Seasoned chef stirs up western cuisine scene
Chef Clay Wilson, a 36-year-old native of Fort Worth, and his wife, Michelle, moved back to town a few months ago and in mid-October opened a catering company called Wilson Caters, which brings fine dining to special events and corporate occasions for groups of two or more.
Their local/sustainable menu features western fare reflective of the Lone Star State’s culinary heritage, recipes such as grilled steaks and pork chops, barbecue, seafood and Mexican food. The breads, sauces, salad dressings and desserts are prepared from scratch in-house, and all to-order dishes are planned around the farmers market.
“I call my style Texas regional cuisine,” Wilson said. “That name covers it all because Texas has all the eclectics. We have all the ethnic groups. We have Southern cooking and western cooking – we have it all.”
Wilson’s solo spot comes after 15 years of experience as sous chef and executive chef in a melting pot of fine restaurants, where he worked alongside other well-known regional chefs, including Grady Spears, Louis Lambert and Brian Olenjack.
A graduate of the Culinary Arts program at the Art Institute of Houston, Wilson has worked in several well-known restaurants, including the Reata in Fort Worth and Alpine, Sabine and Dish of Houston, The Nutt House in Granbury, The Roadrunner in Las Vegas and, most recently, The Burning Pear in Sugar Land, Texas, where he cooked for four years.
But it was time to return to his culinary roots in Fort Worth, where Wilson said he and his wife eventually plan to open an eatery highlighting his signature mesquite- and oak-smoked barbecue. The couple – who met at The Nutt House – continues searching for the perfect location.
“I wanted to do a small, low-key barbecue place and we began looking and looking for the right place. I have the name for it. It’ll be Wilson Barbecue,” he said. “But until we can find the right place we’ll continue to do catering.”
The Wilsons launched their catering company on an apron string budget, keeping down start-up costs by smoking meats and fish from an old-style pit at their home. Most of the side dishes are prepared in their clients’ kitchens. Food is served either buffet style or a la carte. The customer’s own table linens, dishes, cutlery and glassware are used as well. Wilson Caters charges an hourly rate with a 12-hour minimum, which includes shopping, prep work, catering and clean-up.
“The idea is to bring the type of foods he does into people’s homes,” Michelle Wilson said. “It works well because of the comfortable, relaxed atmosphere. Being in a customer’s home presents well, too. We let the food wow them.”
With a food first-attitude, Clay puts his effort into what’s on the plate. The couple steers straight to the source for fresh, healthy comestibles: Texas farms and ranches themselves. The menus are based on the choicest seasonal products available – Texas Gulf Coast oysters and redfish, grass-fed beef from Broken Arrow Ranch in Ingram, pecans from Granbury. Clay hand picks produce from area farmers markets.
“Being able to support local farmers and markets is important to us,” Michelle said.
Clay Wilson, who finished high school in Houston, is deeply rooted to Fort Worth’s past. He’s a product of several founding families of Fort Worth, including the Brants, Meacham and Carter families. His mother is Fort Worth attorney Lucy Brants. The homegrown chef said he had learned to cook long before going for formal culinary training, but is still trying to pry away his grandmother’s corn bread recipe.
“I was already doing a lot of cooking at home, experimenting with recipes of my mom’s and my grandmother’s,” Wilson said. “Everybody would say, ‘There’s nothing in the cabinet.’ I’d say, ‘Hold on. I’ll make something.’ When I got into it at cooking school, I enjoyed the chemistry of it, how to put things together. I never wanted to take a short cut and I still don’t.”
Wilson has been twice nominated as an “Up and Coming Chef” by My Table Magazine and won “Best Pork Chop in Houston” by the Houston Chronicle. He said he relies on the simple principle that the difference is in the detail.
“Food is the emphasis. It’s the attention to details,” Clay said. “If it’s not right, I’ll do it again. You can’t go to a table and talk to somebody if you’re not proud of your food. If it doesn’t make your mouth pop, you don’t want to take it out to the table,” he said. “Michelle and I are confident that the experience we provide will exceed the expectations of guests.”
