Black Pearl

Timing, company and appetite make all the difference when dining at Black Pearl. But mostly, it's appetite. Because the cuisine is rigorously New American, you have to be in the mood for deconstructed clam chowder, for a menu that mixes classical French (such as Black Pearl's moules et frites in Pernod broth) with mac-and-cheese, but Black Pearl's kitchen executes these ideas with fresh grace. The dining room is hip and modern, the wine service is excellent and the place does a booming business on this booming block of Old South Pearl.