AJ Jones has joined the team at Milton’s Cuisine & Cocktails as the Crabapple restaurant’s executive chef. Jones has a wealth of experience in the Atlanta food scene, working at restaurants like Ray’s on the River, The Sun Dial Restaurant at the Westin Peachtree Plaza and Rootstock, where she was the executive chef. Under her leadership, Milton’s launched lunch service and a new dinner menu this month.
The admiration for using local ingredients initially attracted Jones to Milton’s. “What got my attention was the garden,” she says. “Being able to pull seasonal, fresh produce out of Milton’s Acre really inspired me.”
Jones is no stranger to creating specialty menus incorporating gourmet flavors and locally sourced ingredients and has already enjoyed using Milton’s Acre’s bounty to spark her culinary curiosity.
Examples of Jones’ new additions to the dinner menu include:
- Chicken liver mousse with strawberry jam, pink peppercorn mustard and baguette.
- Warm spinach and beet salad with roasted beets, goat cheese, confit fennel, oranges, pistachio and citrus honey vinaigrette.
- Grilled cauliflower steak with cola-braised turnip greens, cauliflower puree and chimichurri.
- Prime Bolognese with prime meat, San Marzano tomatoes, pappardelle pasta and house ricotta.
- Herb-crusted trout with roasted cauliflower puree, sweet potato shrimp fritters, asparagus and sweet chili sauce.
- Pan-seared scallops with fava and corn succotash, Brussels sprouts, candied pecan and white mole.
“I’m French-trained, but I’m Southern. I love taking French techniques and processes and twisting them into a French-Southern style,” says Jones. “I grew up watching Julia Child and Jacques Pépin, who influenced my career.”
Jones’ culinary style continued to evolve during a solo trip to Barcelona that she took while she was working at Ray’s on the River.
“The stores in Barcelona featured whatever was local and fresh, and you bought what you needed for the day. Something I took away from that trip was learning how to take foods from two different cultures and make them look new but true to their roots and essence,” she recalls.
