Rumor Mill Owner Named Restaurateur of the Year

It takes a lot of elbow grease to become a restaurateur in Maryland. 

The owner and chef Matthew Milani has the grease part down.

“I’m cleaning the fryers right now,” he said late Tuesday morning, one day after receiving the Restaurant Association of Maryland’s Restaurateur of the Year award.

“To a person like me, that word, ‘restaurateur,’ just holds so much weight,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Milani opened The Rumor Mill in 2007 in Ellicott City and immediately began to do things his own way, including offering 70 flavors of vodka and a “” inter-staff competition.

“Owning a restaurant, I have to be the lead plumber, electrician, painter … all of those other things,” he said. “Just to be restaurateur of the year, that just means a ton to us.” 

Particularly, he said, because unlike most of the other Restaurant Association awards, only members can nominate and vote for the Restaurateur of the Year.

Winning was a validation not just of his skills in the kitchen, but of the dedication of the staff and the volunteer work it does with charities.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said, “just to be nominated. It’s a huge honor.”