Laurann Claridge
- Posted:
- December 11, 2009
1609 Westheimer Road
713.529.2797
Keys to the Door: Owners Gloria Wiles and chef Marco Wiles.
What’s on the Menu: He’s brought us Da Marco and Dolce Vita. Now Marco Wiles, the soft-spoken chef known for his serious study of all food and drink Italian, debuts Poscól. Named for the street where he was born in Udine in Italy, this vinoteca and salumeria (read: wine bar and cured-meat-and-cheese bar) warms up the space formerly known as Café Montrose with low lighting and hardwood floors. Poscól’s red, refurbished Berkel slicer is the Rolls-Royce of meat slicers, sought by chefs in the know for creating paper-thin slivers of prosciutto San Daniele and Cotto and, in this case, speck, mortadella and house-made salumi such as veal tongue, pork cheek sausage and porchetta. The menu here hearkens back to Dolce Vita, its offerings divided into small tastes that, en masse, make a meal: verdura ($5 each), such as pickles and blueberry caponata; fritto (fried bites, $6 each), including ricotta, polenta and smashed potatoes; risotto ($9); bruschette ($4); tramezzeni sandwiches smooshed on a Pullman loaf ($6 to $8); and pressed panini ($9 to $14) with such fillings as albacore, tomato and artichokes or proscuitto, mozzarella and arugula. The wine list, like Da Marco’s, brims with well-chosen Italian imports, including bottles reflective of the Friuli region, such as Tocai — a regional white one simply must try.
Image: Gloria and Marco Wiles, Owners
Photo by: Jenny Antill