Life goes meandering along, and then one day you realize . . . it is time to go to Pearl’s. It is time to have a Golden Margarita and a Plantation Platter and some cornbread. Maybe a bowl of corn chowder with crayfish, or some Ya-Ya Gumbo. Fried green tomatoes, red bean cakes . . . it’s time.
There is nothing like dinner at Pearl’s to fill a person with a sense of well-being. Besides, yesterday was Louan’s birthday, and she is partial to Pearl’s.
Update: How on earth I could have failed to include a link to the Pearl’s website I cannot imagine. Sorry.
Torch Lake Views 
Martha
February 8, 2012
Why am I not where you are? I need some South in my mouth.
Gerry
February 8, 2012
I think that may explain the great popularity of Pearl’s. Did I mention the cheese grits? Yes, there are cheese grits included in the Plantation Platter.
Heather
February 8, 2012
Our minds must run along a similar food track. We had Pearl’s for lunch today and opted for the special…over their po’ boy & a pint special! Pork belly, creamy polenta, and sauteed veggies. I might be tempted to go back for dinner if I weren’t still full 😉
Happy Birthday, Louan!
Gerry
February 8, 2012
I, um, had Pearl’s for lunch today too. Leftover fried green tomatoes and barbecued shrimp. You should have seen the Duo watch me eat it. I had to give them extra supper tonight to make up for it.
They were offering the pork belly last night but I have a prejudice against it that goes back to my days in the buying department of a Ralston Purina chow plant. I was learning about the commodities market, you see, and I learned rather more about it than I really wanted to and . . . I’m sorry, I digress. How was the polenta?
Heather
February 8, 2012
I grew up on a hog farm, so I’ve had my share of learning more than I’d like about the foods I consume. But tasty is tasty, so long as I don’t make a dietary habit of it. The polenta, as always, was good and left me pondering how to replicate at home.
Gerry
February 8, 2012
Wouldn’t that be something, though? I think polenta takes more stirring than I’m prepared for. I tend to wander off into a train of thought and come back to something not entirely edible.
Sybil
February 8, 2012
Gerry, you failed to include a Google maps link with directions to Pearl’s. Please rectify this situation as soon as possible.
Gerry
February 8, 2012
I’ll do better than that. I’ll update the post with a link to the Pearl’s website.
Dawn
February 8, 2012
Fried tomatoes and corn bread. You’ve got me.
Gerry
February 8, 2012
You’re so easy.
Belinda
February 8, 2012
Where is Pearl’s located?
Sounds like a restaurant we might like to try out in the summer when we visit Michigan.
I love fried green tomatoes.
Gerry
February 8, 2012
It’s in Elk Rapids in that east-side business district along Ames Street. You can’t miss it. The fried green tomatoes are really good.
P.j. grath
February 8, 2012
Belated birthday greetings to Louan, Gerry! But how many years has Pearl’s been dishing up these delights, and I haven’t been there yet? This settles it. Spring road trip!
(Polenta in a double boiler works for me with hardly any stirring at all. Mush by any other name.)
Gerry
February 8, 2012
Um, leventy divided by two carry the four . . . lots. It’s been there lots of years. More than ten. If the weather is suitable you might want to make the road trip for the Mardi Gras celebration. It lasts all weekend.
There’s another reason for getting a double boiler. I lost mine and I miss it. I know, I know – who loses a double boiler??? Well. I did. I can’t imagine how, but there were a couple of fairly tumultuous years in there.
Merrie
February 8, 2012
Oh, I adore those red bean cakes!
Gerry
February 8, 2012
They are excellent treats. They would have made a good lunch the next day, too, but I can never manage to bring any home with me.
Carsten
February 9, 2012
Hapy birthday Louan!
Food and weather are always interesting subjects. I feel completely off the track here. The only dish I’m familiar with is the polenta – which is not among my favourites.
I’d like tasting all of them. Fried green tomatoes… The movie was good.
My mother used to make sweet pickled green tomatoes. Must have been long time before my father passed away. Sigh! How time flies.
Gerry
February 9, 2012
Food and weather are subjects we all understand in our bones, and yet our experiences of them are endlessly varied. Makes for interesting conversations. And then – food is entwined in our earliest memories of family. A spoonful of sweet pickled green tomatoes can carry us back . . . sometimes just for a moment we can fly backwards through time. Just for a moment.
Carsten
February 9, 2012
So right you are Gerry. Just your words ‘green tomatoes’ sent me back to the sunday dinner table with a short tour through the kitchen and the preserving jars. I’m right back here in 2012. Hungry! Thanks for the ride.
I experienced the strangest memory recall when we had our first child. The smell from my wife breast-feeding him gave me the most wonderful feeling of peace and security as I must have had as a baby myself. But as you write: Just for a short flash. Then the gate to the past closed again.
Gerry
February 9, 2012
What a gift these memories are.
Joss
February 9, 2012
Well, I don’t know what any of those things taste like, but they sound delicious. Happy birthday to Louan!
Gerry
February 9, 2012
They are very delicious. And there are as many ways to make them as there are good cooks from Louisiana. (In my experience, pretty much anyone who grows up in Louisiana is a good cook. I think it’s something in the water.)
tootlepedal
February 9, 2012
It’s too far to come. You’ll have to send us a food parcel.
Gerry
February 9, 2012
That’s a good plan. I am reminded of neighbors in my beloved Detroit neighborhood. They were from New Orleans, and went home to visit family on a regular basis. They would come back with a cooler filled with delicacies packed in dry ice, and a suitcase packed with coffee and specialty grocery items. Then they would cook. Then–and this is the truly miraculous part–they would invite the neighbors in for dinner! Now that I think of it, I suspect you and Mrs. Tootlepedal are a bit like those neighbors. Thus the frequent visits from Dropscone.
Karma
February 9, 2012
Wonderful picture! It is almost always time for a margarita in my book!
Gerry
February 9, 2012
Thank you, Karma. It’s funny, but I’m not really a big margarita fan. I almost never have one except at Pearl’s – and I almost always have one at Pearl’s! Must be something in the gumbo.
Beth Toner
February 10, 2012
So Joe and I must’ve passed Pearl’s a half million times when we were camping at Honcho Rest last summer. Joe’s comment: “That place must ROCK, because the parking lot is always full!” I think next summer we will take the kids to my brother’s place and Joe and I will have DATE!
Gerry
February 10, 2012
That is an excellent idea. You can bring home some of the killer bread pudding for a nice breakfast surprise the next day.
shoreacres
February 10, 2012
Love the cozy picture, love the descriptions of the food – and love that it’s all taking place with all that winter outside. Doubles the pleasure.
I saw the ice shard pics from last year – the pink and magenta. Actually, they all were beautiful. And the footprints melting away? Some poet ought to pick up on that image.
Gerry
February 10, 2012
I think some poet has. Poets are notoriously shy, though.
Glad you liked the photos.
Louan
February 12, 2012
Thank you all, for the Birthday Wishes, and to Gerry, for the fine party conversation. I should have been paying more attention and replyed earlier.
I must say, Pearl’s prepares foods that I would have eaten in my youth, except I grew up in a home with German/English foods. Lots of pot roast and various sausages with cabbage and potatoes. I didn’t know. I’m making up for that, now.
My junior high aged nephew, loved Pearl’s, though he protested. As soon as he stepped inside, he was hooked. He even ordered a side of alligator, so he could tell his friends, back home, that he had eaten it.
It is worth a trip just to see the interior design. You feel as if you have stepped into New Orleans.
Gerry
February 13, 2012
I should have put in photos of the restrooms.