
DATE: Sunday, October 26, 1997              TAG: 9710240267

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 14   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: EATING OUT 

TYPE: RESTAURANT REVIEW 

SOURCE: BY JERRY CRONIN, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   91 lines

MILLIE'S MIXES DINER ATMOSPHERE, FINE FOOD JUKEBOXES AND DESSERT MAKE IT FUN FOR FAMILY

``GREAT FOOD, casual atmosphere, cool jukeboxes and a full-service bar'' are the words that Millie's chooses to describe itself.

After recently spending a pleasant evening at this diner with an attitude, I would add casual, comfortable and kid-friendly. My wife, two girls and I had fun - and a good meal.

It is always with a sense of trepidation that you head to a good restaurant with kids in hand, but Millie's made us take it in stride. The booth-style seating along the sides of the room not only allowed us to rein in a 5- and 3-year-old - blocking their escape - but the open kitchen provided a wonderful display of pyrotechnics that caught the girls' attention.

When that started to wane, the vintage jukebox selector in each booth kept them happy until dessert.

A well thought-out children's menu allowed mom and dad merciful respite from the standard breaded and fried entrees so prevalent elsewhere. They make a mean grilled-cheese sandwich with fries ($4.95), and offer grilled chicken breast or meatloaf with house mashed potatoes and fresh vegetable ($6.75), linguine with cheese ($5.25) and sauteed shrimp ($4.95) alongside the required hamburger and cheeseburger.

With the children ably taken care of, it was time for the adults to enjoy the restaurant. The regular menu was anything but ordinary, and traveling through it was enough to set our appetites abuzz with anticipation.

We started off with a Thai Influenced Spicy Strawberry Soup ($6.75). Served cold with a lump of crabmeat and tomato in the center, it was one of the highlights of the evening. Refreshing and somewhat smoky, it was very interesting and left our taste buds awakened for the pleasures of the rest of the meal.

Accompanying the soup, we had an appetizer of Jamaican Fish Cakes topped with fresh fruit and cilantro ($5.50). The strawberries and blueberries played nicely against the refreshing zing of the cilantro and livened up the mild fish cakes.

Millie's is definitely one of those places that you could happily graze for an evening on appetizers. If we were not required to go through the rest of the menu for a review we might have spent the night over small courses of charred local shrimp with Thai aggravated dipping sauce ($6.95), southern fried calamari with smoky tomato dip ($4.75) and other intriguing offerings from this portion of the menu.

Combined with selections from Millie's two-page wine and beer list, we would have contentedly whiled away the evening, picking out selections from the jukebox and the menu.

For our main entrees we selected seared local tuna with sauteed sesame spinach, Asian rice cake and black bean-coconut broth ($16.50) and a grilled grouper special, prepared with mango, collards and plantain and served over jasmine rice with a creme fraiche ($17.95). These were nicely prepared and well presented.

Other things that looked intriguing on the menu included oven-roasted salmon filet with southern corn and potato gratin and fresh asparagus-leek sauce ($15.95), linguini with plum tomatoes, fresh spinach, garlic and portabello mushrooms with shaved parmesan ($12.50) and a half grilled lobster tail over Millie's creole gumbo ($16.50).

Our dessert was white chocolate semi-freddo ($4.50), a rich concoction with a thick pudding texture, dusted with chocolate powder and topped with a scattering of blueberries and mint leaves. The combination of the fresh mint with chocolate pleased the entire family and provided a nice close to the meal. Other desserts on the board that day included mille-feuille of almond wafers with berries and apricot butter and chocolate walnut torte with ginger caramel sauce.

In addition to the dinner menu, Millie's serves breakfast and lunch Wednesday through Sunday. The day menu is as imaginative as the evening and includes such interesting items as marinated grilled portabello mushroom ``burger'' ($4.95) and pesto, roasted red pepper, cucumber and ricotta sandwich ($4.75) alongside the ``normal'' fare of eggs, burgers and the like. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW WILSON

Peter Roberts, 27, of Nags Head, is head chef at Millie's in Kill

Devil Hills. He works in an open kitchen that adds to the cozy

atmosphere of the diner.

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HOW TO EAT THERE

What: Millie's

Where: Milepost 9.5, beach road, Kill Devil Hills

Hours: Breakfast-lunch, Wednesday through Friday, 10:30 a.m. to

2:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner,

Wednesday through Sunday, 5:30 to 10 p.m.

Entertainment: Jazz and blues, Sunday evenings

Phone: 480-3463