Smithtown Seafood

Ouita Michel has always made locally grown ingredients a priority in her restaurants. Thats why the cuisine is so good. For me, while studying French and Italian cuisine, I realized they use local agricultural artisan products in their food. And thats why its so good. Thats why from the beginning of wanting to be a chef, Ive committed to supporting local agriculture. Buying local is a tradition that our culture seemed to abandon for a few decades. I love cooking straight from the garden. She and her husband, Chris, bought the Holly Hill Inn in 2000 and opened the fine dining restaurant in May 2001. Michels use of locally sourced foods both helps sustain Bluegrass family farms and provides her customers only the freshest, best-tasting fine cuisine. The devotion to local foods is evident also at her other restaurants: Wallace Station Deli just outside Midway; Windy Corner Market, Smithtown Seafood (two locations), and Honeywood in Lexington; The Midway Bakery, Midway; and Woodford Reserve Distillery outside Versailles, Ky., where Michel is chef-in-residence. Michels catering division, Holly Hill Events, shares Kentucky-sourced cuisine and hospitality with groups of all sizes. Her eighth restaurant, Zims Cafe and accompanying bar, The Thirsty Fox, opened in November 2018 at the newly renovated historic courthouse in downtown Lexington. Her restaurants have purchased $3 million of Kentucky-grown meats, dairy products, fruits and vegetables over the last 18 years. Her reputation and commitment to sustainability have earned speaking invitations and awards from local, regional and national organizations. Michels work earns accolades from local and national fans of her cuisine. She has been a James Beard Foundation Award nominee as Outstanding Restaurateur and as Best Chef Southeast numerous times, competing against chefs in major metropolitan areas. Michel is an alumna of the James Beard Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change, a collaborative for chefs who wor