PEARLS OF WISDOM
THE PEARL
continues to raise Bluffton’s culinary profile. BY BARRY KAUFMAN
•
There was a time when the commonly held wisdom stated that Bluffton was not a town for fine dining. This sleepy river town was for blue collar folks with blue collar tastes, and no appetite for elevated cuisine. Happily, that commonly held wisdom has been proven almost laughably wrong. Up and down Calhoun Street, and from one end of May River Road to the other, an epicurean revolution has been slowly changing the face of Bluffton. Those blue-collar folks have welcomed new neighbors from Palmetto Bluff to the gated communities north of Fording Island Rd., making room at the table for fine dining of every kind. And The Pearl was one of those restaurants that led the way. From a restored old building on Calhoun Street, they opened their doors nearly five years ago to a Bluffton that was still in transition. Owner Alex Nightingale, who’d found 16
TASTEOFHILTONHEAD.COM
PHOTOS BY ROB KAUFMAN
extraordinary success on Hilton Head Island with Ela’s, remembers the differences between his two restaurants that immediately stood out. “Comparing it to Ela’s, there you have a week to get in front of new clients. Over 10 years we’ve established great clientele, but sometimes you only see them twice a year,” he said. “Out here it’s extremely local. You have to perfect it more because that word of mouth is crucial.” Bluffton is, after all, a small town even with its recent growth. Support from locals is crucial to the survival of any restaurant, much less one that is introducing elevated cuisine to a town more accustomed to casual dining. “You constantly have to be on your game. It’s a small town and that’s how we thrive,” he said. “It’s a matter of constantly being aware of the fact that everything has to be consistent.”