On a summer evening, Stubborn Bull Restaurant, in Highlands’ former Bridge location overlooking Mill Creek, is exactly where everyone wants to be. The dining room crackles with conversation, the bar is shoulder‑to‑shoulder, and every seat on the patio is taken. At the horseshoe‑shaped bar, the enthusiastic staff serves up cleverly concocted cocktails while affable servers weave gracefully between the tables. The restaurant seems to oscillate between neighborhood joint, date‑night destination and sceney hot spot. Somehow, the multiplicity works. There’s an unmistakable buzz – as though everyone has landed exactly where they ought to be.
That atmosphere didn’t happen overnight. After losing their former restaurant, Midpoint on Main Street, to a gas explosion, partners Clarissa Emily and Kiki Donikian opened Stubborn Bull, drawing on Kiki’s years of living in Madrid and her deep appreciation for Spanish cuisine.
There’s another kind of excitement unfolding here – one that’s arriving from the kitchen. Under the direction of Vijay Shastri, Director of Operations, the menu is widening its lens, embracing lighter Mediterranean influences while holding fast to the dishes that built its following. Longtime favorites like the pork tomahawk and churrasco remain, while seafood and seasonal produce increasingly shape the restaurant’s evolving identity.
A recent visit confirmed that the kitchen is playing summer to the hilt. A Moroccan salmon is striking, surrounded by carrot and rosewater couscous. The chutney around it, made with apricot and roasted onion, touched with garlic, honey and red wine vinegar, is tart and savory.
One of the menu’s most popular additions is the Western North Carolina rainbow trout. Pan‑seared and finished with beurre meunière, it arrives adorned with chunky slivers of cracked almonds, fresh herbs and bright lemon – a perfect bite of summer.
The Local Melon Salad seems to bottle the season itself, the sweetness of the melon playing against the salinity of crumbled feta, while a lively vinaigrette brightened with basil and mint gives the dish a fresh lift. The burrata may be the quiet star of the new menu – a cloud of creamy cheese accompanied by South Carolina peaches, peppery arugula and pickled onion, finished with extra virgin olive oil. Indulgent and luscious, the ingredients shine.
Spanish influences continue to weave through the menu in crisp Serrano and pressed ham croquettes served with salsa Vizcaína, while traditional caviar service with crème fraîche, chives and house‑made potato chips offers a decadent way to begin the evening.
There is a well‑earned confidence at Stubborn Bull these days. It’s evident in the easy rhythm of the dining room, in a menu that’s willing to stretch beyond familiar borders without losing sight of its roots, and in a kitchen that understands how to pamper and delight.
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