Pearl Oyster Bar

Last night we had dinner at Pearl Oyster Bar on College Avenue in the Rockridge area of North Oakland. We had been there perhaps a dozen times over the last three or four years, but had forgotten how wonderful this restaurant is. We had:

Spicy Tuna Poke

Thin slices of seared tuna on an avocado sauce base with fresh shredded horseradish on the side.

Fish springrolls with pickled chile-mango dipping sauce.

Crispy calamari with Thai slaw.

Coffee, cardamom, and cacao crusted sturgeon with sunchoke-cauliflower puree and red wine sauce.

Accompanied by: 2005 Cougar Crest viognier, Walla Walla Valley.

As you may have guessed, this is an Asian fusion restaurant. It could very well be the best of that gendre in the Bay area. The seafood was impeccably fresh and cooked with a deft hand. As we finished dinner we realized to our surprise that when we compared Pearl Oyster Bar to the four highly rated and expensive restaurants we had visited in New York City, Pearl was head and shoulders above any of them. In particular, the meal, ambiance, and service at Pearl was better than Esca - Mario Batalli's fish restaurant. And, not surprisingly, our meal cost about half to two thirds of what we paid in New York.

(This week the New York Times reported that Trader Joe's sells "Two buck Chuck" for $3.00 in New York City.)