First Look: Mileta in Lexington, Kentucky

Maybe it was the camaraderie he felt while working at a burger joint as a University of Kentucky student, or the rush of exploring new spots in big cities during corporate trips, but Dallas Rose wanted to set and share a table of his own. When the third-generation resident of Lexington, Kentucky, returned home to raise his family in 2017, he set out to open a restaurant that would honor local purveyors, add flair to the state’s rich bourbon culture, and pay homage to the international stature of the Horse Capital of the World. For seven years he hammered out the details with his director of operations and partner, Aaron Wood. And this Saturday, they open the doors to Mileta, a name that translates to gracious and nods to his Serbian heritage.

After breaking in the space in March, Rose teamed up with his wife, Courtney, and sister, Sagan, to take on the interior. “I approached it as if I were designing my home to accommodate 150 guests for dinner,” Rose says. “Most of all, we wanted the space to transport guests.” A lover of midcentury architecture and furniture, he scoured for natural stone, wood, and brass materials that would add warmth, subtle character, and imperfection without stuffiness. The focal point of Mileta, a long, curved marble slab aptly named Michelangelo from Quality Stone Countertops in Nicholasville, harkens to winding Appalachian creeks with its shocks of green, pink, and dark blue veins.

Although Mileta takes inspiration from places beyond Lexington, Rose keeps it grounded with ties to his favorite city. Playful portraits of loons, green herons, and bobcats from local artist  Spencer Reinhard perch on the wall. Collected vintage family photos (some a hundred years old) celebrate the Bluegrass State, including a portrait of the iconic basketball coach Joe B. Hall. “Our city is full of fantastic artists and culture, especially given its size,” Rose says. “We want guests to feel like they are at a dinner party at a friend’s home with food and drinks that would stand up in any major city in the world.”

Below, take a closer look inside the restaurant’s menu, dining room, pasta-making kitchen, and curved cocktail lounge.

Proprietor and managing partner Dallas Rose; the long marble bar top, a favorite detail of the team, features curving jade, gold, and pink bands that run the full length of the bar.

“There are a ton of bourbon-centric bars and restaurants in Lexington, so we knew, at a minimum, we had to have an extensive bourbon list,” Rose says. The whiskey appears not just in classic Kentucky pours but in unexpected cocktails like the Nitro Orange Drank, which combines Knob Creek bourbon, bergamot liqueur, amaro, and bright orange juice in a nitro draft machine.

The main dining seating’s earthy green takes note from the iconic Keeneland hue.

Chef Craig Becraft makes all of the restaurant’s pasta in the glass-walled room. Up to ten guests will be able to eat—and eventually take pasta-making classes—in the private space.

Chef Matthew Adams at work.

In a kitchen led by executive chef Alex Green, local ingredients play a role in pasta dishes and beyond. Spent grain from Castle & Key distillery stars in sour mash grains, prepared as a risotto, alongside roast chicken; Hackleback caviar from Kentucky sturgeon and crème fraîche from Kentucky cows top a crispy potato appetizer. 

Custom curved velvet booths from Chicago-based Rossa Furniture; Rosso Levanto (pictured here) and Carrara marble top the dining tables.

A peek inside the Rose Room, which will open in December. After visiting a curved bar in Dubai, Rose wanted to bring the bending walls into Mileta as an additional cocktail lounge and space to host private events. On the lithographic wallpaper, whimsical woodlands unfold with waterfowl and prancing deer. “With the mirrored wall adjacent to it and the scale of the wallpaper, it looks like you’re going through a portal.”