The Pearl shines like a diamond among its siblings
The Pearl, one of several dining concepts in the Shorth North owned by Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, is distinct from its siblings in the neighborhood.
“We were going for chef-driven pub food,” said Peter Chapman, regional chef for the Pearl, which has a second location in Dublin. “That’s really where we started. We’ve expanded over the years but that’s the base of the concept.”
Just shy of celebrating its ninth anniversary, the Pearl is putting a lot of thought and effort into its dishes; for example, the octopus ($19), which is cooked sous vide-style with aromatics and brushed twice with a teriyaki glaze — once before it goes in the oven and another time on service.
It’s plated with pineapple puree, whole-grain mustard, hearts of palm and lime, and dashed with cilantro, scallions and togarashi powder.
Chicken wings ($16 for a pound), the darling of any pub, are distinct from their competitors.
They are slow-baked in lard confitstyle, softening up the meat significantly. They’re flash-fried upon service,
drizzled with house-made hot sauce and served with a side of blue-cheese dip.
“We struck this perfect balance,”
Chapman said. “The meat just falls off the bone but the bone isn’t falling out of the chicken. When you bite into the thing, it just falls apart in your mouth.”
Likewise, a lot of preparation goes into the pub burger ($18). The mix of brisket and chuck is ground larger for texture. While it’s being grilled, the kitchen brushes the patty with a highly reduced beef stock and finishes the burger with creamy Cambozola cheese and tomato jam on a soft toasted bun, with fries on the side.
“We’re very careful about the fat content,” Chapman said. “We use 80-20 (beef-to-fat ratio).
The Great Lakes fish and chips ($24) uses batter-fried perch, with the fries dusted with vinegar salt — the vinegar dehydrated in-house to flavor the salt — and a lighter coleslaw.
“It’s a pretty standard dish but we take it very, very seriously,” he said.
The beet salad ($14) is prepared in a way that takes away some of the bite of the vegetable. The beet is roasted in sherry vinegar, reducing some its earthiness. It is paired with crunchy apples, egg, avocado, candied cashews, blue cheese and buttermilk dressing.
“Every bite’s a little different than the last,” Chapman said. “When it’s done you want more.”
A comfort-food dish that can ward off the persistent cold, the pork piri piri ($28) has enough heat from the African piri piri spices and chorizo, with additional heft from red skin potatoes and seafood background from mussels.
The braising liquid is reduced and placed in a bowl with the other ingredients.
“The whole thing is a little brothy, a little saucy,” he said.
Hanger steak ($36) gets softened in a pineapple marinade and, when on the grill, develops texture and a seductive dark caramel color. It’s plated with kimchi fried rice accented with Korean gochujang sauce and plated with a sunnyside-up egg.
“The best thing I like to do," he said, "is drag that yolk through my fried rice.”
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