Return to Restaurant at the Pearl

While TC and her friends were waiting in line for the Matterhorn, the spinning tea cups, and Space Mountain, we  enjoyed our few hours in Little Italy as well as dinner at a restored mid-century Travelodge (or something of that ilk), revamped as the Pearl...

They play old movies and tv shows by the poolside such as old episodes of "I Dream of Jeannie"...featuring a very young Larry Hagman and the babe-a-licious Barbara Eden, who wasn't allowed by the network prudes to show her belly button in her sexy genie outfit...

The plasma tv at the bar was playing the episode (and movie) for the evening and we had fun watching snippets of each during our dinner...

IDGAF what anyone thinks, I'm using this coupon!!!!!

Saving money. It's a good thing.

Last time we went here, it was raining. This happened to be last weekend when we enjoyed really nice weather...

We didn't have reservations but there were lots of places to sit.

Including this other area, but the two-top bar height tables seemed too cramped...

so we asked to be seated by the bigger tables at the window like last year where we had a good view of the pool and the movie screen which was playing an old episode of "I Dream of Jeannie".

The coupon stipulated two drinks plus an entree to get the free entree...

I tried The Warhol...

Bert got the Alesmith Brown Ale, which was a really nice and smooth dark beer. It had a bit of a chocolate flavor to it which would taste good with some ice cream for a beer float!

A not so good photo of their menu, which changes seasonally. I had the short rib last time so I wanted something different.

Back to our drinks. My Warhol had strawberries and basil, gin, lemon, and absinthe (just a spray of it). I might have liked it better without the basil but it was a good combination of flavors.

Look! There's Major Nelson! Larry Hagman was handsome back then, waaaaay before his evil "J.R. Ewing" days in "Dallas"! I think the show jumped the shark when Major Nelson and Jeannie got married. Getting married on a sitcom is almost always the kiss of death.

Now this was a really fun movie to watch, simply because of the talent of Sinatra and Kelly. "A Night on the Town" was a 1949 musical about three sailors who are on a 24-hour leave of New York City and all the "stuff" that they do in that time span (sing, dance, see the sights, fall in love, and sing and dance!).  I stress "watch" because the sound wasn't on. You wouldn't be able to hear it anyways over the noise at the bar.

My Pan Roasted Free Range Duck Breast with sweet potato mash and roasted brussel sprouts and carrots, local peas, pan juice, and flavored with allspice.

Bert's entree: Mary's Fried Chicken and Waffle with organic beet juice (seriously, WTF) waffle, crispy leg and thig, maple syrup and coleslaw.

He felt the waffle was standard, nothing extraordinary but  he really liked the fried chicken. Especially the skin, which had a lot of flavor and a crispety crunch.

Here's a closeup of the duck breast slices. Behold, the caramelized crispness of the delicious fat. I normally don't like duck, but this was really done well.

Our server told us the brussel sprouts would be steamed, but these were clearly roasted, which to me tasted better. What Bert and I liked about our entrees (this time as well as last time) were the perfect portions. They do not serve monstrous Claim Jumper size portions here, nor do they serve miniscule, twee, and overly precious  doll size bites either. This was just enough to satisfy our appetite but still leave room for dessert.

Bite this!

Our desserts which we shared - this was the coffee and caramel gelato with chocolate and caramel sauce. One of the scoops had a thin tuile on top and the stuff in the middle were cocoa nibs and some sort of cookie crumbs (forgot, having a brain fart here). I wanted to have something cold as one of our desserts...

The other dessert was a repeat from last year, their beignets with chocolate sauce, aka little fried donut ballz covered in powdered sugar. This seemed a bit overwhelming so the leftovers were brought home for TC to enjoy later as well.

When we had this last year, they put a sparkler on it and I was trying to blow it out like a fool!

A fun day and evening overall. The night was still young since we had a super early dinner. We still had to pick up TC at her school!

Here's the opening of "On the Town" starring a very young Frank Sinatra, the legendary Gene Kelly and some other dude (Jules Munshin, WTF is he?). It's pretty cool to see the 1940's version of New York City.

I guess the censors couldn't really show what sailors did during their 24-leave. Uh, where were the strip joints 'n hookers? Ha ha!

My previous visit to the Pearl:
April 2012 - If you go on the day of your actual birthday, you get a free dinner! They didn't even ask to see my ID for proof! I could have lied to them, but honest me didn't stoop that low!

Can't wait 'til Spring Break. I just want to veg out and watch old episodes of my British comedies,"Spaced" and "The Young Ones", as well as have coupon lunch adventures with TC!