It is a long distance from Thermopolis, Wyoming, to Midway, Kentucky. Which seems fitting as Ouita Michel—renowned chef, visionary and owner of the Ouita Michel Family of Restaurants—has traveled a long way, literally and figuratively, from her birthplace of Thermopolis (population 2,930). She spent part of her childhood in New Orleans before ending up in Kentucky in 1972.
The Commonwealth’s most prominent and successful chef/restaurateur, Chef Ouita is as warm and friendly as they come—and remarkably cool, calm and collected—considering she is responsible for a stable of eight popular food establishments in the Bluegrass region, including Midway’s Holly Hill Inn and The Midway Bakery & Café; Wallace Station, located just outside of Midway; and Windy Corner Market, Smithtown Seafood, Zim’s Café and accompanying bar, The Thirsty Fox, and Honeywood, all located in Lexington—and a catering business, Holly Hill Catering & Events, that collectively employs around 200 people.
Rob Bolson
Like so many other business owners, Michel has spent the past year navigating her enterprise through the uncertainty and staggering challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her business survival strategy has been simple: “Pivot. Pivot. Pivot.”
“We have continued to put our guests’ experience first, and I am grateful to the people who have supported us,” Michel said. “Throughout the pandemic, we have remained optimistic and hopeful. We sold cocktails out the window at Thirsty Fox and food out the window at Zim’s. Our customers needed us to be there for them—and we were.”
Until recently, she also was chef-in-residence at Woodford Reserve Distillery; the distillery discontinued food service in 2020 due to the pandemic. She even has found time to co-author her first cookbook, Just a Few Miles South: Timeless Recipes From Our Favorite Places, released in April.
The cookbook was a collaborative effort with chef/recipe writer/editor Sara Gibbs and Genie Graf, special projects director for Michel’s group of restaurants. It features more than 150 recipes, including iconic Kentucky dishes such as soup beans and cornbread.
“We wanted this cookbook to be tried-and-true recipes. These dishes have been served every single day for years at places like Wallace Station, Windy Corner, Midway Bakery and Smithtown Seafood,” Michel said.
She and her restaurants have been featured in numerous news and industry media outlets, including USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, Garden & Gun, Southern Living, Nation’s Restaurant News and The New York Times. She also has appeared on CBS This Morning, the Food Network and the Cooking Channel. She was a guest judge on the 16th season of Bravo’s Top Chef television series, which was based in Kentucky.
Clearly, food is a way of life for Michel. Her mother, father and grandmother all were excellent cooks. Her mother canned and was “really experimental.”
“I was deeply inspired by her cooking,” Michel said.
She noted that she has always wanted to cook for people she knew and loved, and build a business around that. Her 16-year-old daughter, Willa, works at Wallace Station and loves cooking and eating.
But Michel’s restaurant empire and remarkable success almost did not happen.
She originally planned to become a lawyer, majoring in political science at the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts and Sciences, where she was a top member of the school’s debate team and honors program. In 1986, she became only the second woman to win a national debate championship.
“I had a midlife crisis … a change of heart … at age 21. I realized I did not want to become an attorney. I hated it,” she added with a laugh.
Her time with the UK debate team afforded her the opportunity to travel the country—visiting Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and other cities—and the debate team loved food, according to Michel.
“We had the ‘Great Stomachs of the Debate Club,’ where we enjoyed Greek, Cuban and Indian restaurants, among others,” Michel recalled. There also was a dinner club for the team, wherein members took turns preparing dinner. “I cooked all the time,” she added. “We had many great times around meals.”
After finishing her studies at UK, Michel moved to New York, where she graduated from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA)—a private college specializing in culinary, baking and pastry arts education, with the motto: “To be the best, learn from the best.” Michel would meet her eventual husband, Chris, there on the first day of school. “He was super shy … and brilliant … and absolutely gorgeous,” she said.
Her first restaurant job was at the Health Pub Juice Bar in Manhattan, which she describes as “macrobiotic” and “vegan plus”—no animal products. It was frequented by celebrities such as Woody Allen and Mia Farrow. Bill Murray also was a regular, routinely cracking jokes. “I thought I had died and gone to heaven,” Michel said.
She returned to Kentucky in 1993 to marry Chris. Her mother insisted that she marry in Lexington. Soon after, she landed a job at Lexington’s well-known Dudley’s restaurant. “No one else would give me a job …” Michel said with a laugh, “and I graduated first in my class at CIA!”
Rob Bolson
Ouita and Chris opened their first restaurant, Holly Hill Inn, in 2001. The circa 1845 Greek Revival building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has housed a continuously operating restaurant since 1979.
