Many happy discoveries at the Old Grist Mill

By KATHERINE IMBRIE
Journal Staff Writer

SEEKONK -- It was a cold, snowy night, and car after car going by us on the highway had a Christmas tree strapped to its roof. We were hungry for a hearty winter meal in a warm, cozy place, something like an old-fashioned tavern, perhaps on a mill stream such as you might find in Vermont.

And suddenly, there it was before us, the Old Grist Mill, its parking lot full of cars and its low-slung wooden eaves outlined in white lights to celebrate the season.

Sad to say, the place was so packed on this Saturday night that we would have had to wait more than an hour to sit down. But we resolved then and there to return.

When we did, we found exactly what we were in the mood for, having had enough for the moment of that precocious type of restaurant where each dish seems to come with a resume describing how the animal whose meat is on the plate was raised, or where on earth this or that exotic ingredient was organically grown.

On this night, we didn't care. We wanted beef, and lots of it. Juicy prime rib or a well-seared T-bone. A big old baked potato with sour cream on the side. A salad bar where we could build our own and top it with creamy blue or ranch dressing.

Baked stuffed shrimp? Oh, yes, that, too, please. And mushroom caps stuffed with lobster and then broiled under a layer of Swiss cheese.

We found all that, and more, at the Old Grist Mill Tavern.

Originally a working mill

Such a standby that I must have driven by it 50 times in the last couple of years without ever thinking of going in to eat, the Grist Mill has been a destination restaurant for generations of people since at least the 1920s, general manager Greg Esmay told me in a later phone conversation.

The original building was indeed a working mill, built like a rock on a dam on Seekonk's Runnins River. It was this dam that created the old mill pond above the restaurant, a pond now lively with ducks that children love to feed.

An arched wooden bridge leads from the parking lot to the restaurant entrance, where hitching posts used to line the old road to Pawtucket. Inside, the restaurant opens up like an inviting vision of an old English tavern.

I remembered, upon entering, that the tavern lounge used to be musty with stale smoke -- one of the reasons I hadn't thought of going there in a long time. But now, with the smoking ban in place, the lounge and bar area has been opened up to allow for more dining tables along the paned windows overlooking the garden and the pond.

The indoor air is clear, and the setting is lovely, with a big fieldstone hearth containing a cheerful gas fire, carved Victorian loveseats and small marble tables placed around, and carriage lanterns illuminating the dark cypress paneling that helps create such a warmly cozy ambiance. Decorated with Christmas greens and white lights, the place is simply stunning.

The next happy discovery was the service. Esmay would tell me later that the average length of service for servers is 5 years, and for line cooks 10. One employee, Frank Goncalves, who makes soups and seafood stuffings, has been there 27 years.

From the bar manager -- who helpfully re-created a forgotten receipt -- to the bus team and a pair of thoroughly attentive waitresses, the service staff quite obviously enjoy their customers and do their jobs with team spirit and calm kindness -- all I ask of any restaurant, no matter how fancy or plain.

Plenty of options

As for the food, it also satisfied, precisely by being exactly as expected, and even in some cases a good deal better. The menu is straightforward and simple, with the emphasis firmly on beef and seafood, with side dishes of potatoes or rice, a cooked vegetable, and the salad bar. There are lots of options for keeping the price down if you want to, or whooping it up for a special occasion.

"We want people to find that there's something at the Grist Mill for them, whether that's just soup and salad for $8.50, or a 10-ounce prime rib with steamed lobster for $26.95," said Esmay.

I had the prime rib on one visit and found it excellent, juicy and pink as ordered with a bowl of au jus on the side (16-ounce cut, $18.95). My baked potato was fluffy and perfect, and with a dollop of sweet winter squash on the side made a hearty winter meal -- one so ample that I took about half of the prime rib home with me for lunch the next day.

All of the Grist Mill's beef is either prime or select, and sometimes Angus. "We have access to some of the same products from the same suppliers that the Capital Grille uses, but our beef is not dry-aged like some of theirs," Esmay said.

The upscale Capital Grille chain of restaurants, as well as Bugaboo Creek and Longhorn Steakhouse, are owned by the Rare Hospitality company, which also owns two non-chain restaurants, Hemenway's in Providence and the Old Grist Mill.

