Note: This review was published on Examiner.com in 2013. It is reprinted here for reference to compare with our 2023 review. Seth and Angel Raynor sold the Pearl and the Boarding House in 2021 to Blue Flag Partners, who re-opened both restaurants in the summer of 2023.
The Pearl is the top echelon of the three restaurants run by Seth and Angela Raynor: the others are the Boarding House and Corazon del Mar. The Pearl features imaginative dishes arranged as small plates, large plates, raw, and vegetables, created by Chef Liam Mackey and sous chef Emmanuel Rojas. The service is uniformly excellent in the beautifully designed pale blue dining room.
While the Pearl has gotten the reputation of being quite expensive, only the Wok Fried Lobster ($60) actually is.
The rest of the large places are priced from $29 to $36 and the small plates from $13 to $22. And yes, the Wok Fried Lobster really is good, but you don’t have to order it every time you visit. You can see the entire menu here, and note that they do include the prices.
On this visit, we made up our meal of three small plates and one large plate, and had plenty to eat. The cuisine is dubbed “coastal,” but it is really imaginative ideas from Asian cooking, vegetarian cuisine and several raw bar choices.
We tried out the Chefs Vegetable Box ($15), which was a vegetable plate of shitakes, asparagus, fiddlehead tempura, artichokes, beets and fava bean hummus. There wasn’t a lot of quantity to this one, but the mix of flavors was really imaginative.
Our other small plate was called Sizzling Ssam Plate, where Ssam is part of Korean cuisine where you wrap the meat in lettuce leaves. In this version, a block on sliced pork belly is served on a hot, smooth, black rock to keep it warm. Accompanying the pork was “dynamite bbq sauce” and “traditional condiments.” In this case those included the lettuce leaves, kimchi, pickled vegetables and the soy-like barbecue sauce. You simply picked up a slice of the pork, placed it on the lettuce leaf, added the kimchi and vegetables and then wrapped up the lettuce. You then had a lettuce wrap you could pick up and dip in the sauce and each. This was an absolutely spectacular dish and one of the best on the menu.
Before the main courses arrived, we were presented with a couple of surprise small plates: one was an excellent Lobster Rangoon, lobster and cream cheese fried in little pastry dumplings. The other was a fluke sashimi, served with tamarind sauce, shredded green mango, thai chile and peanut on top. Again, an excellent tapa-sized delicious appetizer.
Our main courses were the Vietnamese Lettuce Wraps, which are a crispy pork and shrimp spring roll with herbs, pickles and a nuoc cham dipping sauce. This one is always a winner and you should be sure to order it as an appetizer or main course.
Finally, our other main course was Pan Seared Sea Scallops, beautifully presented with little kimchi pancakes, Asian pear, black sesame lemon and a Korean garlic chili sauce. While the scallops were delicately seared and very tender and the chili sauce an excellent accompaniment, the little kimchi pancakes and lemon didn’t add much to the overall flavor.
Finally, we split an excellent dessert crepe dish with chocolate sauce, hazelnuts and pineapple.
The Pearl is one of Nantucket’s most elegant restaurants and always a great dining experience. They serve dinner Wednesday through Sunday.