Plateau Magazine June-July 2023

Ambitious Artistry and
Pristine Execution
Highlands Tavern offers a culinary adventure
By KAY WEST » Photos by CHELSEA CRONKRITE
Highlands Tavern
205 South 4th Street, Highlands
828.526.9002
Open Friday to Tuesday
5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
ANYONE WHO WALKS INTO
Highlands Tavern expecting
a beer and a burger won’t
be disappointed. In fact,
they’ll be rewarded with
a broad repertoire of craft beers and a
praiseworthy construction of the American
classic. A mix of brisket and short rib is
patted into a ball, pressed down to a
substantial puck-sized patty on the flattop
grill, then placed between two halves of a
brioche bun spread with fermented black
garlic, a house-pickled green tomato on the
bottom and a slice of gruyere cheese and
confit tomato on top.
Don’t ask for fries; Highlands Tavern has
no freezer or fryer in their compact kitchen.
A trio of side options—potato salad, spicy
cucumbers and Vietnamese glass noodles—hint
at the delightfully unexpected
dishes to come from chef Kimmy Vos.
The young chef’s most enthusiastic
cheerleader and consistent taste-tester/
quality control expert is local bar/restaurant
veteran (4118 Kitchen + Bar) Ryan
Aydelotte. The professional partners
opened Highlands Tavern on August 6,
2022, nearly a year after signing the lease
on the shotgun space that had been a private
bar, vacant since Covid. Aydelotte was
approached once by the building’s landlord
to do something with it, turned him down,
reconsidered and brought Vos, who was
bartending at 4118 and private cheffing for
Old Edwards Inn off-site events, with him.
Aydelotte has traveled all over the world,
settled in Florida, visited Highlands for
over 20 years and became a full-time
Franklin resident eight years ago. Vos’s
family moved from Ft. Lauderdale to Highlands
when her father became caretaker
of the King Mountain Club. As soon as
she graduated high school, she moved to
(Above:) Pink tuna tartar atop pickled cucumber
slices, topped with a tangle of bright green
seaweed salad and orange masago, served
with avocado puree and sprinkled with delicate
spring flowers; (Right;) Exterior of Highlands
Tavern in downtown Highlands.
Charlotte to study culinary at Johnson &
Wales University. Recruited from there
by the Compass Group, parent company of
the world’s largest food service organization,
she was an executive chef for two of
their restaurants by the time she was 22,
oversaw their southeast region, landed in
Florida and worked multiple positions with
Sysco before returning to the plateau six
years ago to be closer to family.
She was not impressed when she and
Aydelotte made their first site visit. “When
I first walked into the back, there was
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