About a year ago, Esmay explained, management of the Old Grist Mill was shifted to the Capital Grille division of the parent company.

"That made a great deal of difference here, allowing us to go back to using, for instance, white tablecloths and better quality glassware, reflecting the fact that the Old Grist Mill, though technically part of a chain, is really its own entity with its own history and traditions."

The Grist Mill does have something that many people appreciate about chains: No surprises. You know pretty much what you'll get when you go there. Esmay said he instructs his incoming cooks: "This is the Old Grist Mill Tavern, not the Grist Mill Cafe. We do things in a traditional way here."

The current executive chef, Mark Sciuchetti, previously was chef at Twin Oaks in Cranston for 20 years.

Lobster-stuffed mushroom caps

Among appetizers, we particularly liked those lobster-stuffed mushroom caps, with rich flavor beneath a lightly browned cap of melted Swiss cheese ($7.95). An interesting take on littlenecks -- grilled and served in a broth of white wine, garlic and tomatoes -- was redolent with flavor, lighter than the usual Clams Casino, which is also offered, and could have made a light meal by themselves ($7.95).

A grilled swordfish steak ($23.95) had a somewhat mushy texture that I thought might indicate it had been frozen, but Esmay later would tell me that all of the seafood served at the Grist Mill is fresh and local. A surf-and-turf combination of a 14-ounce New York sirloin with a 1 1/4-pound baked stuffed lobster ($39.90) was a treat, the soft-shell lobster meat tender and absolutely fresh, served with a mild cracker-crumb dressing laced with lobster meat and scallops.

Folks who haven't visited the Grist Mill in a while may note a few changes in addition to the absence of bar smoke. The legendary salad bar is smaller, newer health regulations having restricted the range of foods that can be put out for self-service. The big loaves of bread and 40-pound wheels of Cheddar are gone for the same reason, replaced with pre-cubed pieces and slices.

The unwieldy wooden menu boards have been replaced with a parchment-look sheet of heavy paper designed around an old engraving and a short history of the Old Grist Mill. (The original mill and dam were built in 1745 beside the rushing waterfall that is just as picturesque today as it must have been 260 years ago.)

The quality of the service and the food are, if anything, better than before. The wine list, too, has benefited from association with the Capital Grille.

It's a relatively new list, put together by Mike O'Malley, formerly of the Grille. While you don't see the top-flight bottles that you would find at that restaurant, or the prices that go with them, the Grist Mill offers a well-chosen selection of modestly priced wines, most in the $17 to $35 range. Glasses cost from $4.50 to $8.95, with the top end a pleasant Cabernet Sauvignon, Coppola Claret, 2002, from Napa, that pairs well with beef.

Desserts are no longer made in-house. From a selection offered on a tray, we liked especially a large slice of very moist and delicious carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and a tiramisu that was fluffy and light, not too heavy on the espresso (desserts, $5.95).

A new addition this year to the Old Grist Mill's repertoire is a Sunday brunch, a $17.95 buffet ($13.95 for seniors) served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. I haven't sampled it yet, but one of these winter Sundays, when I'm just in the mood for an old-fashioned tavern meal in a lovely country setting on a mill fall, I certainly plan to go.

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The Old Grist Mill Tavern, 390 Fall River Ave., Seekonk. (508) 336-8460. Traditional dining in a tavern atmosphere. Reservations accepted. Parking in lot. Highchairs available. Handicapped accessible. Credit cards: V, MC, AE, DIS, DC. Dinner daily, 3 to 10 p.m., Sunday noon to 9 p.m. Lunch Monday-Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Open Christmas Eve and New Year's Day. Appetizers $5.95 to $9.95. Entrees $13.95 to $39.90. Desserts $5.95. Modestly priced wine list, by the glass $4.50 to $8.95.

***

Bill of fare

A dinner for two at the Old Grist Mill might look like this:

2 glasses Coppola Claret...$17.90

Mushroom caps...$7.95

Littlenecks...$7.95

Swordfish...$23.95

Prime Rib...$18.95

Carrot cake...$5.95

Tiramisu...$5.95

Total...$88.60

Tax 5 percent...$4.43

Tip...$18.60

Total bill...$111.63

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Old Grist Mill Tavern