It’s hard not to be won over by a barman who describes his process as “Mr. Potato Head style — you end up with all these parts and try to figure out where they go.”
That’s how Gavin Koehn, who runs the cocktail program at the new Pearl Social, talks about creating a drink list that splits into such categories as Timeless, Rule Breakers, Come Back Kids, and Susan B. Anthony — the latter being non-alcoholic delights even a temperance leader could love. Those cocktails, along with a small but expertly curated menu of food from The Lark’s Chef Jason Paluska, are making Pearl Social the latest fetching Funk Zone creation from Acme Hospitality, who’s brought us The Lark, Loquita, Tyger Tyger, and so forth.
Occupying the former Les Marchands space, Pearl Social transforms the room into something somehow both larger, with most of the wine bottles and the central wall of windows removed, and more intimate, with its deep-blue-painted walls. There will be music at least five nights a week, sometimes vinyl (if you bring in five playable LPs, you can trade them for a cocktail), often combos, and a ticketed event once a month (opening night featured musicians who regularly play with Jackson Browne and David Crosby).