The family lives in a 200-year-old cabin adjacent to Holly Hill Inn and has two pets: Tia, a 10-year-old beagle adopted from the Woodford County Humane Society as a rescue, and Sunshine Moon, a once-upon-a-time feral cat who made herself at home in the Michel residence 14 years ago and has been there ever since.
Known for fine dining, Holly Hill Inn is where Michel became known for using locally sourced products. As stated on her website, her use of local foods helps sustain Bluegrass-area family farms and provides her customers with the freshest, best-tasting fine cuisine. Her restaurants reportedly have purchased more than $3 million of Kentucky-grown meats, dairy products, fruits and vegetables over the past 20 years.
Michel has been a James Beard Foundation Award nominee as Outstanding Restaurateur and as Best Chef Southeast multiple times—prestigious honors in the culinary profession—competing against chefs in major metropolitan areas. The Beard Foundation honors the best and brightest in the cooking world. Time magazine called the awards “the Oscars of the food world.”
Of the impressive James Beard Foundation Awards recognition, Michel noted, “It’s a miracle … Here I sit in Midway, and it is a national competition. It’s humbling.”
She does not allow such lofty praise to go to her head. “I wish it was more about nominating a group … to recognize my employees who make it all possible.” Michel emphatically declared that her employees are her No. 1 asset.
Active in the local community, she is a board member of Lexington’s FoodChain, a nonprofit food incubator, and founder of FEAST, a fundraiser for FoodChain that celebrates women chefs. FoodChain’s mission is to forge links between the community and fresh food through education and demonstration of sustainable food systems.
Michel also is an alumna of the James Beard Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change, a collaborative for chefs who work to improve the world’s food systems. She was recognized earlier this year on Nation’s Restaurant News’ 2021 “Power List” for how she is building community among businesswomen in the industry.
Closer to home these days, you will find Michel in the family kitchen with her Instant Pot seeking to perfect Indian dishes. “I enjoy that cuisine so much,” Michel said. “Instant Pots and Indian cooking were made for each other.”
The Michels explore a variety of cuisines in the family kitchen. “We make lots of Japanese dishes, and Chris makes a great chili,” Michel said. “Willa loves tacos, and we make a lot of turkey tacos. From soups to stir-fry, Willa gets her vegetables. I am good with a knife.”
When Michel is not working on new menu development for her restaurants or cooking on weekends at Holly Hill Inn, she is meeting with her eateries’ management teams and focusing on renovations and facility improvements.
Michel is concerned about the future of restaurants. Staffing is the biggest challenge. “Being a chef was once a sought-after career. It has been a wonderful career for me, and I would not change a single second of it,” Michel said. “But I am worried that young people do not want to cook. We invest a lot in people. No job is above me. The restaurant business is all about people—great staffs and great customers.”
What advice does Michel offer for those who seek to become successful in the restaurant business? “It takes dedication, hard work and education,” she said. “Being a lawyer, police officer or doctor is difficult, and being in the restaurant business is also hard—but so is everything. Prepare yourself as much as you can. Education is important. But do it … It’s fun!”
About the Cookbook
Just a Few Miles South: Timeless Recipes From Our Favorite Places includes more than 150 recipes of popular menu items at Chef Ouita Michel’s restaurants. Readers and home cooks can experience what makes Michel a culinary and cultural treasure.
A few of the recipe offerings are the Bluegrass Benedict Breakfast Sandwich, Ouita’s Sardou Panini, Wallace Station’s Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup, and Honeywood’s Hoecake Burger.
Some dishes offer creative twists on classics, like the Inside Out Hot Brown, Wallace Cubano or Bourbon Banh Mi. Throughout, the chefs responsible for these delicious creations share the rich traditions and stories behind the recipes.
- Holly Hill Inn
426 North Winter Street, Midway
859.846.4732, hollyhillinn.com
- Honeywood
110 Summit at Fritz Farm, Suite 140, Lexington
859.469.8234, honeywoodrestaurant.com
- The Midway Bakery & Café
510 South Winter Street, Midway
859.846.4336, themidwaybakery.com
- Smithtown Seafood
501 West Sixth Street, Lexington
859.303.4100, smithtownseafood.com
- Wallace Station
3854 Old Frankfort Pike, Versailles
859.846.5161, wallacestation.com
- Windy Corner Market
4595 Bryan Station Road, Lexington
859.294.9338, windycornermarket.com
- Zim’s Café & The Thirsty Fox
215 West Main Street, Lexington
859.785.3690, zimscafe.com