Deck the halls with vintage, mismatched German beer steins and falalalalaaaaa all the way to our #SundayBrunchBucketList of the Week at this gorgeous neighborhood grocery – made up of a Boulangeire, Beer Hall and Brasserie in Lexington, Kentucky. While most of you are probably winding down your Christmas shopping – or just beginning, 'tis the season for remembering what the holidays are really all about – gathering together. You better watch out, you better not cry - this sweet and secret place is giving us all kinds of holiday gathering feels with it’s gorgeousness and we’re about to tell you why.
A Little Culinary Somethin’ Somethin’ for All
National Provisions is a luxurious neighborhood grocery with a little culinary somethin’ somethin’ up it’s sleeve for everyone. The Boulangerie is a classic French-style bakery serving breads, pastries, coffee, and desserts. It opened it’s beautiful doors in 2013 with only the Boulangerie as it’s French-inspired offering. Take a purposeful stroll with your sweet friends through the Walton St. entrance’s elegant doors and be prepared to feel transported to a quaint French café complete with light-reflecting marble, cozy red booths and #tileinspo for days.
Fresh Coffee & Croissants
One of the best things about walking into a French café is the time and thought taken in arranging the pastries in compositions so lovely it’s like a symphony of sweets. That’s not lost here. Copper, wire baskets overflow with magnificent, flakey croissants and freshly baked breads of every shape and size. This is a quaint, quiet and lovely corner of the world where time slows down when you settle into one of the red booths, around a light-loving, little marble table with a giant steaming mug of hand-ground coffee. You can have real conversations with your closest friends without any indication of seasonal stress, as light and lilting French music plays softly in the background.
Currently Craving
We’re currently craving the sausage and jalapeno quiche with a croissants and coffee. While you’re there – if you’re like us, you won’t be able to resist purchasing a sweet stocking stuffer like gourmet chocolate or local honey.
Brunch in A Biergarten
If you choose to use the National St. entrance – it feels like walking into another wonderful world, entirely. A world with seasonal beers on tap, industrial, modern design and tasty tartines… hello and hooray!
A collection of curios and vintage steins with red accents, polished concrete floors and an eclectic collection of curious are placed, not scattered, thoughtfully throughout the Beer Hall. Behind the bar where seasonal beers rotate, there is a magnificent array of vintage, mismatched German beer steins – of which you’ll receive your frosty beverage in. Feasting tables are lit with thin library-esque lamps, surrounded by red-accented shelf upon red-accented shelf of beautiful, bottles of bubbles and brews.
Photo: @birchandpine
A Luxurious Lecture Hall... Where Drinking is Encouraged
The long, vintage feasting tables feel like the desks you wish you had when you were in school. It’s evokes a feeling not unlike sitting in the midst of a luxurious lecture hall where drinking is encouraged. You can choose to use the long feasting tables and make new friends or opt for a smaller pub table with your pals – either way, it’s a sweet setting for a simple, yet lovely brunch. Glass shelving and floor-to-ceiling glass doors gives the bathes the entire hall in a gorgeous glow not unlike a greenhouse minus the flora but plus the fabulous and fresh fare. We’re currently craving: the Reuben Tartine with waffle fries washed down with whatever the bartender recommends on tap. A fresh tartine with a seasonal beer on tap seems like the simplest, most comforting combination in the world – and it is.
Not to be missed: the Bluegrass Brassierie – located in the middle of the grocery, between the Beer Hall and the Boulangerie. It’s a full-service bistro with a seasonal, farm-to-table menu and Kentucky’s most extensive selection of natural and organic wines. How do ya like that? Dark, heather grays and navy blues accent velvet tufted booths – it’s like the darker, sexier, brooding older brother who rides a motorcyble shirtless - to both the Beer Hall and Boulangerie. We envision the blues and smoky spirits accenting the seasonal farm-to-table fare.
Continue Your Christmas (Brunch) Story
You may be full of sweets and suds – but your holly jolly seasonal Sunday Christmas story is not yet complete without a trip to Hillenmeyer Christmas Shop. If you’re looking for the spirit of Christmas, we’re almost positive it lives in this beautiful nursery turned Christmas shop during the holiday season.
Owned and operated by a husband and wife team – Joseph and Shannon Hillenmeyer, they say: “Our biggest inspiration is looking to the past and referencing a time when Christmas was less about consumerism and more about family – a special time during the winter when we would all come together and celebrate. That seems to be lost in today’s culture; this guides us to create an experience more about the families and kids, and to build a tradition that they can return to every year.”
Since 1950, the Hlilenmeyer family has been creating Christmas memories for generations of Lexington-ians. You’ll can hand-select your family’s freshly-cut tree as well as peruse hand-made wreaths, garlands and more, all while enjoying hot cider, a fireplace with marshmallow roasting, animals to pet, a vintage sleigh, and visits from Santa. Who happens to be in residence from 12:00p-6:00p each Saturday and Sunday until Christmas, if ya fancy a visit.
The best part? All of it. Spending a slow Sunday with your favorites, brunching over a hot cup of coffee, a pastry or two – maybe a vintage stein filled with seasonal suds, a tasty tartine and plenty of lively conversation. Then opting for a leisurely stroll down to Main St. to inhale the very spirit of the holidays at Hillenmeyer’s. Bluesy Christmas music fills the air as you inhale the sweet scent of evergreens that reminds you unmistakably of lying under your Christmas tree as a child and seeing the whole world when you looked up into the twinkling lights and ornaments. Rounding out your day roasting marshmallows over a fire in a garden nursery turned Christmas shop seems practically perfect. All we want for Christmas is to repeat this day… over and over and over again as we revel in the pure joy gathering with our friends, over fresh fare, accompanied by local spirits and the scent of fresh evergreens brings in any season. Especially this one.
Photos + Venues: 1st Stop - National Provisions | 2nd Stop - Hillenmeyer Christmas Shop
