The Chef

In the well established local sourcing tradition of The Grill at Highlands Row , we are proud to introduce Ron Watkins, our Executive Chef. Having grown up with the strong Southern cooking tradition of a devoted aunt, she imparted her secret formula to him at an early age: “cook it full of love”. Ron is a proud product of East Tennessee, having worked in various capacities in the kitchens of some of Knoxville’s venerable restaurants like The Half Shell, Grady’s, The Copper Cellar, and Calhoun’s. This year he excelled in the CityView Top Chef competition, winning 1st Place in desserts with his flourless chocolate torte with raspberry coulis and 3rd Place in entrees with Shrimp and Grits (we won 1st in 2010 with our crab cakes). He has never stopped “cooking it full of love”, and he can be seen weekly on Wednesdays at noon on WBIR where he is carrying on that tradition.