Executive Chef and Owner, Holly Hill Inn, Wallace Station and Windy Corner Market; Chef-In-Residence, Woodford Reserve Distillery
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Photo by Mick Jeffries
Ouita Michel has found her place in the world. Originally from Kentucky, Michel moved to New York City the summer after her graduation from the University of Kentucky to pursue a culinary career. She found a job at The Health Pub, a macrobiotic, vegan restaurant partially owned by one of Woody Allen’s producers.
“It was just this unbelievable good fortune,” Michel said. “The people who operated the restaurant were really kind and wonderful, and I got a lot of experience cooking all kinds of vegetable sauces. We ground our own cornmeal and that type of thing.”
Michel went on to study at the Culinary Institute of America. There, she met her future husband, Chris. Michel returned to Kentucky to plan their wedding and decided to never leave again.
“Luckily,” Michel said, “Chris liked it here, too, and moved to join me.”
Michel’s first job back in Kentucky was at Dudley’s, a restaurant she still loves today. Seven years later, she and her husband purchased the Holly Hill Inn. Today, they also own Wallace Station and Windy Corner Market. Michel serves as the executive chef for these locations and the chef-in-residence for Woodford Reserve Distillery.
Returning to Kentucky was not always easy. When Michel first came home, she worried that the “culinary world would pass her by,” but as she got older and more in tune with her life and career, she realized that ultimately she is a Kentucky chef.
“Not in a characterization of a Colonel Sanders,” she clarified, but in “a real melting-pot, eclectic way.” She prides herself on embracing local agriculture, as well as the new people and young people bringing new ideas to Kentucky.
“I feel like we have a new life about us in central Kentucky,” Michel said. “I feel like there are a lot of really young, really, really creative, smart people who have come back here to live, and I’m thrilled and excited by that.”
Michel’s passion stems from her history and family life.
“I grew up cooking up with my mom and my grandmother,” Michel said. “My mom and dad always had a big garden when we were growing up. My mother made dinner every night, and when I was a teenager, she started doing work outside the home and I started doing more and more cooking.”
Michel attributes the birth of her daughter, Willa, to a shift in priorities.
“Having her helped me develop my priorities around my family and my community,” Michel said.
Michel is a FoodChain board member, as well as a deacon at Midway Christian Church. She also serves as a member for both the Pritchard Committee for Academic Excellence and the Fayette Alliance.
Over time, Michel has grown to feel “well-worn” by her experience as a small- business operator and as a result, is confident in her ability to make decisions that shape the overall health of her businesses.
“I think that’s maybe one thing that’s difficult to learn,” she said. “There are times you have to make really hard decisions, about firing people, about managerial changes, about whether to open or close or operating hours.”
Michel explained that with experience, one not only learns to make difficult decisions, but to accept the choices that have been made and adapt to them down the road.
The decisions Michel has made have helped her to navigate the economic downturn. She said she is proud of the way her team and her partners, Chris Michel and Roger Solt, worked together to weather the storm.
For anyone interested in starting a career in the restaurant industry, or any small business, Michel advises finding a clear distinction between you and your business.
“Businesses will rise and inevitably fall,” she said. “I’ve worked really hard to not let that impact my emotional life.
“You are not the same thing as your businesses,” she added.”You are who you are.”
As for advice for other entrepreneurs considering a career change?
“Believe in yourself,” she said. “This was my second career. Don’t be afraid of a challenge or making mistakes. Find your passion and make it work for you.”