The first time I tried a watermelon and feta salad, I was gobsmacked. The porous, sweet bite of melon, the crumbly salinity of feta, the flaky salt crystals, the mint, the balsamic—it was revelatory.
Chef Ariane Duarte, a “Top Chef” season five alum and accomplished New Jersey restaurateur, had a recipe for her winning watermelon-and-feta salad in one of the early “Top” Chef cookbooks. I remember making it excessively one summer.
