A rural road with trees on the sides, wooden fences, and a field in the background during sunset or sunrise.

A great university reflects the best of our state, and the University of Kentucky taught generations of Kentuckians, including me, to appreciate the finest ingredients Kentucky has to offer.

- Ouita Michel

A woman in a white chef's coat is talking animatedly to a woman with long, curly, blonde hair at an indoor event with framed photographs on the wall behind them.
A woman with glasses and shoulder-length gray hair smiling while holding a jar of yellow food in a kitchen or food preparation area with shelves of utensils and kitchen appliances in the background.
Two women and two men harvesting crops in a green field, with one man and woman sitting and the other woman standing, while a person holds a camera filming them.

UK’s agricultural research and innovation, ground-breaking health care initiatives, world-class business school and support for the humanities are fertile ground for our Holly Hill restaurants and the inspiration to share Kentucky’s food, literature, history and culture with folks from across the country and around the globe.

A man with glasses and a beard sitting at a table with papers, in a room with a staircase in the background.
A group of eight people standing around a large trophy and a smaller trophy in a wood-paneled room, with an American flag in the background.
Black and white photo of three people sitting at a table with a metal bowl in front of them. Two young adults, a woman and a man, are in the foreground, and an older man is in the background between them.

A Tradition of Excellence

I practically grew up on campus while my father taught at the UK School of Medicine and my mother studied art and literature.

Later, I found my own voice at the University of Kentucky as a member of the first class of Gaines Fellows and as a debater on Roger Solt’s championship team. Roger Solt was more than my debate coach, he started my journey into building relationships through food and wine. While traveling to debate competitions, Roger would bring the team together at amazing restaurants to celebrate as a team and experience local flavors.

Through these experiences, we became cherished friends, leading to Roger becoming my lifelong business partner when we opened Holly Hill Inn in 2001 and has remained a friend for the past 40 years.

Man with a long white beard and glasses sitting at an outdoor dining table with a laptop, four empty wine glasses, and a black binder, on a patio with a brick wall and windows in the background.

Weisenberger Mill

We benefit directly from UK-led projects like the installation of a small hydroelectric plant to turn the turbines at Weisenberger Mill, which supplies flour, grits and cornmeal to all our restaurants.

As the oldest continuously operating mill in Kentucky, Weisenberger Mill still depends on the waters of the Elkhorn Creek for power, but in a very 21st century way. Electricity turns the turbines now instead of water; the electricity itself comes in part from a small hydroelectric plant first installed in the 1980s. In 2015 a partnership between the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research and the designer of the mill’s original plant engineered an upgrade to a variable-speed generator; its power output nearly doubled as a result.

Click to read more about Weisenberger Mill & sign up for our newsletter for weekly stories like this celebrating and uplifting the Bluegrass State.

An old, multi-story mill building beside a river with a small waterfall, surrounded by green trees.
An elderly man with gray hair standing in an office filled with clutter, including multiple monitors, books, papers, and office supplies, speaking and gesturing with his hands.
A bag of Weisenberger Stone Ground White Grits with a kitchen window in the background.
A plate of food with mashed potatoes in a small white bowl, fried chicken, bacon, baked eggs, and roasted potatoes on a red plate.