Holy Moly Macaroni
By Dayle Ringer
Mitch is working so much; I’m on my way home from work and
he headed to work that he said I “pimped” him out to my boss. (Love his humor.)
Our phone call to each other, I stated that I was going out to eat for my blog
since we didn’t go last weekend, and I did just that. I stayed close to home in
Lee’s Summit. Pearl Tavern; located at 1672 NW Chipman Rd Lees Summit, MO. Of
course, I knew nothing about this place, the way I like it so I can develop my
own opinion.
A little history, it is owned by Andy Lock and Domhall Molloy,
they have more than 40 years in the restaurant business. They have a culinary director
Chef Po Wang, who is the executive Chef of Pearl Tavern. Doing some research
for this, Lock and Molloy, own around 6ish restaurants, from Summit Grill,
Third Street Social to Boru Ramen Bar and many more. Lock is from the same mid-west
town that Mitch and I are from, my realtor that sold me my house is his uncle.
Also, Lock’s son, Drew, was a quarterback for MU, who was drafted to Denver
Broncos. Always a small world.
I made a reservation like I normally do, so I don’t have to
wait. I didn’t need to, however on a weekend, I would suggest that you do. It
is clean and modern. I didn’t even know what kind of restaurant this was, to my
surprise it’s a seafood restaurant. Oh, my! My favorite! I was seated right
away and my waiter, Joey, was very attentive.
I normally get an adult beverage. This time I did not.
Something else caught my eye. A cucumber mint lemonade. This was phenomenal.
The right balance of cucumbers and mint, not overwhelming but know it’s there. I’m
a big mint fan. At my house in Carrollton, I had a huge patch of mint that I
would use to make mint ice tea.
I started my meal with hushpuppies. I never like hushpuppies
for a long time, which mostly I realized because those came from Long John
Slivers…Please. What turned me around is my cousin’s dad had a recipe for
hushpuppies, can’t leave any ingredient out or it won’t turn out, and somehow,
I got in my head that it came from a poker game, not sure how that goes. Maybe
Stacy will read this and clue us in? So now after eating his, I like trying hushpuppies to see if they compare. The Pearl Tavern's hushpuppies have roasted corn inside and served with an apricot jalapeno jelly. OMG.
I make jalapeno jelly, I never thought of using apricots. This combo of the flavor
of the hushpuppies to the jalapeno jelly is like peanut butter and jelly. Can’t
have one without the other.
After a very long decision process of what to order, I settled
on the Lobster Mac N’ Cheese. This is a creamy cheese sauce, lobster velouté,
with buttery bread crumbs. I never had this before. I know unbelievable. I
thought it would be wonderful to try; since I like everything on the menu
except for raw oysters. Not a fan. However, if you are; they have happy hour
from 3pm-6pm, I think the oysters are a dollar each. The food did not take long. This mac n
cheese, wow, it is to die for. This was
creamy, gooey, velvety, lusciousness on a fork. The lobster was melting in your
mouth. The Velouté is a white sauce, stock based and thickened. It’s a classic French
sauce, and is one of five “mother sauces”. Holy moly macaroni. I ended up
eating every last bite, no doggie bag needed for me, almost considered licking my
plate, but thought it might be rude.
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| Lobster Mac N' Cheese. (I forgot to take a picture before I dug in, so the photo is courtesy of Pearl Tavern Facebook site) |
For you seafood lovers, they have a list of fresh fish
daily. This fresh fish is flown in daily from both coasts, gulf, and great lakes.
The special that night, which I was going to get since I also have never tried, was a
fried softshell po boy. If they still have that when I go back, that might be
what I get. They also have a brunch menu for Saturday and Sundays from
10am-2:30pm, and I spotted with my little green eye they have a bottomless
mimosa with purchase of any entrée during brunch hours. That will get me out of
bed on a Sunday.
The only two negative things I have about this place, which
will not stop me from going back. The tables are so close to each other. You
are literally eating with the other people, I felt like I was on a date with
the couple right next to me. You can hear every conversation. The other is the
price. I know It’s seafood, I know we are Midwest no coast around here; If it’s
a little pricey, the tables should be farther apart especially if they aren’t
that busy, seat us more apart, so I don’t go on the first date with a couple, I
almost told them my hobbies, etc.
This weekend is full of food. A place was recommended by my
boss to try. I think we will be trying to go this Saturday. I just gave the
name to Mitch for him to look it up and plan. Don’t want to know much before I get
there. Then Sunday we are doing a Mother’s Day dinner with family at Third
Street Social. Yes, owned by Lock and Molloy. So, stand by on more blogs. I
will be very fat and sassy after this weekend.
I hope everyone has a lovely
weekend and a shout out to all the mothers, wanting to be mothers, mothers to
be, mothers of fur babies, and single dads doing both roles. Happy Mother’s
Day. God Bless each of you.
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| Photo courtesy from Pearl Tavern Facebook site |
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