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Restaurant review

This Pearl's got polish

By Chris Sherman
Published March 16, 2006

	[Times photo: Bob Croslin]
	The Pearl features tapas, including the Mediterranean Sampler, foreground, ceviche and others.

The Pearl had me, and will probably have you too, at eggplant salad. Dull, old eggplant glistened with olive oil, a sparkle of vinegar and lemon and a punch of pepper.

No? How about tapas tagines? Nothing's cuter than those lovely ceramic cookers of the Mideast reduced to personal size. Lift the conical lid, and aromas of cumin and lemon dance from the warm clay tent.

These favorites of the Moroccan table are a signature of the heritage of chef and owner Karim Chiadmi and a promising appetizer of exceptional cooking that will run throughout exceptional meals. They start with Mediterranean tapas and wind through Continental classics such as veal piccata or bouillabaisse to a chocolate souffle.

Have no fear: The Pearl can cook Spanish or French with just as much fluency. The pate made in house is as fine and luscious as anything from Perigord, the array of vegetables could parade in any grand hotel.

The Mediterranean flavors and finesse of Chiadmi and his French-born wife and partner, Catherine, have been on our menus for a dozen years, from the Boatyard Village to O'Gradney's, and most recently shoehorned into an odd corner of the Thunderbird.

The Chiadmis' new spot is a block away in a small chunk of a strip center on Treasure Island, perhaps the least likely stretch of the Pinellas beaches for gourmet dining, the tacos at the VIP Lounge notwithstanding.

The brick and tin ceiling space has seen several failed restaurants; now its smart cooking and polished service rank it with the best in Pinellas. Eat here now, whether you want a taste of the casbah or the luxury of the Ritz.

It's an unusual combination of a modern taste to marry format and exotic spice with the grand old favorites ever popular around Tampa Bay. Yet Chiadmi's cooking and smart service gives them new energy.

For now, Moroccan tastes are part of the tapas spread and lunch menu lamb sausage sandwiches, kebabs and spinach pie, with a special Thursday menu of Moroccan dishes and belly dancing in the works.

First courses are wonderful on a rainbow of small, brightly painted dishes. Tapas include traditional Spanish bites of ceviche, chorizo, peppers and Cabrales cheese, grilled quail plus French charcuterie plates of pates and fine salami, as well as hummus, eggplant, pickled vegetables and tabbouleh that can bridge the sea between Spain and North Africa. Some hail from the mind of Chiadmi, like raw tuna in a vodka hot sauce with seaweed and tapioca.

This is more than enough fun, so one night we cut straight to the dessert, chocolate mousse and old-fashioned baked Alaska with meringue flaming like the aurora borealis.

I urge you to stay the course, or come back again, and often.

We did and restrained the tapas to try entrees. A small house salad was a great refresher, simple and the best in a dreary category: spring mix, a few strawberry slices and walnut chips spiked with a vibrant vinaigrette of more mustard than raspberry.

The same care showed in a remarkable array of vegetables with each plate, a broiled ripe tomato, a perfect whole carrot steamed with garlic, asparagus and potatoes gratin. Sneer not at its old-fashioned format, we all love potatoes with cheese and cream. These are a personal best, two dozen potatoes sliced thin and cooked to a lush tenderness.

Again, with such sides, who needs entrees? You do, especially if you love bouillabaisse. After too many jumbles of leftover seafood in tomato sauce in many languages, I've nearly sworn off seafood stew. Here, however, was bouillabaisse that smelled like the docks of Marseilles from two feet away. Sure there was a heap of big scallops, clams and mussels in their shells, squid and even a little lobster tail, but they paled against the richest seafood broth of fish stock, a field of rosemary and a fortune of saffron.

Dover sole tops the menu, but the Pearl does it better than big bucks' show-off dining. Would you like the roe? Say yes and you get two large lobes of sweet, finely grained fish eggs as well as tender flatfish in lemon and parsley. Veal piccata used tender scallops in a classic preparation of lemon, herbs and capers, surprisingly light and perhaps the best choice to follow such appetizers. I can't imagine splitting a chateaubriand, but the Pearl has it - and I'd trust it to be first rate.

Fresh berries with cream, actually a sabayon of amaretto, hit high notes for this very simple dessert.

What binds the disparate menu together is service that embodies Old World polish and New World generosity. My server carefully explained the various styles of service, English, French and Russian, but left out Moroccan, which I must characterize as smooth, cheerful and handsome. Glasses refilled, silver replaced, food and wine explained, all with a smile.

Is there grit in the oyster shell with the Pearl? Only a couple of bits. The Treasure Island bridge is closed and Karim and Catherine Chiadmi have a crowd of fans. Make the effort, and reservations, to become one.

Chris Sherman dines anonymously and unannounced. The St. Petersburg Times pays for all expenses. A restaurant's advertising has nothing to do with selection for a review or the assessment of its quality. Sherman can be reached at (727) 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com.

The Pearl

163 107th Ave., Treasure Island

(727) 360-9151

www.gotothepearl.com

Hours: lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; dinner, 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Reservations: recommended

Features: beer, wine; tapas served; flamenco guitar entertainment on weekends.

Prices: lunch, $6.95 to $9.95; tapas, $3 to $8; dinner entrees $15.95 to $32.95.

[Last modified March 15, 2006, 13:01:33]