Update: The owners of Millwood Junction closed the restaurant on Dec. 23. They are currently hoping to sell it.The first thing you notice when you walk into Millwood Junction in Mancos is all the wood (presumably from a mill?). The building is so very, very … wooden, inside and out. If you’re one of those weirdos that spends all day looking at reclaimed barnwood crafts on Etsy, chances are you’ll get a kick out of this restaurant.
The rest of us, though, are more likely to judge it based on its food. The eatery is known for its steak and seafood, featuring an all you can eat seafood buffet every Friday night.
We just had to be different, though, so we dropped by for a light lunch on a random weekday afternoon. The town and the restaurant were mostly deserted and the latter had recently changed hands, so we didn’t know what to expect.
All in all, it was a satisfying meal.
I got a house specialty called “The High Country” – slices of bacon , tomato, avocado, and cheese (I, basic, got cheddar) baked on an open-faced French baguette. After ordering it, I – a millennial – realized that I had asked for the closest thing I could get to avocado toast. Oh well. At least it had an equal amount of cheese, tomato, and bacon. (Get stuffed, Tim Gurner.)
And boy, was there an equal ratio of bacon, cheese, tomato, and avocado, but not bread. If the item was about 8 inches long by 4 inches wide, the bread it sat upon was half that. So it was mostly a slab of meat, cheese, and tasty fruit – not that I’m complaining. It was good and appealed directly to the teenager in me who loves bacon and cares not that it will one day kill me.
I got potato salad as a side thinking it would be a relatively harmless addition, but it ended up being the star of the show. I’m not sure exactly how they achieved it, but it was perfectly creamy. It still had the mustardy tang you’d expect, but the potato achieved a level of smoothness in both flavor and texture that created a heavenly mouth feel. It was the best potato-based thing I had put in my mouth in recent history.
My dining companion ordered the buffalo chicken breast sandwich, which comes topped with bacon and Gorgonzola, and fries. A carnivore of few words, he said it was pretty much what he expected, especially since it achieved the buffalo flavor through the most standard of means: Frank’s RedHot. He appreciated that the bun was toasted, though, as he hates soggy buns. The fries were good, but nothing to write home about.
Ultimately, it was a filling lunch in a rustic building and that’s all we were really looking for.
Nick Gonzales
