You wouldn’t think that Butler, a town with a population of just under 600 people in Pendleton County, would boast a culinary gem. But then you haven’t tried Lori Himmelsbach’s award-winning, made-from-scratch focaccia bread or sampled her husband Tom’s signature super-spicy chili, the best you’re likely to taste north of the Brazos River in Texas.
You can find the Himmelsbachs’ focaccia bread and chili at The Kentucky Millstone, an 18-seat restaurant in this small town 27 miles south of Cincinnati, along the northern end of the Licking River.
This incarnation of the Millstone, which the couple purchased in December 2019, is an homage to the original Millstone, a restaurant Lori’s mother and father owned in Falmouth. It has the same comfort food as its namesake and the same cozy vibe of a small-town kitchen, where neighbors drop in to exchange gossip over a cup of freshly brewed coffee.
It even has Lori’s 84-year-old mother, Carolyn, who works there part time. Her duties, Lori said, range from “measuring the cheese and folding the laundry to working the room and charming everyone she meets.”
This husband-and-wife team has lovingly turned a family legacy into a modern gathering place built on scratch-made food, community pride and true Kentucky hospitality.
It hasn’t been a totally smooth ride for the couple. Lori said their goal was “to bring high-quality food to what is essentially a food desert.”
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When they found a building for sale about a mile from their home, the Himmelsbachs had one day to make a decision that was to prove life changing. But before their lives changed, they had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We spent that first year rehabbing the building, creating our brands and developing relationships with area farmers and farmers markets before welcoming a single customer,” Lori said.
Nearly a year to the day after they purchased the building, the first customer walked through the door in December 2020. Lori said she can’t remember the customer’s name or face, but she distinctly remembers the purchase.
“It was a cinnamon roll,” she said.
Lori and Tom, who have different skill sets but bring the same passion and work ethic to their endeavor, have been on their own roll ever since.
Lori’s background is in the culinary arts—she’s a self-taught baker and classically trained chef who matriculated at the Cincinnati Culinary Academy before going to work for her brother at his popular artisan pizza restaurant MozzaPi in Anchorage, an affluent community outside of Louisville.
Tom may not have a traditional culinary background—having worked in the fitness industry installing equipment and training instructors on its use—but he came to the business with a passion that equaled that of his wife, learning as he went. Today, in addition to running the front of the house, Tom works behind the scenes to mill much of the flour used in Lori’s baking. If you ask politely, he might even take you behind the scenes to see where the magic happens.
Tom explained that once they had purchased a mill, anything that didn’t require yeast could be made in house. Customer favorites such as pancakes, muffins, scones, cookies, cakes and brownies are made with Tom’s freshly milled soft-wheat flour. Similarly, his freshly milled hard wheat and rye are used in making whole-grain breads the couple sells at area markets.
To take full advantage of his equipment, Tom mills Blue Clarage corn for grits and cornmeal to make cornbread.
But you can’t keep a good man entirely out of the kitchen. There are times when Tom deserts the mill for the stove. Remember that famous chili? If Lori is known for her award-winning focaccia bread (for which The Kentucky Millstone earned the 2024 Cincinnati Bake Off champion title), Tom is the master of the pungent stew.
While he won’t divulge his secret recipe, he does admit to making his own chili powder, using five varieties of dried peppers. “We make a yearly trip to Mexico in search of just the right ones,” he said.
When complimented on the excellence of his chili, Tom replied with a cheeky smile, “You should taste my gumbo.”
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The focaccia bread and chili aren’t the only standouts on the menu. According to Lori, the biscuits and gravy and the pancakes made with freshly milled wheat are breakfast favorites, while tomato soup and grilled cheese with country ham and mustard top the lunch offerings.
The meatball sub and thin-crust pizza with a variety of toppings also have fans.
The Kentucky Millstone is open for breakfast and lunch Thursday through Sunday from 7 a.m.-2 p.m., and for dinner on Friday nights from 5-7 p.m.
This schedule leaves the Himmelsbachs time for the other side of their business—supplying area markets with an array of specialty items, from bread and pastries to hot sauces and soups.
“We sell our products at the Fort Thomas Market [Wednesdays] and at the Covington Market [Saturdays],” said Lori, adding that their limited restaurant hours allow them the time to supply both markets. Their artisan breads, pastries and seasonal specialties routinely draw long lines and loyal customers, resulting in consistent sellouts.
While spending most of their time turning out pizzas with crusts as thin as crackers and croissants so flaky you’ll need a crumb scraper (and, oh yes, roasting their own coffee), and bringing their entrepreneurial spirit to area markets, Lori and Tom also can add “Professor” to their names.
They are co-instructors of courses that provide a broad culinary education, ranging from artisan breads, pastas and pretzels to cookies, doughnuts and brownies (a Kentucky Millstone specialty).
Lori and Tom welcome both novice cooks—offering a 1½-hour class on making biscuits and gravy—and those with more experience seeking to expand their skills, with an intensive three-day sourdough boot camp.
While their classroom repertoire also features Danish, pretzels, beer cheese, pizza, yeasted and rye breads, Lori said their favorite class to teach is the pasta class. “First, we teach them how to make the pasta dough and three sauces—red, Alfredo and pesto,” she said. “Next, we roll the dough out to make angel-hair pasta and fettuccine, ravioli and tortellini.”
But the best part, Lori said, is what comes next: “After that, we cook it and have it for dinner.”
For those enthusiasts who are up to the rigors of the sourdough experience and want to enroll in the boot camp, the Himmelsbachs suggest they first take the Introduction to Sourdough class. “We teach the basics of sourdough from start to finish,” Lori said, “from feeding and managing your starter, to making and shaping the bread and then baking it.”
In the nearly six years since they welcomed that cinnamon roll-loving first customer, the Himmelsbachs have welcomed many more in search of a good farm-to-table meal, a warm atmosphere, new friends and a feeling of home.
One of those regulars is Tami Vater, economic and tourism director for Pendleton County. Vater is partial to the eatery’s homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch and the homemade biscuits and gravy for breakfast. “Those are the flavors that take me back to growing up on the farm, when food was fresh, made with love, and full of comfort,” Vater said.
“The Kentucky Millstone has an authenticity and a feeling of nostalgia that makes every meal here a real experience.”
The Kentucky Millstone
201 Mill Street, Butler • 859.955.9099
kymillstone.com