This Lexington chef, and two others from Kentucky, named James Beard semifinalists
Central Kentucky restaurateur Ouita Michel has been named a semifinalist again for a James Beard Award.
Michel operates eight restaurants in Central Kentucky under the Holly Hill and Co. umbrella, including Holly Hill Inn and The Midway Bakery in Midway; Wallace Station Deli in Versailles; Windy Corner Market and Restaurant, Smithtown Seafood, Honeywood, Zim’s Cafe and The Thirsty Fox in Lexington.
She been a Beard semifinalist seven times, including twice as Restaurateur of the Year.
This year Michel is again a semifinalist for Best Chef Southeast, which includes Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
And she isn’t the only Kentucky chef honored for 2022: Anthony Lamas of Seviche in Louisville and Alison Settle of Barn8 at Hermitage Farm in Goshen also were named semifinalists in the same category, along with 17 other regional chefs.
In 2020, which Michel was a semifinalist for Restaurateur of the Year, she said she was overwhelmed by the honor.
These will be the first awards under a new system devised by the James Beard Foundation after the 2020 awards were essentially canceled.
Finalists will be announced in March and winners will be named in June at an awards ceremony in Chicago.
