Date Night at The Pearl

Todd & I have done a good job of keeping up with our monthly anniversary date nights where we go out on the 20th of each month.  February 20 was kind of a big deal as it was our 1.5 year anniversary and since we didn't celebrate Valentine's Day last week, we decided to go all out and head downtown to the new Cameron Mitchell restaurant, The Pearl, that just opened 2 weeks ago.  Besides Cap City, The Pearl is one of the more casual restaurants that Cameron Mitchell has opened.  It's tagged as a restaurant, tavern, and oyster room.

 

Love the lights on the sign

We had made reservations on Open Table last week for 5:45 PM.  It was a little early but it was the only thing available before 9:00 PM for that evening.  In fact, I even looked at some other dates and it seems like anything between 6:00-9:00 PM is already booked weeks in advance.  Definitely a popular spot to try out!  Since there are so many people wanting to eat here, they cram people more than I would have liked but it worked out well since we started talking to the people at the table next to us and they offered us some of their alcoholic punch. 

Todd started with a Rogue Brew 15,000; a beer from Rogue in Portland, OR that was brewed to celebrate their 15,000 batch of beer made.  They only made a limited amount and right now, The Pearl has 6 kegs and is the only location in central Ohio to carry this. 

Water was served in mason jars

We also started with an appetizer of Fried Cheese Curds, which were served with almost a gravy-like sauce and it was similar to poutine fries (fries and gravy).  Delicious start to the meal!

Fried Cheese Curds

For my main meal, I got the Pub Burger that came with a tomato relish and tavern fries.  The ingredients used at The Pearl are local and organic and this burger literally melted in my mouth.  It was probably one of the best burgers I've ever had.  The fries were good but a little too salty for my taste.

Before digging in

Todd went with one of their more popular dishes, fried chicken with greens and a cinnamon bun.  Again, the fried chicken was really tender and fell of the bone.  The cinnamon bun seemed like an odd side dish (I would have expected corn bread or something along those lines) but it was so good I wanted to buy more just to eat for breakfast the next day.

Todd & his fried chicken

Of course, no night out is complete without dessert.  They serve several different types of pie and while I'm not sure if it changes daily, the options we had were Boston Cream Pie, Crack Pie (butter, brown sugar, and oatmeal crust), Snickers Pie, and Deconstructed Blueberry Pie served in a jar.  Boston Cream Pie is my absolute favorite so there was no question that's what I was getting.  While the rest of our meal was top notch, I do have to say I was a little disappointed with the pie.  It was good but since I've already been on a search for the best Boston Cream Pie, it was going to be hard to live up to some that I've had before.  Next time I think I'll try the Crack Pie.

Notice the difference in my smile from the previous photo to this one, I look giddy here! I'm definitely a girl who loves her desserts... 

Overall, I would definitely go back to The Pearl and highly recommend trying it out!