Published: February 23, 2006 06:13 pm            

Miller’s Tavern

North-side tavern offers upscale items, down-home dishes and entertainment even Scrooge would love.

Miller’s Tavern on Kokomo’s north end rocks every night.

Monday through Sunday, the tavern is hopping with good food and a variety of entertainment — from karaoke to amateur night to working ladies day.

Special drink and food prices are offered on Mondays and Sundays — $5 pitchers, $1.50 domestic beer, $1 hot dogs or chili and 25-cent wings.

Coming soon on Wednesdays is Working Women’s Wednesday, with 20 percent off all food and drinks for — you guessed it — women who work. (Men also are invited.)

On Fridays, diners can first fill up on 10-ounce ribeye dinners. If that’s not enough to tickle your tummy, hang around until 10 p.m. That’s when the CRB Band hits the stage with its toe-tapping repertoire of country, rock and blues music.

The restaurant, located at 125 W. Elm St., reopened just over a year ago under the ownership of Rick and Judy Bowley and is managed by Rick Bowley’s brother, David, who also happens to be in the tavern’s signature band. Both brothers have been in the music business for years.

According to documents recently found in the tavern’s safe by the new owners, the restaurant was established just after World War II in 1946 by Harry and Dorothy Miller. It was famous for good food and was among the first Kokomo bars to install central air conditioning and televisions.

David Bowley said they’ve strived to maintain the same quality which patrons came to expect and added entertainment. The first thing they did was remodel a bit, moving the front door to the east to accommodate a stage.

I found the combination dining room and lounge roomy, but cozy with its tongue-and-groove pine walls. Plenty of televisions are available, including a wide-screen plasma on the west wall for the sports-minded football and NASCAR crowds.

The menu is a nice mixture of comfort food and upscale dining. It features daily specials such as meat loaf on Monday and chicken and noodles on Wednesday. Popular specials are the ribeye dinner on Friday for $8 and a 14-ounce prime rib dinner for $12 on Saturday.

If you’re not a meat lover, the tavern also offers a special perch dinner on Friday. A Mexican special (with homemade tortilla chips) also is available on Saturday.

Our waitress, Becky McWhirt, pronounced the ribeye a favorite, so I chose the combination ribeye and shrimp dinner. I added the munchie basket of deep fried wings, mushrooms, onion rings and potato skins for an appetizer.

If you’re planning to eat dinner, the munchie basket will easily serve two and you still might need a doggie bag to lug home what’s left of the generous main course.

Another homemade dish — Ron’s Homemade Cole Slaw — comes freshly made from a sparkling kitchen, creamy and full of a secret ingredient that sets it apart from your run-of-the-mill slaws.

My husband ordered the turkey manhattan dinner (also available in beef) — a fancy name for what turned out to be a huge platter of tender sliced turkey stacked between slices of bread flanking a mountain of mashed potatoes and smothered in gravy. Priced at $6.95, how better to fill your tummy without emptying your wallet?

Reservations are not necessary, but McWhirt, also the tavern’s karaoke queen, suggests arriving early on Fridays to get a seat.

“We’re packed wall to wall,” she proclaimed proudly. [ f]

[Miller’s tavern]

• ADDRESS: 125 W. Elm St. (across the street from Kokomo Lumber and within spittin’ distance of Granny’s Furniture.

• HOURS: Monday to Friday, 6 a.m.- 3 a.m. (breakfast 6 a.m. to 11); Saturday, noon to 3 a.m (red-eye breakfast 1 a.m.); Sunday, noon to midnight (red-eye breakfast 1 a.m)

• PHONE: (765) 457-4576

• SERVES: Every night, but check out Friday’s 10-ounce ribeye, $8; perch fish fry, $4.50 or Saturday’s 14-ounce prime rib, $12; Mexican, $5.95

• CARRYOUT: Available delivery with a minimum $25 order

• ENTERTAINMENT: Monday and Sunday, special drink and food prices (which is entertainment enough for those who like to eat and drink); Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, karaoke; Wednesday, Working Women’s Wednesday, open mic talent night; Friday, CRB band, 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.; Saturday, top local bands.

• WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE: Yes

• ACCEPTS: All forms of payment

• SMOKING: The entire restaurant is smoking.

        

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