The Green Mill (affectionately referred to as “The Mill”) in Duluth is a place I have to visit every time I’m in the area. It not only has good food and drinks, but it has a great happy hour as well. What used to be 1/2 price appetizers and wings has now become 5 bucks. This isn’t such a big deal, since the prices are still so low.

Through many visits, I finally discovered the best that The Mill has to offer, Dixie Wings. These are wings with a buffalo-like sauce that stings the mouth, but always leaves me wanting more. The Mill is also one of the few places where I opt for boneless wings versus the much manlier wings with bones. For some reason, the Dixie Wing sauce just seems to work so much better with boneless wings.

The only disappointing thing, which I encounter almost every time I order wings of any sort, is the additional veggies. I’m sorry, but I don’t need celery to cool down my mouth after eating hot wings. That’s what beer is for. Luckily these stalks of green had no impact on the taste of my food, other than making my plate look slightly less appetizing.

I know it isn’t technically limited to the Northwoods, but I will always associate Old Chicago with Duluth, Minnesota, because that’s where I always seem to get it.

With a huge beer selection that includes my perennial favorite, Leinenkugel’s Honeyweiss, Old Chicago also has a decent food menu. Looking it over for a while, I eventually decided on the Meatball Stromboli, mostly due to its lack of vegetables.

Sipping on my beer, I relaxed as I awaited my Italian sandwich. When it came, it looked quite good. The bread was of an interesting consistency and the insides were pretty good. It came with extra marinara sauce for dipping, but this was pretty unnecessary for the packed sandwich which was already hard enough to eat without insides falling out.

In all, the sandwich was good fare to go along with my beer, but nothing spectacular.