Chef Ouit Michel addresses the crowd of folks at “Let’s Talk & Celebrate,” a special event for International Women’s Day that was held at Honeywood Restaurant in Lexington, KY
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and this year I got to celebrate it in a truly fabulous fashion. Ouita Michel, Kentucky’s Queen of Restaurants and Eating Local, pulled together a group of vibrant and diverse women restaurant owners from across the state for “Let’s Talk & Celebrate.” We gathered at Honeywood Restaurant in Lexington for a special menu of small plates prepared from each of these women’s establishments. For those in the dining room, it was a perfect opportunity to sample the rich culinary traditions and newest innovations of our state while celebrating women in our commonwealth. For us in the kitchen, it was a rare chance to talk, laugh, and work with like-minded folks as dishes got prepared and plated, side-by-side.
Check out the menu for the night!
I am proud that we were able to represent Harlan at this special event
I was thrilled that Moonbow Tipple, my coffee shop and café in Harlan, was invited to participate in this experience. But to be honest, the initial invite filled me with the all the doubts and fears of imposter syndrome, and I almost let the deadline pass without signing up. After all, neither Moonbow Tipple in Harlan, nor Moonbow Mercantile in Williamsburg, are full-service restaurants. I am no restauranteur with investors and a business plan to maximize profit, nor am I a trained chef executing on a culinary vision. Instead, Moonbow’s food offerings grew piece-by-piece during the pandemic because we heard over and again that our community needed more food options. At Moonbow, our fare is simple, and it is our heritage. Many of it is inspired by my own mother, who endlessly fed her 7 children from items grown, baked, and foraged, making the most of her limited means. In that tradition, we have saved up for our equipment, and have worked tirelessly to reinvest and improve over the past two years. Our food menu focuses on healthy fast casual—one of the hardest categories of food to get in Appalachia--with a big dose of made-from-scratch sweets thrown in. And, of course, there is the addition of lots of coffee in Harlan and that homemade ice cream in Williamsburg.
Hannah and I — both a little starstruck — when we arrived at Honeywood ready to celebrate women
The reason I threw my (chef) hat in was because I was star struck by the list of other women-led restaurants. How could I say no to being around and learning from these ladies? I also signed up because I have an insanely talented staff who I knew would benefit from getting out of our kitchen for a day and getting to participate in a bigger culinary community. But what really pushed me over was the desire to represent our Appalachian communities, when so often events in Kentucky are limited to Lexington and Louisville. We may operate in a town of 1,400 people in the rural outskirst of the state, but we have a proud culinary heritage, and I wanted to be able to share that with a broader audience.
From the very outset, Ouita was incredibly welcoming. The event was my first time meeting her in person, but her humbleness and generosity come across very clearly, even in the initial email. She may have several nominations from the James Beard Foundation for Outstanding Restauranteur and Best Chef in the Southeast, but we were still greeted warmly with a hug. She took an immediate interest in our dishes and our team and made us feel beyond welcome and important. Plus, she and her planning team did everything they could to make it easy for us to attend, even providing free lodging nearby so that we would not have to make a long drive home after the event. Ouita’s amazing food is grounded in the agriculture traditions of Kentucky, and that home-y goodness is clearly part of her very being.
Check out those Churros made by Tonya Mays-Cronin of Kismet in Lexington
And the lineup of women she assembled was mesmerizing. The menu included everything from Iberico Pork surrounded with parsley mousse and a delicious, starched foam from the well-established Dudley’s in Lexington to a Purple Sweet Potato Cheesecake from Georgia’s Sweet Potato Pie Company out of Louisville. I got to fan-girl over Tiffany El-Amin, the new owner of the iconic Lexington vegetarian restaurant, Alfalfa’s. Tiffany rescued this restaurant and has pulled from her deep agricultural connections, having worked with community farm alliances and an organization called Black Soil, which promotes African American Farmers. Tiffany’s Hoppin’ John was full of the rich earthiness of beans balanced with that perfect acidic bite of tomato. I fell in love with the churros of Tonya Mays-Cronin of Kismet, which married the airy crispness of the churro with the creaminess of Dulce de Leche and the spice of chipotle. I loaded up on teeny pies from Brie Golliher, the Pie Queen of Bowling Green, to bring home to my family. My favorite is the Derby with a little piece of crust shaped in the state of Kentucky centered on top.
I had to get a selfie with Tiffany El-Amin, someone who I deeply admire from her work both inside and outside of her restaurant, Alfalfa’s in Lexington
Honestly, I could go on and on, describing the food and the amazing women who make it their passion to nourish others and to push the boundaries of culinary possibilities. But what really stood out was how very diverse the food was. It was liking waking up in a fantasy land, tasting both the savory and sweet, the fanciest and the simplest of dishes, but each one unique and made to perfection. Where else could you get both a poke bowl or a biscuit, a layered mousse or a hoe cake smothered in hazelnut espresso butter?
