With an exposed aluminum ventilation system and an expansive brick dining room adorned intimately with lantern-style lights, you might just forget that you’re in Sanford. But with ambiance and style akin to restaurants in Portland, Boston and maybe even Manhattan, Mill 67 is one of several relatively new eateries making headlines west of the turnpike.

“We walk through that door and we don’t feel like we’re in Sanford anymore. That was the perception we were trying to change,” said General Manager Jeff Mayo. “Sanford’s growing, Sanford’s changing, and we want this to be, ‘This is Sanford.’”

Located in a refurbished mill, originally opened in 1867 – hence the name – the restaurant is both an engine of change and a nod to the past for this city with a population of just about 21,000.

The space clings onto Sanford’s history as a mill town, with original brick walls intact. A sprawling hardwood floor echoes the bar, crafted entirely of wood. Low dividing walls create an intimate setting in an otherwise sprawling space.

Mayo said the restaurant primarily focuses on pub fare with the volume turned up, and features a slew of local beers on tap. Popular items include a warm kale salad with sliced pears, goat cheese, candied pecans and balsamic vinaigrette ($8), a generously portioned fish and chips ($17) and Haddock Oscar: crab-stuffed haddock based with hollandaise alongside wild rice and asparagus ($18).

The menu doesn’t adhere to a strict theme, drawing influence from France, Mexico, Italy and the United Kingdom, in addition to North America. And it’s Greek chicken risotto isn’t traditional pub fare.

Mayo said the restaurant focuses on offering items for people of all walks of life. Since the restaurant’s opening on St. Patrick’s Day in 2014, Mayo said, the crew has rotated its menu six or seven times to accommodate different tastes, and boasts an extensive gluten-free menu for those who lead gluten-free lifestyles. “When we first opened we had duck confit, a liver pate, and it wasn’t really hitting the market here we were kind of hoping for,” Mayo said. “So we kind of had to hit the drawing board again, which we’ve done again and again and again, to try to narrow it down just to find out what sells and what people are looking for.”

But Mayo says the restaurant certainly never tries to play it safe. Currently, Mayo and the chefs are smoking their own brisket and poultry for sandwiches, and are beginning to smoke their own spices, salts and sugars to add new dimensions of flavor to their dishes.

“We want to be on the edge of the box. We don’t want to be outside the box because that kind of scares some people away, but we don’t want to be inside the box because it’s boring,” Mayo said. “We like to teeter on that line and play around with some things.”

Mill 67 is located at 61 Washington St. in Sanford, within the Sanford Mill complex. Appetizers range from $2.50 to $10; burgers and entrees from $10 to $22.

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].