LOCAL Houston | The City Guide January 2017 | Page 18

DINE WRITE SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL IS SIMMERING
By Janice Schindeler | Photography by Sarah Miller
THE RED BRICK , THE DARK WOOD WALLS , THE BAR RIGHT UP FRONT NEAR THE ENTRANCE ... Arthur Ave has got that East Coast , Italian-American vibe going as soon as you walk thru the door . Local environs phenom ERIN HICKS captured that casual Bronx attitude spot on .
Caprese Salad
A good thing , because in this kitchen something very special simmers . A dedication to detail , a country-wide search for authentic ingredients and a passion and understanding of flavors so huge , so knee-buckling magnificent , that , mark my words , WILLIAM WRIGHT is a name to remember and a chef whose food you should eat . Yes , he is the same William Wright who chefs at the highly acclaimed and awarded Helen Greek Food and Wine .
“ It ’ s a challenge , for sure , doing both . Right now I spend the majority of time here ( at Arthur Ave ). But I have a strong sous chef at Helen who has been there since day one ,” assures Wright , whose love of food started early in life on a farm in rural Kentucky with a grandma that cooked what her garden grew .
Wright ’ s talent is evident from the get-go . Order the Caprese Salad with its hand-pulled mozzarella pillow – billowy , soft-edged and ever so slightly warm – on a bed of blanched and peeled teeny tiny , perfectly ripe , bursting with flavor heirloom cherry tomatoes . Yeah , peeled cherry tomatoes . According to Wright , without the skin as a barrier , the gems absorb more flavor from the marinade of basil EEVO and avoid that awkward , explosive pop of juicy seeds . Anchoring the dish , a tasty mix of micro-basil , opal basil and spicy arugula swim in a generous aged balsamic vinaigrette ( excellent when sopped up with the premise-made , slow-risen focaccia ).
Or for the more sophisticated palate consider the wonder of the Scarola ( Wright tells me that ’ s Bronx slang for “ escarole ”), the characteristic bitterness of the green balanced by a flash grilling , just enough to add a whisper of sweetness to this wilted salad with its warm walnut oil , pancetta and vinegar dressing , its oozy yolked egg and generous sprinkling of pecorino .
Even the salt garners attention in the Arthur Ave kitchen . Three kinds are in use : smoked sea salt , grey sea salt and Sicilian sea salt . “ The grey salt comes in buckets ; it ’ s still moist and smells of the sea . And it imparts a minerality I cannot find anywhere else ,” says Wright . He uses it when cooking the spaghettini with clams dish , enhanced with lemon , garlic , parsley and the lovely pink clams , large enough for two but you will be reluctant to share .
Every ingredient has been painstakingly resourced from small food producers predominantly in the USA .
“ I want to use American-made products when possible . Preferably Italian- American products made by immigrants or first generation . People who under-
18 LOCAL | january 17