Black and white checkered floors are a standout upon walking into The Pearl French Bistro. The restaurant's white table cloths and folded napkins should not make the penny pinching customer wary. In fact, when it comes to lunch, the most expensive item on the menu is the $14 jumbo lump crab cake. Dinner is a different story.
It's a small price to pay since the chef, Ihsan Korkmaz, attended Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Ottawa, Canada. Unfortunately, the restaurant's site does not explain why Korkmaz ended up in the Tidewater area. All that should really matter is that he did, and he's good at what he does.
The menu for lunch features soups, salads, sandwiches and even quiches. The quiche should be mentioned since it is constantly changing as part of the $10 "quiche of the day." In doing so, it's no wonder that the ingredients are always fresh.
Those fresh ingredients are not only limited to the daily specials. The cobb salad, for a more than reasonable $9.00, has a large amount of sliced avocados, tomatoes and your choice of either chicken or salmon. The salad is topped with a light red wine vinaigrette which pairs well with the creamy bleu cheese.
Go to The Pearl for lunch and you'll leave wondering what's for dinner. The average entree runs around $30, and includes some of the traditional French dishes such as escargot and coq au vin.
It should also be mentioned that this restaurant was awarded a Daily Press Reader's Choice for best French food in Newport News. What other French restaurants there are in Newport News remains a mystery, but nonetheless the title was well deserved.
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