Amis Mill Eatery

Rogersville, TN may not have much, but they do have one little special place tucked away (and I do mean you have to be looking for this to find it).  Past the historic Amis house on a curvy road is the Amis Mill Eatery.  http://www.amismill.com/ It's a rustic looking cabin type place, I would say it seats 100 people, maybe, 60 in the entrance and 40 on the porch.  The porch is covered and has an amazing view.

If you're looking for a place to take a date, this is acceptable.  The staff is very friendly and the food isn't bad either, but if you're going for Cajun, I wouldn't recommend it.  I ordered the fried okra and fried crawfish tails for appetizer.  The okra was a pre-made as you would expect (I would have done some fresh okra myself), but the crawfish tails were good, I couldn't tell if they were frozen or fresh.  The "Old Mill Sauce" was excellent to dip both the crawfish and the okra in.  It was a horseradish based sauce instead of the traditional roumalade sauce.

For the main course, I elected to stick with Cajun and ordered the Jambalaya with a side of Red Beans and Rice.  The Jambalaya was ok, it was acceptable, but could have used more spice.  However, the red beans and rice was not.  The RB&R seemed like they opened a can of kidney beans, thickened the sauce a little and put it over rice.  I was none too happy with this dish. 

Side note...everyone knows that I am the guru of sweet tea, especially if you claim to have "Southern" sweet tea, then I am all about it.  WELL...the Amis Mill claimed to have Southern Sweet Tea...yea, well they did, in the form of the pre-mix crap that the soda companies put in the fountain machine.  I think if you're going to advertise a Southern Sweet tea then go the extra mile and brew it yourself, don't use the pre-mix.  It's cheaper to do it yourself and it taste better.

I did not opt for a dessert...

The owner, made a special visit to the table to see how things were, and I of course, didn't hold back, and I told him my thoughts (If you don't wanna know, don't ask)...I'm sure it was a surprise to him, most would say everything was fine and go on, not I said the lil elf...I told him exactly what I thought.  That growing up in the deep south and Cajun cooking (come on I learned from the best before he got famous, so don't mess with my Cajun food) being one of my forte, that I was disappointed in their Cajun fare that it could have been much better.  He explained that he didn't have a Cajun cook, so it may have been off (my first thoughts were, why serve Cajun food if you don't know how to cook Cajun?).  We talked further, and I told him that I would be more than happy to share my Creole recipes and even come back up there to demonstrate how to cook it.  He was receptive to the idea.  He said he's always looking for something new and inventive.  SO...looks like I'll be making a trip back to Rogersville soon to help fix the Cajun side of the menu. 

Overall, I would recommend this place, if for nothing else the atmosphere and the historic value.  I would give this place a 3 out of 5 stars (ok, so I need to be more creative with my rating system...give me some ideas!!!)

Also, if you have a place you want me to go check out and report on, shoot me an email and I'll be more than happy to give my opinions.

Happy eating y'all!