Pearl and Ash NYC Review

When we went to Rebelle, we popped into Pearl & Ash before dinner for a drink. We tried to get a table for that evening as we were not particularly inspired by the menu at Rebelle, but they were full so we reserved a table to come back a few days later. My friend Ian mentioned when we had dinner at Carbone that he loves Pearl & Ash, particularly their wine list.

The restaurant is small and very cosy with nice brick walls and cute details. The menu is smallish plates and they suggest around three per person.

What we ate:

Brussels sprouts salad: shaved raw Brussel sprout salad with compressed quince and apples. We were a bit underwhelmed by this dish as the salad was supposed to be tossed in a blue cheese dressing but we could barely taste the blue cheese and the ratio of sprouts to other ingredients just didn’t work.

Wagyu, radish, pomegranate, and broccoli: beef tataki with a broccoli puree/sauce and shaved radishes was flavoursome and fresh, but the beef should have been a touch more tender for a piece of wagyu.

Spanish octopus, n’duja, vinegar potatoes, cilantro: tender and well grilled octopus with tasty n’duja vinaigrette that added a nice smokiness to the dish. Tasty!

Black pepper cavatelli, whipped lardo, egg yolk, breadcrumbs: the highlight of the savoury dishes as the cavatelli were al-dente and tossed with the lardo and egg which made it very creamy. The bread crumbs added a nice crunchy texture and the only complaint was is that it was slightly on the salty side.

Scallops: over-cooked scallops with romanesco and brown butter. Good flavours but we couldn’t get over how chewy the scallops were.

Oatmeal cream pie cookie: we ordered one of the cookies just to try as Amy said that it brought her memories of her childhood eating Little Debbie Oatmeal cream pies. If you order a full portion, they are then served with a little milk.

Brownie, bourbon, pecan: this dish was worth the visit to Pearl & Ash and one of the best desserts I have tried in a long time. The brownie was moist and deeply chocolaty, and the bourbon sauce was boozy but not too much. There was a citrus meringue on top that sounded odd when the waiter described it but thankfully it worked well, cutting some of the usual meringue sweetness. Fabulous!

Apple, caramel, cheddar: we were intrigued by this dessert and the flavour pairing but we could hardly identify the cheddar and it just didn’t impress us. I wish we had ordered two brownies instead as my dinner companions kept eating mine. I usually love sharing desserts as it results in me eating slightly less, but in this case I wanted the whole brownie.

In sum: cute space with a menu that sounds more appealing than it was. I would eat somewhere else in the area and pop in for a brownie at the bar.

http://www.pearlandash.com/index.html

Communal table at pearl & Ash – cool space for vine parties!

Main dining room area at Pearl & Ash

Open kitchen at Pearl & Ash