Pearl Street Grill
1477 S Pearl Street
May 14th, 2009
Attendees: Caroline, Rhonda, Jen, Lara, Marie, Ang. and Special Guest Stacy
My first real apartment in Denver was located at 1430 S. Pearl...just a few doors down from the Pearl Street Grill, the Sushi Den and Stella's Coffee House, I didn't drive at the time, but my roommate hated not having a driveway...because if you weren't home before 6pm there was never anywhere to park. That was over ten years ago, all those places are still there and I can only guess that the neighborhood residents still feel the same. At 6:45 on Thursday, the block was packed.
The Pearl Street Grill is a Denver institution, older than the Wynkoop and legend has it that back in the day, when he was just known as "John", Mayor Hickenlooper would stop in, sit at the bar and pester the owners for business advice. But before this evening, I had only ever been there once before, when I lived down the street. It was one of those steel gray, it's-too-damn-cold-to-snow days and we walked down the block in the afternoon and had one of the best bowls of Potato & Leek soup that I have ever had that didn't come out of my kitchen. But I digress.
We arrived at the restaurant a little early and the nice little hostess gal lead us out to our table on the back patio. Let me start by saying, this patio is amazing.
All outdoor seating arrangements should aspire to be the patio at the Pearl Street Grill. There was not one table there where sun-in-the-eyes seemed to be a factor as the whole thing was shaded by an beautiful, enormous tree (it was shedding but so what!) and the water feature was a true delight, soothing but not overbearing.
As per usual we started off with a round of drinks and that's when it all began.
We had two drink menus and they were not the same. Our waiter, Ted, after asking us about our group and what we do and the like, explained that the drink specials were different on "daily specials" sheet than in the menu and that the wine selections might be a bit outdated. A little odd, but we went with it. I cannot remember the name of the drink I had but it's vodka and ginger beer served in a copper mug...cool, refreshing and delicious.
Jen ordered a mojito, or I should say, the saddest attempt at a mojito that I have ever seen and as soon as I was able to flag down a staff member that just happened by our table, we sent that glass of wilted mint and not-freshly-cut limes back in favor of a glass of sangria, which seemed to be the preferred drink of the evening.
After that we decided on a couple of appetizers. The Artichoke Dip was really good, it was creamy with a great texture and the perfect amount of cheesy, but the toasted beer bread points were the highlight on the dish. We also ordered a plate of Mussels Bouillabaisse...O.M.G.! I am not much of a seafood fan, I like fish, mostly raw...but unless it is shrimp, I am always willing to try something. Outside of the Great Backyard 4th-of-July Mussel Fest last year...these were the single greatest mussels I have ever had in my life. They were perfectly cooked, not one of the five I ate were in the least bit chewy and the sauce was out-of-this-world, fantastic! I'd have to say, they were the highlight of the evening.
As we were preparing to order our entrees our waiter, Ted, came by the table to impart some menu wisdom on us. In short he pointed out all the things on the menu that we should not even think about ordering. The Mediterranean Pasta should, apparently, be avoided completely...it is never any good. He also suggested we steer clear of the Grilled Pork Medallions and the Enchilada Plate. He mentioned that the Meatloaf is excellent but the Pot Roast can be iffy. We asked why the Grilled Salmon appears on the menu twice, both with the same description but two different prices, he wasn't sure nor did he make any gesture to find out. I asked about the Macho Burrito and was told it wasn't anything I couldn't get better someplace else.
In the end, I decided to give the Pot Roast a try...Ted was right. It wasn't awesome but it wasn't so dry that I needed to send it back.
All in all, I feel really weird about Ted. On one hand it's really nice, I suppose, to have a waiter be that blunt and honest about the menu, on the other, I just feel that that entire exchange could have been handled in a more positive way. Instead of telling us what we should avoid, he might have been more open to recommending something else had we tried to order those items on the menu that he just didn't favor. I don't know, the whole thing just threw me off and I can't get over it. Everyone else, however, seemed to really enjoy their dinners, the mushroom gravy for the meatloaf was no lie, loaded with mushrooms, Rhonda and Lara had two of the biggest, most delicious looking Greek Salads I have ever seen, Jen seemed very pleased with the Trout and the Buffalo Burger at Stacy's end of the table looked downright sensational.
Needless to say, my overall impression of the Pearl Street Grill is somewhat bittersweet. I loved the ambiance of the patio and the appetizers were really great but the whole of the dining experience was somewhat tainted. In the end I was just left with the feeling that our waiter just really didn't care all that much and it kinda just threw the whole dining-out experience off completely. I don't know if I'll ever return...well, maybe...if it's really, really cold and gray day, and somebody tells me Potato & Leek is the soup of the day.
