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Robin Michler
Robin Michler
Something new has sprouted at Michler’s Florist, Greenhouse and Garden Design, the 113-year-old Lexington nursery on East Maxwell Street.
Kentucky Native Cafe is Michler’s new dining spot, offering craft beer, salads and small plates in a verdant outdoor setting.
“This is an effort to create a neighborhood oasis,” said Robin Michler, a 29-year-old fifth-generation owner of the family-run business.
Michler said he began planning the cafe more than two years ago. He said the look and feel of the new spot is an effort to capture the casual cafe and beer hall atmosphere he experienced living abroad, particularly during the time he spent in Munich, Germany.
“All of these places have a lot of informal, outdoor social scenes,” Michler said.
Michler worked with three architects to create the Mission-style kitchen facilities and open seating area, where long picnic tables and smaller settings are arrayed under the weathered skeletal framework of an old greenhouse. The cafe sits behind the main store and greenhouse area, and there is parking and access both on Maxwell and through a back entrance from a parking lot off High Street.
“We have an acre of land here,” Michler said. “In the middle of the woods, an acre seems small. But here it feels really big.”
The outdoor setting means operations largely are dependent on cooperative weather. Weekday hours are from 4 to 10 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends. Michler said he hopes eventually to add a second, earlier shift during the weekdays as well.
Erin Lynch is Kentucky Native Cafe’s chef, and Michler said he also worked with Eileen McCormick of Dupree Catering and Events to develop the menu. Michler said local craft beer is a focus (Alltech’s Kentucky Ale and three Blue Stallion offerings are currently on tap) but that he also will rotate in craft beers from farther away.
The cafe had a quiet, soft launch last week, Michler said, and the response has been impressive.
“Word-of-mouth is spreading pretty fast,” he said.