Come next year, you can bet everyone will be trying to get a table at Pineapple and Pearls. That will be the name of the much-anticipated Barracks Row fine dining spot and cafe from Rose’s Luxury chef/owner Aaron Silverman.
The pineapple represents hospitality, while pearls are a symbol of elegance. “It’s exactly what we want to do,” Silverman says. “We’re trying to do this really high-end fine dining, super elegant experience but at the same time we’re all about hospitality.”
After seeing fellow chefs and restaurateurs (Eric Ziebold and Tim Ma) stumbling over trademark issues lately, Silverman says he’s done his due diligence and applied for his own federal trademark.
“The name’s the hardest thing. It’s so hard,” Silverman says. “Let me think of a cool restaurant concept, that’s not hard. But a name is impossible.”
About that cool restaurant concept: In the mornings, Pineapple and Pearls (715 8th St. SE) will host a small cafe in the front serving coffee, pastries, to-go sandwiches, and other breakfast items. In the evenings, it will transform into a fine dining restaurant featuring a prix-fixe tasting menu. Pineapple and Pearls—which, unlike Rose’s Luxury, will take reservations—will be open just four nights a week, excluding weekends.
Silverman had initially planned to host a series of public preview dinners for the restaurant in his own home. But he says that’s not likely to happen anymore; his schedule is just too busy. “I hope we can do them, but I don’t know. It all depends what happens with how crazy construction gets… We’re about to be in a massive hiring spree. I don’t think I was aware of how many interviews I was going to have to do… We’re hiring 40, 50 new people,” he says.
The cafe portion of the restaurant is slated to open at the beginning of 2016 and dinner will follow two months after that.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery