Food

Food  RESTAURANT

The Dish

New Life at Historic Landmark

Cooper’s at the Mill brings pancakes and poutine, gravy and grits to Readyville Mill

STORY BY BRACKEN MAYO PHOTOS BY SARAH MAYO

RESTAURANT Cooper’s at the Mill LOCATION 5418 Murfreesboro Rd., Readyville, TN PHONE 615-563-4645 HOURS Friday and Saturday 9 a.m.–3 p.m., 5–8 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m.–3 p.m. PRICES Country fried steak or chicken breast with gravy, two eggs and one side: $14.95; 4 biscuits with butter, preserves and honey: $8; Fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese and remoulade: $11.95; Colorado style pork green chili: $5.95; Southern poutine: $11.95 ONLINE coopersatthemill.com

The latest incarnation of the restaurant at the Readyville Mill site has the pancakes and breakfast dishes that diners may expect, along with some new creations from Chef Cooper Brunk.

Now known as Cooper’s at the Mill, the restaurant serves some huge light and fluffy biscuits, so airy and flaky, accompanied with whipped butter, honey and preserves—biscuits done right.

Enjoy some perfectly fried okra, very crisp, at Cooper’s, or a jalapeño corn pudding—sweet and sugary yet quite spicy and pepper-laced all at once—along with entrees including catfish, pulled pork and country fried steak or chicken with gravy.

“The steak dinner was phenomenal; the apple pie and Oreo cheesecake were amazing,” Sarah Martinez said.

Another recent Cooper’s diner said he was impressed by the generous portion of meatloaf, displaying a tasty, herb-seasoned flavor. Brunk said he was going for something different than the standard ketchup-covered meatloaf and uses some thyme and rosemary in the dish.

For a rich and flavorful creation, try an order of the Southern poutine—hand-cut fries smothered with white gravy and topped with bits of smoked sausage and cheese. Something about the smokiness of the sausage along with the fallen leaves rustling in the breeze outside the window at the historic property just gave a strong impression of Tennessee in the fall.

If fried foods, pancakes, poutine, pie and biscuits sound a little heavy for one’s dietary objectives, a delicious cranberry balsamic along with candied pecans, apples and grapes make eating some spinach a very sweet and fruity affair within the Fruity Nutty Salad.

Brunk took over operations at the restaurant space in June 2022. A chef for 25 years, Brunk grew up in Murfreesboro, attending Riverdale High School, but had been living in Colorado before returning to Middle Tennessee to launch Cooper’s at the Mill and leave his signature on the historic property.

“I never thought I would be living out here again,” Brunk said.

But now he seems excited to head the kitchen at the historic space and provide good food in the unique setting.

Colonel Charles Ready constructed a mill at the site in 1812. That mill later burned down, but in the 1870s Robert Carter built another mill building, the one that still stands today; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

“Great piece of Americana and very good food!” Angela Butler said following a dining experience at Cooper’s at the Mill.

As a fun little feature, kids can color on a Readyville Mill coloring page as they await their food, while the mill itself sits right out the window. That’s a unique touch.

In addition to the grist mill, the property also contains a granary, an icehouse, a cabin and a smokehouse. Visitors can walk the grounds and the creek bank before or after a meal for photo ops and in a natural setting.

“Such a cool atmosphere! This is a fun place to come with great food,” Gina Cantwell Bondurant said. “The grits are out of this world.”

Although the mill had fallen into disrepair over recent years and is not currently operat-

ing, Brunk said that he and the property owners are “trying to get the mill up and going again. It needed a lot of work.”

The Ford family has run its restaurant, known as Goodness Gracious, at the Readyville Mill property before moving their operation to the Fountains at Gateway in Murfreesboro in 2022. Some will miss Goodness Gracious and that establishment’s delicious offerings, but Cooper now gets to share some of his dishes while aiming to continue the traditions of tasty food, a historic setting and memorable experiences.

The restaurant is currently open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Most of the cars in the parking area on a recent Friday were from outside of Cannon and Rutherford counties. Friday seems to be the travel day, when folks come from all over, some coming as groups on vans and buses; more locals have been coming out on Saturdays and Sundays, Brunk said, and he desires to continue reaching the local population.

Cooper’s offers dinner service on Friday and Saturday and also offers some canned beers, features never before offered at the Readyville Mill restaurant space.

Breakfast fans can order from the full breakfast menu until 3 p.m.

“The country fried steak was excellent, as were the apple jack pancakes,” reported Matt Rutherford. These special apple pancakes are made with apple cider and topped with apple butter, candied pecans and caramel.

Definitely try some gravy on something, whether it’s fried chicken, biscuits or fries, and come take in this notable local restaurant on a site that can teach the younger generations about food production in centuries gone by while offering great meals in the present day.

Tammy Jacobs Garner complimented Cooper’s at the Mill’s service, decor and array of menu choices after a meal.

“Cooked to perfection. The fried foods were crisp and not greasy, the beans weren’t overcooked and the buttermilk pie was like I had baked it myself,” she commented. “It’s a much needed restaurant in the area.”

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News

WHAT A DRAG STORY BY BRACKEN MAYO

City of Murfreesboro bars Tennessee Equality Project from holding future events following “all ages” striptease show, some want adult cabaret performances 18 and up

AS DRAG QUEEN STORY HOURS and the marketing of cross-dressing and gender-switching to children have increased on a national level over the past years, the debate on minors attending stage shows that feature men dancing in lingerie has come to Murfreesboro.

Following September’s Boro Pride event held at Cannonsburgh, a Murfreesboro city park, a video of the drag show has generated some controversy and resulted in irate parents and the city banning the sponsoring organization, the Tennessee Equality Project, from holding any future events on city property.

Posted to Facebook by conservative activist and commentator Robby Starbuck, the video from the outdoor event captures “adults gyrating and humping the floor” with kids in the audience, as Starbuck says.

At one point, a young audience member gave a cash tip to one of the scantily clad, gyrating performers.

“This is disgusting! Sad how perversion like this is acceptable today,” said one observer in response to the video.

Starbuck says he wants to see children legally protected from “hormone therapy, gender mutilation and wildly inappropriate drag shows in public.”

While he and many other concerned parents say they do not want to interfere with what adults choose to do in adult settings, “this is about protecting the innocence of children.”

Hundreds of parents commented on the drag show activities, an event billed as “family friendly,” with many calling it “disgusting,” “not appropriate,” “demonic,” “awful” and “child abuse.”

“Why not just take [children] to a strip club?” another concerned American commented sarcastically.

Although the Boro Pride festival has presented these types of drag shows in previous years, the outcry following the 2022 festival got the attention of city officials.

In a letter addressed to Tennessee Equality Project, Murfreesboro City Manager Craig Tindall made it clear that such shows are “unacceptable and inconsistent with the use of City property.”

The display within Cannonsburgh in September contrasted so drastically with the promises of a “family friendly,” “all ages” day at the park that TEP promoted, that Tindall said the group would not enter into further rental agreements with the Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department.

“These promotional descriptions were misleading and your application submitted to the City contained material misrepresentation,” Tindall wrote. “The event contained conduct and speech of an explicitly sexual nature, which is a clear violation of the terms of the permit issued to your organization as it violates Murfreesboro City Code. More offensively, your event intentionally exposed young children to this conduct, a clear violation of Tennessee statute and Murfreesboro City Code.

“As a result, I will deny future special event permits submitted by your organization.”

Others point out that the show appeared to violate another Tennessee law in addition to the one Tindall referenced. TN Code 7-51-1407 states that an “adult cabaret shall not locate within one thousand feet of . . . a public park” (nor a child care facility, school, family recreation center, residence, or place of worship).

Tennessee State Rep. Bryan Terry said he expects the general assembly to consider stricter regulations limiting the attendance of sexualized dance performances to adults.

“There will likely be legislation surrounding this issue in the coming session,” Terry said. “At the minimum, there are at least two issues at hand. First is the inappropriateness of lewd activity on public property under a permit, and the inappropriateness of having minors attend.”

One Murfreesboro City Council member says that city officials need to be more involved in making sure activities held on city property follow the agreed upon permit issued.

“If a permit is issued for a ‘family friendly’ event, it should be such,” Murfreesboro councilman Shawn Wright said.

“That show seems to violate existing state laws regarding lewd acts,” he said regarding the Boro Pride drag show at Cannonsburgh. “Celebrating love and inclusion is one thing, but I have talked to people with kids who were there, people without kids who were there and people who were not there, all saying what happened was not appropriate. I don’t think anyone can see that and think that it is appropriate for children, whether it’s someone in drag doing it or a natural-born woman up there doing the same thing. I just don’t think that this is ‘family friendly’.”

Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, pointed out that the drag show “has been a part of our pride celebration and other pride celebrations for many years.”

“Drag performances have been a part of it since 2016 and they have been enjoyed by the spectrum of people from youth and their parents to seniors,” Sanders said. “What has changed this year is the determination of some to cast the event as some kind of threat.”

The TEP director added that the group opposes “any effort to categorize all drag performances as inherently only appropriate for 18 and up.”

Shows elsewhere in Tennessee have recently sparked similar debates. Jackson Pride agreed to make the drag show portion of its pride celebration an 18-and-up activity, following pressure from State Rep. Chris Todd and other residents.

Todd cited the same state law prohibiting adult cabarets in parks as a way to keep Jackson Pride from having a drag event in a public park.

“I intend to see that the law is upheld!” Todd said.

Even after a change of plans with the intention of holding the show indoors, Todd and others filed a legal complaint that the indoor location for the “outrageous adult performance” was still within 1,000 feet of a house of worship (the Jackson First United Methodist Church).

However, they went on to drop that complaint after drag show organizers agreed to make the event 18-and-up, according to NBC News.

“By agreeing to the restrictions, they have effectively acknowledged that what they were promoting was way out of line,” Todd said.

In Memphis in September, the Museum of Science & History made a last-minute decision to cancel its Memphis Proud Drag Show and Dance Party.

Protesters showed up at the event, another one billed as “family friendly.”

“It’s child abuse. I don’t care who does it, it’s wrong,” one of the protestors, Susan Gray, told Action News 5, “this is nudity, sex acts, and simulated sex acts, and it’s wrong.”

The Museum of Science & History issued a statement saying it “made the decision to cancel all programming Friday evening due to the presence of armed protesters.”

Another drag show at Tennessee Tech University resulted in the university president issuing a public apology and canceling other activities of the involved student organizations after a video of these festivities garnered much outrage. Here, a striptease artist caressing him/her/themself performed and accepted cash from minors in attendance.

“If these were straight kids watching straight strippers, they would be shut down so fast,” Dawn Miller noted.

Videos from events in Maryville, Tennessee, also show barely clothed performers interacting with children, while pride activities in Chattanooga included youngsters— preschool-age children, it appears—touching the crotch area of an individual in a mermaid costume and watching as other burly performers spread their legs and displayed their barely-covered genital regions.

“Parents shouldn’t take kids to drag shows and business owners shouldn’t host drag shows aimed at children,” Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp posted.

In Chattanooga, the Hamilton County Conservatives have begun collecting signatures “petitioning our state legislators to pass a law stipulating that all drag shows or events featuring drag performers must be for persons 18 years and older only.”

Robby Starbuck, along with his wife, Landon, continue to post videos of children attending drag shows and encourage parents and voters to get involved.

“We can’t allow this to continue,” Starbuck posted. “In Tennessee there will be no safe space to be sexually inappropriate with kids.”