Historic Rawls

The Rawls Chef
Meet The Chef
Al Mills has a great passion for cooking and continuously strives to take cuisine to the next level while maintaining quality and consistency with his food.
 
The greatest reward for Mills is to constantly provide his customers with the “wow factor” during every dining experience. To him, it’s more than putting a plate of food in front of someone that looks good – it must taste great. Mills strives to please the customer so when they finish easting, they start thinking about their next visit.
 
“That is why I love what I do,” he said. “I bring a lot of experience to the table and I look forward to a rewarding future in striving to make The Rawls all it can be.”
 
Mills is a graduate of the Philadelphia Restaurant School of Culinary Arts. His studies included all regions of the world, but his major study was classic French cuisine. In addition to his formal education, Mills also studied abroad in France. His culinary degree also includes state certification in sanitation, nutrition, beverage, and front of the house service and business.
 
Mills has worked in several freestanding upscale restaurants and three full service hotels in places such as Boston Mass., Philadelphia, Penn., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and College Station, Texas. This experience has given him hands on knowledge of regional cooking in the United States.
 
Prior to taking over the Rawls Restaurant, Mills was the executive chef at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Center in College Station. Here he serviced two restaurants within the hotel, a white tablecloth prime steak house and a trendy Bistro. In addition, he commanded and produced functions for up to 2000 people to include the last two U.S. Presidents and celebrities such as Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
 
Mills is excited about having a restaurant in a great community like Enterprise. “I have a strong sense for the community and I like to be involved whenever possible,” he said.
 
Outside of creating culinary masterpieces, Mills has been married for 28 years, and has a 26-year-old son that is a graduate of A&M University. Prior to attending culinary school, Mills served in the U.S. Army.