Millie’s Pizza and Ice Cream opens on the Crystal River

By Jacob Wheeler

Sun editor

This summer means now. A sign reading “Opening this Summer” inside the window at Millie’s, the new pizza and ice cream restaurant on the footprint of the famed Riverfront Pizza, has been replaced by a new sign that reads “Grand Opening” and “Thursday to Sunday 12 pm to 8 pm.”

Millie’s holds its grand opening on Thursday, Aug. 10, and features made-from-scratch “Roman Pizza al Taglio,” known for its semi-thick, light and fluffy interior and crispy exterior. Pizza slices, which cost $5 or $6 each, offer cheese, pepperoni, sausage and onion, or mushroom and roasted garlic. For dessert, Millie’s features ice cream in two flavors—cinnamon toast and dark cherry—crafted from a rich, custard base that uses cream, whole milk, sugar, salt and egg yolks.

The restaurant is managed by Fernhaus Studio hospitality group, whose team also runs The Mill, another time-honored Glen Arbor landmark on the Crystal River, The Riverside in Leland, and Brew in Traverse City.

Matt and Katy Wiesen, owners of Crystal River Outfitters, The Cyclery the M22 store, and Coastal, acquired the property in Fall 2021 from Tim and Sue Nichols who ran the cherished pizzeria and deli on the river known as “Johnnie Salami’s” for nearly 40 years. The Wiesens planned to reopen the eatery last spring as “Riverfront Social,” but their need to rebuild the canoe and kayak livery next door after a tragic car accident destroyed the building in August 2021 put plans for the pizzeria on hold. Late last year, Matt approached Fernhaus owner Kelsey Duda about managing the restaurant.

“With everything happening at The Mill and our return to milling grains there, it felt like pizza would be such a great opportunity to showcase,” said Duda. “But we didn’t want to operate that concept out of The Mill, itself. When Matt approached us to take on the project, we felt like local grains in the form of pizza was in line with the hospitality offerings we wanted to bring to the area.”

The Mill opened its café and bakery this spring, recently launched its overnight lodging, and hopes to add dinner service in its 30-seat restaurant on the Crystal River this Fall or by the end of 2023.

Bobby Thoits, head chef at The Mill, also manages the menu at Millie’s. Thoits and his wife Danielle, both natives of Grand Rapids, recently returned to Michigan and bought a house in Honor after food stints in Denver and Bozeman. He stumbled across the Fernhaus job posting for The Mill and is excited about the menu at Millie’s and what the team will soon unveil at The Mill.

“We’re grinding our own flour with wheat berries and tried to find a pizza dough to highlight the flour itself,” Thoits said. “We wanted to focus on the crust. The Roman Pizza al Taglio is semi-thick and looks like a bready crust, but it’s actually light and airy, like biting into a cloud, but with a crunchy exterior. It’s not filling like a Detroit style pizza.”

The ice cream, he added, is made completely from scratch with cream from a local dairy, Michigan sugar and Michigan eggs, and flavorful components added. “It’s a time-consuming, tedious process. But it has a really wonderful mouthfeel that just cannot be replicated with a powder-based ice cream.”

Millie’s is open Thursday-Sunday from noon-8 pm through September and they’ll reevaluate hours once Fall arrives. Thoits hopes to add salad offerings and appetizers at some point in the future.