ANTOINE WARE SHOOTS FOR CULINARY HEIGHTS AT HAROLD’S
If a picture paints a thousand words then chef Antoine Ware is writing volumes about his food at Harold’s.
Using popular social-media platforms, Ware’s friends and followers are treated to mouthwatering dishes that make you want to get out of bed and head to the Heights. Posts of pan-seared snapper with corn and okra; charred octopus with chorizo and potatoes; lamb ribs with peach barbecue sauce and corn salad; crispy fried Gulf oysters salad with Crystal hot-sauce vinaigrette; and rice dumplings with spicy crawfish, tomatoes and English peas are not only examples of his food photography skills but Ware’s style of elegant, Southern-influenced fare.
It’s been about 18 months now that Ware has been at the helm of Harold’s, the dining room he opened for owner Alli Jarrett whose restaurant, retail (Heights General Store) and pizza shop (Alli’s Pizzaria) are all under one charming roof in the home of the historic former menswear store Harold’s. In that time, he has impressed local diners with his menu which makes the most of local foods blessed with Creole inflections that come naturally to the born-and-raised New Orleans son. His Southern traditions are evident in his devotion to house-made vinegars, hot sauce, pickled vegetables and preserves; in his appreciation for the garden bounty (he’s a huge fan of tomatoes, okra, corn, beets and carrots); and his love for local foodways that have him constantly turning to grits, rice, and Gulf shrimp and fish.
“We’re taking the finest ingredients the farmers have to offer and turning them into something amazing,” Ware said.
His fans obviously agree. Harold’s dinner menu is a testament to Ware’s talents. His beet and yogurt salad is plated like something you’d see in the country’s most posh restaurants. The tartare-like beets (cooked slowly over hickory embers) cradle a puddle of thick, house-made yogurt dappled with olive oil. One side of the plate is pollinated with dehydrated beet dust. Artful; delicious.
Roasted scallops, sitting on dirty rice, are anointed with a scallion foam. A grilled Black Hill Ranch pork chop comes with orecchiette shot through with cabbage, onions and fermented peanuts. Blackened Gulf fish (tonight it’s a handsome grouper) rests on an artful bed of Atkinson Farms tomatoes, zucchini and squash and wears a frilly topper of lump crabmeat. Ware couldn’t resist a local crop of squash blossoms so he stuffed them with crawfish and andouille, coated them in panko and deep fried them. The crispy batons are placed on fragrant mounds of okra and tomato stew.
The weekend brunch menu at Harold’s has a pronounced Louisiana flavor, heavy on the Big Easy: Mirliton crab cake with rémoulade; jambalaya boudin balls; chicken and sausage gumbo; fried Gulf seafood po-boy; sweet potato waffle and duck confit with poached duck egg; grits and grillades “just like Mama used to make”; beef debris po-boy; and a “big nasty biscuit” with buttermilk fried chicken, cheddar cheese and sausage gravy.
Even though he’s been part of Houston’s culinary community for nearly 10 years, he remains awed by the chefs here — in particular Underbelly’s Chris Shepherd. Ware recalls meeting Shepherd (at the urging of chef Randy Evans): “He didn’t reach out to shake my hand, he bearhugged me.” That was when Ware, a former executive sous chef at Mr. B’s Bistro in New Orleans, found himself in Houston post-Katrina looking for work. He soon became Shepherd’s sous at Catalan and moved with him to open the Hay Merchant.
“I was so nervous about being accepted by the chef community here,” he said. “They’re so awesome, so talented.”
Except now Ware can stop talking about that community as an outsider. He’s a part of the fold that is making Houston a destination rich in distinct culinary voices.
And Ware’s voice is true to himself. “You have to stick to who you are,” he said gesturing to one of his ravishing plates. “That’s me. Nothing else.”