The local and well-loved family-run business Michler’s will soon expand beyond its historic territory of gardens and greenhouses with the recent announcement of the addition of an outdoor café to its Maxwell Street location, which first opened in 1903. The outdoor café, which will be called Kentucky Native Café, is currently in construction and is slated to open in the spring, with plans for lunch and dinner service. Greenhouses and garden space on the one-acre property are utilized today to grow culinary herbs, specialty annuals, and many different types of flowers, which will all be integrated into the making of the café.
According to Robin Michler, a fifth generation family member who helps run the business, the café draws inspiration from a German beer garden, with the addition of food options including sandwiches, soups and salads. The menu will be predominantly vegetarian and will include homegrown herbs.
“We want it to be engaging for people that have kids,” Michler said. “Basically, we want to be a neighborhood oasis.”
The unique café seating arrangement will be completely outdoors – including the kitchen and bathroom areas – and will feature several different seating areas, including a casual, concentrated table setting in the main area next to the kitchen as well as tables dispersed throughout the garden for more intimate seating. Michler’s is currently working on the initial landscaping phase of the café, and has also worked with University of Kentucky architecture professors David Mahoney, David Biagi and Bruce Swetnam on the design and construction of the kitchen and bathroom; Transylvania University ceramics professor Zoe Strecker also installed a sculpture on on e of the walls. The café will be located behind the greenhouses, with parking and an entrance for the café planned for High Street; the café will also be accessible from the current Maxwell entrance. The design includes a garden with a stone path as well as an array of flowers from Michler’s greenhouses.
Michler envisions that the Kentucky Native Café will complement the existing greenhouse space, allowing customers to walk from the greenhouse area to the café and vice versa.
“We’re adding a place for people to sit down and enjoy the unique space that we have here,” he said.