
You may know by now that James at the Mill, the restaurant in Johnson that pioneered fine dining with locally grown ingredients in northwest Arkansas, closed July 29 after 23 years in business.
Your Whispers staff has a few more details about Chef Miles James’ plans now that he and his wife, Courtney, have sold the property, also home to the Inn at the Mill, to Jesse Burkes, the longtime general manager of the hotel.
Burkes plans to transform the 10,000-SF restaurant space into additional hotel suites, a process expected to take about six months. Inn at the Mill will remain open but will also undergo a remodel.
The Jameses had been trying to sell the property for some time, and Burkes came to the couple a few weeks ago with a good offer, Miles James said. Although he declined to reveal the sale price, James said it would allow him to focus “100 percent” on his MJ Pizzeria brand.
He opened the pizzeria two years ago in Springdale and is building a second at the corner of Hearthstone Drive and Arkansas 265 in Fayetteville. James hopes to have it open by April or May.
The sale “frees us up financially to be able to really rock ‘n’ roll with my new amazing brand that’s doing so well for us,” James said.
Because northwest Arkansas is now home to a number of fine dining restaurants, it’s easy to forget that James at the Mill was the forerunner, earning write-ups in The New York Times, Bon Appétit and many other periodicals.
Miles James also earned wide recognition for the cuisine he called Ozark Plateau, including being named one of the “Rising Star Chefs of the 21st Century” by the James Beard Foundation.
Courtney James’ father, James Lambeth, bought the 1835 grist mill in Johnson that evolved into Inn at the Mill, which opened in 1991.
James at the Mill opened in 1994, and Miles James assured Whispers that he has “another fine dining restaurant in me.”