Women rock the bar — then raise it DRINK UP
Pearl in the Outer Richmond a new cocktail destination
“It’s all about encouraging confidence ... so they can be strong women in this industry.” Joyce Conway, Pearl 6101 co-chef
From a perch at a table along the windows at Pearl 6101, the bar and kitchen open like a book. Behind the counter, two pros shake and strain a row of frothy coolers. To their right, the kitchen bustles, one cook pulling crocks of ricotta from a wood-burning hearth, while another sprinkles spaghetti with breadcrumbs.
Up and down the line, they’re all women tonight, and I’ve gotta say, they’re killing it.
That’s one of the reasons Nahiel Nazzal wanted to be bar manager here. “The fact that this was really trying to be a womenfocused, woman-led project was very enticing for me,” Nazzal says.
Nazzal, who worked most recently at Anina in Hayes Valley, says it has been challenging to be female in the male-dominated bar industry. Though she’s quick to say she is grateful to a few supportive bosses and co-workers she’s had over the years, “getting looked over, not getting taken seriously enough” wore on her.
“I’ve left work crying so many times because I’ve seen men get all the opportunities,” she says. The chance to be a partner at Pearl 6101 was too good to pass up, she says. “Having a piece of this — whether it’s small or big — is symbolic. It makes me want to work even harder.”
Each department head — bar manager, the two co-chefs, managers, pastry chef, cafe manager, wine director and beer manager — owns a stake in the restaurant alongside founder Jack Murphy, who used a similar model to acquire Pizzetta 211 next door in 2008. There are no outside investors. And while hiring is equal opportunity, both Nazzal and chef-partners Mel Lopez and Joyce Conway see Pearl 6101 as a place where lessexperienced women can get mentorship that’s not common elsewhere in the bar and restaurant worlds.
“It’s all about encouraging confidence,” Conway says. “We’re teaching technique so they can be strong women in this industry in the future, but also telling them that it’s OK that you’re still learning.”
Nazzal says that just looking across to the kitchen can be a reminder of the support system they’ve built here. “I don’t feel isolated. I can look at Joyce at the end of the night and not feel like I’m the only one going through this moment.”
Things are busy — sometimes overwhelmingly so — at Pearl 6101, a former dry cleaner at the quiet intersection of California Street and 23rd Avenue. But from where I’m sitting, it just feels fun. Hip 30-somethings and restaurant industry folks sip cocktails at the bar. Across the room, silver-haired couples nestle into the curves of tufted leather booths, soon covering the tables with plates of gnocchi, bottles of wine and generously portioned salads.
As my friends begin to order drinks, I realize it’s happening again: We’re going to get one of everything, the entire cocktail menu. And I’m going to have to fight for sips. But I’m glad to be along for the ride.
Nazzal has smartly edited the bar menu down to six cocktails (all $12) that taste at once both fresh and familiar. They’re mostly named for California native plants, and many feature spirits made at small distilleries.
I can’t think of a more perfect appetite-whetter than her Farewell to Spring, which, like its namesake ruffled pink flower, is on the delicate end of the spectrum. Made with sparkling wine and lemon plus a Sicilian blood-orange amaro and a Pinot Grisbased aperitif from Oregon, it has a multilayered bright and bitter complexity that your standard Aperol spritz just doesn’t offer.
Its citrusy sibling, the Coastal Scrub, is another easy favorite, offering even more exuberant citrus flavors. It’s spiced with a tincture made with cinnamon, anise, sage and mint that’s named for the “garbage tea” that Nazzal’s grandmother and aunts would make by steeping the dregs of all the spices in their cabinet. Mixed with gin, grapefruit liqueur and honey, the concoction is subtly tropical and fragrant, like grapefruit perfected.
Nazzal is conscious of proof. She tends to start her recipes with a lighter dose of whiskey or gin, then fill out a cocktail’s flavor with less-potent Sherries, vermouths and liqueurs.
Thanks to her time at Anina and some travels through Spain, Nazzal has developed a gift for working with Sherry and creating drinks that illustrate the fortified wine’s wide spectrum of flavor, leaner than vermouth but offering a similar counterweight to stronger spirits.
She likes to play with its acidity and nutty flavors, which vary depending on how and where the wine was made. High-quality cream Sherry adds chocolate and fig notes to a manhattan riff called the Copa de Oro. Meanwhile, Manzanilla Sherry contributes an oyster-shell mineral character to the Pearl Martini.
“We’re a neighborhood bar that’s basically two blocks from the bay,” Nazzal says. “The fog is rolling in right there, so I wanted to have something salty and briny.” She uses a subtly aquatic Oakland Spirits gin that’s flavored with lemongrass and foraged nori, and adds a few dashes of California-made aquavit to accentuate the savory side of the drink.
Back at the table, my friends swap dating stories and devour a plate of mussels escabeche ($12). Spooned onto crunchy levain, the shellfish luxuriates in a sauce laced with saffron and smoked paprika. We instantly wish we’d ordered two. “I really like this place,” my friend pronounces, raising a second Coastal Scrub to her lips. I can’t help but agree.