funny story - The first time my wife and I went I even had GPS and it announced we had arrived when we were driving along fields of corn. If I hadn't just said let's drive a little further and find a place to turn around we wouldn't have found it. 
    The Mill Pond sits on a pond (go figure) alongside Boykin Mill. Now, this may seem a little country to you cityfolk, but if you then think about the fact that South Carolina is best known for one thing, namely shrimp and grits, the lightbulb will then go off in that brain of yours and you'll realize that this restaurant is perfectly set up to have some of the best, and freshest, grits in the state. Thing is, they don't disappoint at all. They have my favorite shrimp and grits anywhere, and what makes them good is the chef's ability to add flavor and ingredients to the grits without taking away from the creaminess that is the perfect plate of grits. It has some great heat and spice, pan fried tasso - which is a spicy smoked pork cut from the shoulder, huge prawns, and it's all served in a dish that could feed 4. It's just glorious.
    They don't just rest on their grit flavored laurels however, they succeed at every level of the menu - appetizers, soup/salad, entrees and dessert. My two favorite apps are the cornmeal encrusted oysters and the duck spring rolls. The oysters are perfectly dredged in their cornmeal ground not 100 feet away and fried to perfection served with a semi-spicy remoulade that is just wonderful. The spring rolls are as they should be, namely perfectly prepared pulled duck, asian spices and Caramelized sweet onions, shitake mushrooms and cilantro rolled in a spring roll and fried to crispy perfection. it is then served with a plum glaze and sweet chili sauce. Awesome. One thing I look forward to every time and a dish I never waver from is the She Crab soup. It is creamier than a lobster bisque with twice the flavor.
    I know I've gone on and on about everything that is not in the name of the restaurant, but don't fret they do steaks very well. In fact if it wasn't for the shrimp and grits being so damn good I would've easily talked about their steaks before anything else. They have every great cut and they don't skimp on the size either. The smallest cut is an 8 oz filet, but my personal two favorites are the ribeye and the bone in strip. If you have masochistic tendencies then please go for the "cowboy cut ribeye," a 22 oz bone-in ribeye that will wonderful but will probably mean that you'll be too full to drive home. I guess that may not be a bad thing because it means that the rest of the table will get to enjoy the beauty that is the Mill Pond cobbler. They usually have two to three different kinds, and they are finished tableside a la mode. The crust is perfectly sweet and crunchy and I have never heard anything but complete and undying love by everyone who has had the opportunity to partake in the ideal dessert.
    All in all when you live in a place that has a lot of chains and everyone shops at that culinary destination also known as Wal-Mart there aren't that many opportunities to have really really good food, but no matter where you live or what you're used to, this is the aforementioned really really good food. If you find yourself in central South Carolina please find the mill and partake in this feast. 
    I know I didn't leave a recipe last time, and this time is not much different. I don't have a full recipe, but what I do have is something easy for the home cook that will dress up the after dinner ice cream that everyone loves, and always a big hit at dinner parties as well.


Warm Blueberry Topping for Ice Cream
Ingredients
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon cold water
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
In a saucepan, combine the blueberries, water, sugar and salt; cook and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 7 minutes or until the berries burst. Combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth; stir into hot blueberry mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for two minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in the lemon juice, vanilla and cinnamon. Serve over ice cream. Yield 1 1/4 cups.
The fun thing about this recipe is that you can dress it up with some mint as well as switch ou the blueberries for any other fruit you prefer. Enjoy!!

The Lazy Goat - Heaven in Greenville

    I know I haven't ever posted on just one restaurant, but when I see perfection it just has to be rewarded.  Earlier this week my wife and I went on a short anniversary trip up to Greenville, SC and this time Janie planned the whole thing. I think that maybe I'll have her plan from here on out because she found a serious winner with The Lazy Goat.

    This place was described to me as a tapas restaurant, and as I have a serious love affair with tapas I was stoked. Thing is though, it's not a tapas joint, it's a restaurant that makes you eat until you explode. Their menu is pretty unique, and half of it is tapas based. The beginning of the menu has various meats and cheeses and you can pick as many or as few as you'd like, which is great for me because I love cheese plates but it irritates me that I never get any choice in the matter. For all you cheeseheads out there they don't mess around, it was seriously some of the best cheese I've ever enjoyed. Once you get done delving into cheese and handmade salami perfection you then get to the "Graze and Nibble" portion of the night. The problem is that you neither graze nor nibble, instead you dive in and never come up for air. Now, usually on menus I like there are a some things that look good, not here...On this menu there were maybe one or two out of over 15 dishes that I wasn't too interested in, and that's just because I'm not a big olive fan. It actually irritated me that the menu looked so good because Greenville is over 2 hours away. I can only review what we specifically ordered, but if that's any indication of the all around quality you can just close your eyes and point to something and then wait for bliss. We had the Moroccan "bisteeya" which is like the puff pastry pastilla, but smaller and more empanada-like. It was roasted chicken, vegetables, spices and goodness in a glorious puff pastry. We also shared the fried goat cheese, which may sound normal, but here they decided to fry them in bite size balls and then drizzle them with honey and crushed pistachios. Apparently people come in a demand these cheese balls before they order drinks or even say hi to the waitress. However, as good as the cheese was, the star of the night was the braised moroccan lamb shank. The chef must have learned how to braise from God himself because it was perfect. The braising liquid was well-spiced and the meat pull apart tender. To top it off they put a wonderful cucumber yogurt and some plantain chip on top. Just to die for. 

     Now we continued on our journey and actually ordered more food. I know, absurd, but the entrees looked fantastic and how else would I be able to review it...trust me, it was just for you guys, no selfish gluttony here. Anyways I ordered the housemade tagliatelle pasta with braised pork cheek, and it was beautiful. The noodles were perfectly thin, eggy and succulent, and the pork was like Mom's pot roast, if mom is Julia Child. Perfect. My wife got the flatbread pizza with roasted veggies and fresh herbs. It sounds a little "vegetarian" to a meat eater like me, but it was fantastic. Instead of a traditional sauce they spread homemade basil pesto on the crust. It was a great entree, or ideal as an appetizer. 

    And did we stop there? Well I pretty much almost fell asleep, but as Janie was good and ate less of each dish, so she pushed on and got the Harvest Tartan. The best way to describe it is as the menu does: spiced pears & apples, caramel, buttery pastry, sage sugar cranberries, and caramel ice cream. It was actually good enough to make me come back to life and share it. It tasted like fall and every ingredient was perfect. 

    So (deep breath), that's it. This is just the prefect restaurant because you can go for a light lunch, gorge yourself at dinner, go with a bunch of friends for apps and dessert, or go solo for some great cheese and pasta/pizza. I've thought about why I love this place so much and I think it's 1.) the food gives a new definition to the word fantastic, and 2.) The chef(s) treat each ingredient and dish with such love and respect that you can't help but thoroughly enjoy each part of each dish you taste. So, that's the lesson for today for all you cooks out there. Respect your ingredients and do your best to bring out what makes each aspect of a dish taste good. If part of the dish doesn't taste good then the dish will lose its luster. Try fresh, try made from scratch, try these and although you may fail at first, you will be rewarded when you get it right. Now, I know I usually leave you with a recipe, but instead I have homework this week: Take one of your favorite dishes/recipes and replace some of the store bought things in the recipe with stuff you prepare from scratch. If you love pasta, try making a marinara sauce, if you love well spiced burgers or meat try making your own spice rub. If you need ideas or have questions about what I or any of my readers like just leave a comment/question and we'll all share what food makes us happy. And because I'm learning French - Bon appetit et bonne nuit!