HerKentucky Whiskey Glass Rating: 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃

Publisher’s synopsis: For twenty years, diners in the Bluegrass have been able to satisfy their cravings for Ouita Michel's sustainable, farm-to-table cuisine at her many acclaimed restaurants. Each restaurant—from Wallace Station to Holly Hill Inn—features dishes that combine Kentucky's bounty with Michel's celebrated vision. Diners can enjoy traditional southern staples like buttermilk biscuits, country ham, and Po-Boy sandwiches, or opt for unique variations on international favorites and American classics. Now, readers around the country can experience what makes Ouita Michel a culinary and cultural treasure.

Just a Few Miles South serves up the recipes that patrons of Michel's restaurants have come to know and love, including the Bluegrass Benedict breakfast sandwich, Ouita's Sardou Panini, Wallace Station's Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup, and Honeywood's Hoecake Burger. Some dishes offer creative twists on classics, like the Inside Out Hot Brown, the Wallace Cubano, or the Bourbon Banh Mi. Throughout, the chefs responsible for these delicious creations share the rich traditions and stories behind the recipes. When you can't get down to your favorite place, this book will help you bring home the aroma, the flavors, and the love of fresh foods made with locally sourced ingredients—and share it all with friends and family.

HerKentucky review: A few years ago, I attended a media event preceding the opening of Chef Ouita Michel’s Honeywood restaurant in Lexington. I’d met Chef Ouita a few times prior to that event, and had interviewed her fairly recently. We stood around talking for a few minutes as the camera crews and various blogger and media folks set up. Then, Ouita noticed my hands. “Those are kitchen burns,” she said worriedly. “I would recognize them anywhere.” Here was a multiple James Beard Award nominee and owner of 7 Central Kentucky restaurants, less concerned about the news cameras in her new restaurant than in asking about my kitchen mishap. I laughingly told the story of an ill-fated lasagna I’d battled with years earlier in Nashville. I also went from considering myself quite fond of Ouita’s restaurants to being a Ouita Michel fan for life. Ouita, as any Kentucky grandmother would say, is good people.

If you ever have the pleasure of meeting Chef Ouita Michel, whom most of us consider The Queen of Kentucky Food, you’ll find her to be one of the kindest, funniest and loveliest people ever. Her food is insanely good and she doesn’t shy away from a stiff bourbon pour. But, most importantly, she loves Kentucky — our food, our land, and our people. In the twenty years since Ouita and her husband, Chris, opened their first restaurant, Midway’s Holly Hill Inn, their restaurants have become synonymous with local, seasonal Kentucky food. She was one of the key people who helped attract Bravo’s “Top Chef” competition to film a season in Kentucky. She works tirelessly to promote fellow chefs and to improve the community around her. She uses her knowledge and talents to promote the study of Appalachian culture and foodways — she even made dumplin’s at a fancy NYC James Beard House dinner!

Chef Ouita’s first cookbook, Just a Few Miles South: Timeless Recipes from Our Favorite Places, recently released by University of Kentucky Press, reflects the Southern-style comfort food served in her restaurants. The po’ boy sandwiches from Windy Corner Market are included, as are the hoecake burgers from Honeywood and the bourbon cheese dip and Weisenberger Mills cheese grits from Holly Hill Inn. If you’ve enjoyed a dish at one of Ouita’s restaurants, odds are that they’re included in her cookbook!

Just a Few Miles South demonstrates Chef Ouita and her staff’s commitment to fresh Kentucky food and authentic local recipes. It’s a great gift for anyone who enjoys Southern and Appalachian cuisine, an expatriated Kentuckian, or anyone who, like me, always looks forward to dining at one of Ouita’s restaurants. It would make a fabulous Mother’s Day, graduation, or wedding gift when bundled with a bottle of Woodford Reserve (Ouita is also chef-in-residence at Woodford Reserve Distillery!) Trust me, it’s a gift any Kentuckian would love!

Purchase Just a Few Miles South on Amazon or Bookshop.org.

I was given an advance review copy of this book by the publisher. All opinions are my own. This review contains affiliate links; I will receive a small commission for purchases made through the links in this post. This commission does not impact the purchase price of the item.