I was also incredibly proud of my Moonbow team and the two dishes we brought. I wanted to bring food that felt authentic to what we serve every day, but also stepped up our game a bit in honor of the festive occasion. The first of these was a Bologna Biscuit, which was made by Chef Nick, who leads our team in Williamsburg. He whipped up a batch of sky-high biscuits and pimento cheese. We worked with Anne Bayes, the “Butcher Babe” of Moonlight Meat, to get a nice loaf of smoked bologna which we cut thick and gave a quick sear on the grill before assembling with the pimento cheese and scallions. Each got stacked with a gold ball pick, but not before a couple of pickles were stuck on the top.
Nick works the line making Bologna Biscuits. That bologna is from Moonlight Meat, a woman-led establishment from here in Whitley County
Our second dish was made by Hannah, who leads our team in Harlan, and it was our “Forager’s Truffles.” The idea behind this was to celebrate those very first edible blooms of spring in Appalachia. Hannah went out into the mountains to find the early violets, then steeped them in heavy cream to make a ganache for our Candied Violets truffle, which was topped with white chocolate and the crunch of candied violets. Our Redbud and Roses Truffle was made with dark chocolate, Redbud Jelly, and then sweetened with local honey. But the one that stole the show was the Kudzu & Matcha truffle – a flavor pairing I am certain Hannah is the first to make, and perfect for a coffee shop in Harlan! It was topped with a bit of crushed pistachio and strawberry, just because it was so pretty and a perfect complement to the nuttiness and herbal sweetness of the matcha and the kudzu.
Hannah and her gorgeous “Forrager’s Truffles”
Between working on developing the dishes with my team, the fellowship of the other women restaurant owners, and eating some spectacular food, the entire occasion was a dream. It was a perfectly timed step away from the grind of running a small business. I also learned so much just being in the kitchen and dining room of a well-run restaurant developed by a true professional. I peeked around every corner, taking lots of notes for how we can improve our operations. I asked about the businesses the other women run and learned so much from their stories and strategies. I was also delighted by the people who got reservations and came to eat. During the dinner I tried to follow our dishes out to the floor so I could chat with the people who ordered them. It brought a connection to a wider group of women of all ages. My heart filled to the top over and again.
International Women’s Day should be a day to celebrate, and there is plenty of cause for the exuberant energy that was captured in Honeywood, between sparkling lights, clinking dishes, the low murmur of conversation, and the live music. But it is also a good time to stop and reflect on the realities of our world today and what it is like to be a woman in a globalized, post-pandemic world where war is flaring between Russia and Ukraine. We have never had more demand nor more pressure on traditional women’s jobs, such as nursing and teaching. And all around the globe are working mothers who are reeling from the uncertainty around childcare and schooling brought on by the pandemic.
One lovely table of women I enjoyed visiting with
Even though we were having a blast, these issues arose in conversation over the course of the night. In fact, allowing women restaurant owners opportunities to talk together was core to the event. “Let’s Talk & Celebrate” in Lexington was one of many events held around the country as part of a national movement called, “Let’s Talk.” The group has an amazing website, and here is how they describe themselves:
We all heard from and learned from each other
Let’s Talk is a collaboration of women restaurateurs to build combined economic power. It is not an organization, it is not an entity, it is an action-led movement by women business owners as peers.
Ouita is the lead of this movement in Kentucky, and this is the second year that she has brought together women restauranteurs for International Women’s Day. One reason I was invited is because Kristin Smith, the incredible chef behind The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery in Corbin, attended the first year. One outcome of that gathering was Kristin starting a group of women restaurant owners in Eastern Kentucky. This Eastern Kentucky group has been a lifeline to me over the past two years, and I have gone to them again and again to ask questions, share, celebrate, and sometimes vent.
That feeling of being part of a larger group of women was very real on March 8th. Elbow to elbow in the kitchen we talked about all kinds of things. We talked about how difficult it is to secure financing as a woman business owner in an industry that is known for a high rate of failure. We talked about family and community, staffing and supply chains. I shared that just as I was packing up to go to Lexington, I got a message that my children’s school was being evacuated due to a bomb threat. Of course, I stopped everything to run over to retrieve them from a nearby church that was sheltering the evacuated schoolchildren. I am so fortunate that the unexpected school closure had minimal impact on my day. I left them in the hands of my very capable husband and partner, who rescheduled his work commitments to be in charge. But it was very much in my mind that not all women would be able to hug their children and leave them the way I did.
Ultimately, this is what International Women’s Day is all about. The triumphs and victories mixed in with the challenges and fears. Women all around the world, connected in the many ways they nurture and build community. Connected by our common desire to let our light shine, but also our longing to be good partners, mothers, and friends. So many commonalities, and yet so many diverse experiences, particularly among a group of women who own and operate businesses that feed their community. Of course, there are many complexities around race, gender, and identity that are far beyond what I could every fully understand. And yet. We gather, we smile, and we feed each other. We connect, we learn, and we leave fortified by the community created. In those simple actions, there is so much power. These are the steps that gives me the confidence to pick up my torch and to do my best to keep moving forward. And mover forward we will, towards a place where everyone has a seat at the table.
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Sky and Geoff Marietta live in Appalachian Kentucky and are passionate about promoting rural America. They are the authors of Rural Education in America: What Works for Our Students, Teachers, and Communities published by Harvard Education Publishing Group.
