Grist Mill

Looking for a winter playground? Parish has it all: snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and more. The perfect place to go while enjoying this winter wonderland is the Gristmill Restaurant, just off the 81 exit in Parish. It is one of my favorite diner-style restaurants. With a huge, oversized parking area that can accommodate over 100 cars - and a few tractor trailers - plus a snowmobile trail that starts right there from the parking lo, you just know this is a popular place to stop. Most folks will stop at the Gristmill in the morning, have breakfast, then make it back around for lunch and/or dinner. If you ride a snowmobile or belong to a snowmobile club you need to check this place out! They have a gas station with diesel as well as gasoline, oil if you need a quart and an ATM inside if you need money. And if you’re feeling lucky, there’s the option of Quick Pick!

Oh, and then there’s the food! Delicious, with ample portions. My companion, Derry, and I arrived around 6:30 on a Thursday evening in early December. From the road you can see poinsettias in every window, and once you’re inside, you’ll be enamored with the wreaths and doorways decorated with festive white lights and red bows. If I was looking for Santa, I’d be sure he was here and handing out presents!

We sat down with the owner to get an insight on the restaurants personality. We found out that the doors have locks but they have never been used. Yes, this restaurant is open 24 hours everyday, seven days a week - even on holidays. You can always order anything on the menu any time of day, so if you’re feeling like breakfast for dinner, it’s never a problem here.

Joyce is the one staff member that has worked here almost forty years. All the folks in Parish know her well and will ask for her when coming in to dine. I’m thinking after forty years she probably knows how you like your eggs. The waitresses here do not use trays to bring the food out. They can carry about 6 plates on one arm. I remember my mom working in a diner and being able to do the same thing.

Our very friendly waitress, Alisha, brought us over an oversized menu to make our dinner choices from. We started out with a cup of homemade cream of cauliflower soup ($2.49). They make soup from scratch everyday. There are usually two broth-based and one cream soup daily. If you call ahead, you can find out which soups are on the menu for the day. In addition, The Gristmill offers daily specials, such as: Wednesday is Italian Night with “The Best Lasagna Around,” Fridays are Seafood Night with Haddock or Shrimp Specials, or Saturday is Steak Night. The entire menu is available to go.

The soup arrived – hot – and with some fresh bread. I thought the cook made a mistake and gave me a bowl! It was the biggest cup I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t wait to taste it. It was this thick rich yummy soup with big chunks of cauliflower.

I had also ordered a house salad ($3.69) and veggie spud ($3.29), while Derry ordered liver and onions ($8.99). Our salads were delivered next with the dressings on the side. I will almost always ask for more than one dressing. Today I ordered both the Italian and the Ranch dressing. I again thought the cook made a mistake in the size of my salad. It was huge and included crisp iceberg lettuce, croutons, a slice of fresh tomato, and sweet onion. I liked both dressings; the Italian had the tangy vinegar base while the Ranch had the rich fullness of the mayonnaise and herbs. (I have to say my favorite was the Ranch!)

I noticed the restaurant was filling up fast with families and I couldn’t help to wonder if they were travelers or locals. This place gets a lot of both. Either way, the Gristmill welcomes families big or small. There is a Kids’ Stuff section on the menu that offers things like hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled cheese, chicken tenders, or spaghetti ($4.29). If that’s not enough to get everyone in the car to come here, tell them there are home made pies and frozen soft ice cream. This is the only place I know that has frozen soft ice cream in the middle of winter! Batches are made up and frozen waiting to be plucked out of the freezer case. When the weather warms up you can get soft ice cream anytime. It’s a great treat!

Our dinners were delivered promptly after we finished our salads. Derry was so excited to be able to get the liver and onions. Nobody in her family will eat this dish at home, so it’s always a treat to be able to find it at a restaurant. The beef liver was moist and tender smothered in caramelized onions and crisp pieces of bacon with a side of hot crispy French fries and cool creamy coleslaw.

My baked veggie spud was piping hot and covered with large pieces of tender broccoli and smothered with melted cheddar cheese. I had to wait a couple of minutes to wait for it to cool down a bit so I could dig in. I am a huge fan of potatoes. I was impressed with how perfectly it was cooked. It was tender in the center with butter, broccoli, and melted cheese in every bite. I don’t know how I did it but I was not going to leave with out a piece of homemade pie. I asked Alisha for a piece of pecan pie alamode and Derry chose the chocolate peanut butter pie.

Parish is known for the amount of snow they get every winter but no worries here - the Gristmill has two pay loaders with 18-foot plows to remove all the snow from the huge parking lot. Because Parish has received national recognition for some of the snow storms they have had, the Weather Channel has been here to visit and do a story and the New York Times has called and ended up writing a story about the The Gristmill! We were lucky not be witnessing a snow storm on this night. Instead, we were lucky enough to be warm and dry inside, enjoying our desserts. My pecan pie was warm with a scoop of creamy ice cold ice cream and fresh whipped cream. Derry’s chocolate peanut butter pie was as tall as it was wide with layers of creamy chocolate and peanut butter layers with a whipped cream topped with chocolate and peanut morsels. This was a perfect ending to a fun evening.

I plan on making this my new stop every time I head up north.

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