Arthur Ave To Close And Become Helen In The Heights—Updated

The management team of Arthur Ave at 1111 Studewood—sommelier Evan Turner, executive chef William Wright, chef de cuisine Mercedes Gomez and director of operations Tim Faiola—has announced via press release that they intend to close after its final service on March 19. Despite critical accolades, “a consistent pattern of underperforming sales over the last few months has indicated that the team’s passion for the Italian concept ultimately did not translate to its Studewood location.”

What’s to come, though, seems like an imminently sensible step: the spot will become Helen In The Heights, a spinoff of the team’s successful and nationally acclaimed Helen Greek Food & Wine. The Rice Village restaurant was a James Beard Award nominee last year for Best New Restaurant. This year, chef William Wright is a Rising Star Chef finalist.

It’s a sad farewell to Arthur Ave’s crunchy-edged lasagna, innovative cannoli and worthy cocktails like the Sbagliato—but Helen In The Heights sounds intriguing in its own right.Photo by Chuck Cook Photography

Regarding closing Arthur Ave, sommelier Evan Turner is quoted in the press release as saying, “We’re closing with a lot of takeaways from this experience. We learned some things that worked and some things that didn’t. In the end, our goal is to create a place people love where they can get really good food and wine and receive A+ level service.” Update, 3/13/17, 10:43 a.m.: A representative for Arthur Ave says that until it closes, all bottles of wine are half price.

Helen In The Heights will not be a clone of Helen. “Helen Greek Food and Wine explores the diverse regionality of Greek cuisine. Helen in the Heights will revel in the iconic dishes and themes of a classic Greek taverna,” explained Turner. “The only thing we can’t do is break plates—at least so says our lawyers.” Expect approachable Greek classics at Helen In The Heights, such as pastitsio and moussaka.” Turner also says there will be “lots of juicy, decadent meat on skewers and Ouzo. Lots and lots of Ouzo.”

It will take a little time to modify the Arthur Ave space to suit forthcoming Greek taverna, so an opening date has not quite been set yet. That, and other details, will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Comments (3)

Leave a Reply to Phaedra CookCancel reply

  • March 25, 2017 at 10:33 amBob

    Two things that I suggest for the new restaurant:
    ** Read the ‘Yelp’ reviews. While many are written by people with too much money or two much time (or both) on their hands, one word is prevalent in many of the reviews: SALT!!! Lay off of it.
    ** RESPOND when a guest goes through the trouble of responding to Open Table’s invitation to provide management with feedback, especially when the guest does not eviscerate you in public, preferring a one on one chat.

    Good luck.

    Reply
  • March 13, 2017 at 6:10 pmMike Tremoulet

    I’m a little disconnected; is Turner also connected to Helen, or just Arthur Ave?

    Reply
    • March 14, 2017 at 4:12 pmPhaedra Cook

      The same team manages both. I just made a small edit that should make that more clear. Thanks for the comment!

      Reply