LOCAL Houston | The City Guide APRIL 2016 | Page 18

DINE WRITE
SIMPLE GREEK TAVERNA WITH AN ALL-GREEK WINE LIST

Gulf Shrimp Saganaki
APPROACHING HELEN GREEK FOOD & WINE ON A RECENT EVENING, THE RESTAURANT IS
PACKED TO THE POINT OF OVERFLOWING. THE BAR IS SO FULL, YOU’RE BRUSHING ARMS AND
ELBOWS WITH PEOPLE AS YOU WALK BY. AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT’S SLIGHTLY CHILLIER
THAN COMFORTABLE, THE RESTAURANT’S TWO SIDEWALK TABLES ARE OCCUPIED AS WELL.
Seated in the small, charming main dining room with exposed brick walls
and soaring 30-foot ceilings, an energetic hum of conversation flows freely.
Owner and wine guru EVAN TURNER, dressed smartly in a dark blue suit and
cravat, zigzags across the room, chatting up guests and pouring wine.
He eventually arrives at our table, earnest and passionate. He says he’s
lost 40 pounds since they opened, sleeps little and works seven days a
week. But all his hard work has paid off. His restaurant (with partners
Sharif Al-Amin and Tim Faiola) was the only Houston restaurant nominated as a James Beard Foundation Best New Restaurant of 2016.

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And all this is happening because he pursued his dream of opening a simple Greek taverna with an all-Greek wine list.
Helen is small, with just 45 seats inside and 25 bar seats. Every single
wine and glass on the wine list is Greek, and all that he asks is for you to
give it a chance, introducing you to varietals indigenous to Greece, like
Xinomavro or Assyrtiko.

CHEF WILLIAM WRIGHT’S food complements the wine list to a “T.” He’s doing
classic Greek with a local and Gulf Coast spin. The menu is well edited,
so pretty much everything you order is fantastic.