Overlooking Stuart’s Manatee Pocket, The Pearl strives to be a diamond among the many casual bars in nearby Port Salerno. The outdoor restaurant and cocktail lounge has a yacht club feel but is far from pretentious, says owner George Olsen, who hopes to deliver the kind of elevated experience one might find in Palm Beach or Miami. “We’re blessed to be in a beautiful area,” says Olsen. “We’re trying to bring upscale flavor to the waterfront in Port Salerno.”
The 4,000-square-foot space is adorned with couches and 22 bar stools, all protected from the sun and rain. Patrons who arrive by car or boat (the eatery sits on a private marina, and there are public docks nearby) can sink into a comfy couch and make new friends or bring a crowd and gather in the modular, movable furniture.
While The Pearl opened its doors last October, the warehouse-style building—which was originally a fish house and then housed art studios—is being retrofitted in phases, with completion expected by the end of this year. While the new kitchen is being finished, Chef Evan Baxter has been working his magic out of a food truck, where he prepares the restaurant’s tapas-style dishes like lobster mac and truffle cheese, tuna crunch tacos, sticky pork bao buns with Asian slaw, and shrimp cocktail, as well as delicious homemade sauces and jams.
Once the new kitchen is ready for operation, Chef Baxter will have more room to clean and prepare fish, and Olsen has plans to work with local fishermen to serve daily catches as well as oysters (it is called The Pearl, after all).
Olsen—who has a background in bartending and owns Libations Mobile Catering, a bar-service company—worked with The Pearl team to develop an inventive (and cheeky) cocktail menu. The Pearl invites guests to get “nauti” with the Blue Pill cocktail, a mix of Espolòn Reposado, pineapple, Munyon’s Paw-Paw, coconut cream, lime, and blue spirulina. Other standouts on the tiki-themed cocktail menu are the Tan Lines Margarita (made with tajin foam), the Coffee Colada (a piña colada with a coffee finish), and the Pearloma (their spin on a Paloma). Olsen says he tests new items at farmers’ markets in Stuart and Hobe Sound, seeking feedback before adding them to the menu.
“There was a lot of tasting involved in the development of the menu,” Olsen says. “When we were picking names, we put a little bit of Salerno, water, and silliness into it. It’s always fun to see people’s reactions.” 4745 SE Desoto Ave., Stuart; 772.324.8268
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