Watermelon Tomato Salad

School started. Sofia in seventh grade — the second year of middle school, the year where the strangeness of new hallways and older kids fades into competence. She is twelve and she is the leading scorer on a U-14 travel soccer team and she has a first-place trophy in a teen cooking championship and she works morning prep at a restaurant and she is in the gifted program and she has four items on the Rivera's menu. Seventh grade is the least challenging thing in her life. Seventh grade does not know what it is dealing with.

Diego in fourth grade. A new teacher, Mr. Alvarez, who is also the school's creative writing advisor, which Diego considers "the best coincidence of my life." Diego immediately signed up for the creative writing club and came home from the first meeting and said, "Mr. Alvarez says my writing has voice." Voice. The word that writing teachers use for the quality that separates technical competence from genuine expression. Diego has voice. Diego has always had voice — the birthday toasts, the stories, the stick arrangements, the films. The boy has been expressing himself in every medium available since he was old enough to hold a crayon. The voice has found a teacher. The teacher has found a voice.

At Rivera's, the Chandler lease was signed this week. 2,600 square feet, five-year lease with options, the building on the corner in downtown Chandler that Roberto touched and said "this one." David Kim handled the negotiations. Jessica reviewed every clause (thirty-one questions this time — down from thirty-seven on the original lease, proving either that Jessica has become more efficient or that the Chandler landlord has a simpler lease, which are the same thing from Jessica's perspective). The lease is signed. The second location is official. The build-out starts in two weeks.

I stood in the empty Chandler space on Saturday evening — after the lease was signed, after David Kim and Jessica and the landlord had left, alone in the empty room. I put my hand on the wall. Roberto's gesture. The same gesture he made in the Mesa space three years ago and in this space three months ago. I felt the wall. I felt something — not the heartbeat that Roberto feels, not the instinct that guides him, but something. A promise. A potential. The wall is cold now. The wall will be warm. The smoker will make it warm. The fire will make it home. The fire that started in 1982 at a cinder block grill in Maryvale will burn in this building in Chandler and the building will smell like smoke and the customers will smell the smoke from the street and they will come and they will eat and they will be fed. Just show up.

The Chandler building is empty right now — 2,600 square feet of cold walls and quiet floors, waiting for the build-out, waiting for the smoker, waiting for the fire that has been burning since 1982. I stood in that room with my hand on the wall and I thought about what it means to be ready before the heat arrives, to hold potential before the smoke comes in. That night I made this watermelon tomato salad — no fire, no stove, nothing cooked — because sometimes the right thing is cold and bright and exactly what it is, and you don’t need heat to make something worth gathering around. We’ll have plenty of fire soon enough.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

6 cups seedless watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Instructions

Prep the produce. Cut the watermelon into 1-inch cubes and place in a large serving bowl. Halve the cherry tomatoes and add them to the bowl. Slice the red onion as thinly as possible and add it as well.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, and white balsamic vinegar until combined. Season with 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt and the cracked black pepper.
Dress and toss. Pour the dressing over the watermelon and tomatoes. Gently toss to coat, being careful not to break up the watermelon cubes.
Add the herbs. Scatter the torn basil leaves over the salad and fold in gently just before serving so they stay bright and fresh.
Finish and serve. If using feta, crumble it over the top. Taste and adjust salt as needed. Serve immediately at room temperature or lightly chilled.

Nutrition (per serving)

Watermelon Tomato Salad — Cold and Still, Before the Fire Comes