All of these photos, including the one for the postcard, were made on the same day (c. 1995). Those shown here were discarded by the photographers and given to me by Chef Miles James. A two-person table was set up on the lawn of the historic Johnson Mill, close to Greathouse Springs Road in order to get the food, the mill, and the new restaurant in the same shot. To the right of – and adjacent to – the mill is the luxurious Inn at the Mill. Both the Inn and the restaurant were designed by notable architect James Lambeth. Partnering with his son-in-law, Miles James, the two designed the restaurant together and named it “James at the Mill” for their shared first and last names.
Chef Miles James attended the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont and endeavored to work under the influence of the best chefs in the U.S. and abroad on his way to becoming one, himself. His hit list included Park Avenue Cafe and Tribeca Grill (New York City), Guy Savoy (Paris), The River Cafe (London), and The Coyote Cafe (Santa Fe).
It was my own great privilege to learn from Miles and work under his guidance at this fabulous establishment. I got a call from him in 1994 on my new land line (I don't think it had been hooked up for 48 hours, yet). After introducing himself and vaguely describing his cuisine as “fine food”, he said he was looking for good cooks and someone had given him my name. After a quick telephone interview, he offered me a job as a prep cook. I began quite literally in the basement before the official opening, prepping for dinners by invitation only. Chef liked to call my job “cutting onions” because one of his mentors would send young chefs “to the basement to cut onions” if their performance didn't match the day's demands.
In the two years I studied with him, we served business and media stars including the Walton family (Wal*Mart) who preferred the private dining room, the Tyson brothers (Tyson Foods, Inc.) who often sat at the counter of the open kitchen, t.v. star Regis Philbin, former NFL quarterback Joe Montana, and indie-folk-rock's Melissa Etheridge who graciously gave me her after dinner when I sent her a short note.
I worked diligently in the basement until there was an opening upstairs in the Chef's traditional brigade-style kitchen – at the Hot Appetizers station. After a short time, I took over as Garde Manger (“ready-to-eat) and then Desserts. Later, I became the Saucier and eventually grew into the Wood-fired Grill station. Before striking out on my own I had worked every station at James at the Mill except as Baker, but had previous experience in a full, professional bakery. We made everything from basic, fresh ingredients, the greatest pleasure of which was harvesting our own herbs in the on-premises garden. We cut thyme, basil, chives, parsley, and cilantro late in the morning when their potency was high.
We worked 12 hours per day, 6 days per week and when I left, I left for music. Unfortunately, I still needed to make a living, and I took two bits of Chef's advice which he gave me one day while discussing the future: 1) “you're already doing it” and 2) “never go backwards”. While temping as a waiter and performing music publicly, I stumbled into a few jobs as a chef – the universe seemed intent on putting me in that role:
Chef de Partie:
Ozark Brewing Company (Dickson & West streets in Fayetteville, AR)
Chef de Cuisine:
Ozark Bakery and Catering
Executive Chef:
Alpha Delta Pi Sorority House (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville)
Oak Tree Bistro (Russellville, AR)
Russellville Country Club (Dover, AR)
I had a good run at it, and then in 2022 I retired from Chef-hood and earned a BFA at Arkansas Tech University, combining my childhood talents of art and computer wizardry into a single discipline called “Game and Interactive Media Design”. I currently work incognito at nights in a local chain restaurant while developing my first game (a demo of it might be available elsewhere on this website). So now I'm a concept artist available to design games, ads, websites, characters, narratives, props, and on-and-on. Cooking was fun, too, though!