Oysters loomed large in 19th-century Cincinnati. Lovers of the bivalves could be found in the saloons of Downtown and Over-the-Rhine slurping them down with lagers as men, mostly African American, hawked them outside from ice-filled buckets after purchasing them off refrigerated cars that arrived from Baltimore via the B&O railroad.
Sure, you can still get oysters at a lot of places in Cincinnati, including Washington Platform (which still holds an annual Oyster Festival) and steakhouses such as the Precinct, McCormick & Schmick's and Losanti. But do we have an oyster culture? I'm not so sure.
A well-known restaurateur from Nashville is looking to change all that. This summer, Terry Raley will introduce a new Over-the-Rhine oyster bar called Pearlstar at 1220 Vine St., in the former A Tavola space.
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Expectations are that it will be open by July. As a passionate oyster lover, myself, I hope it's even sooner.
Raley, who is president and CEO of Amaranth Hospitality Group, is partnering with Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) on the project.
Over the past decade, he's made a name for himself in Nashville, launching popular restaurants such as Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Butchertown Hall, the latter of which serves up the flavors of Germany and, well, Texas (like Ohio, thousands of Germans immigrated to the Lone Star State in the 19th century). But it's been a top priority for him to open a restaurant in Cincinnati ever since he first visited the city in 2018.
"Visiting with friends over the years, I have developed a great fondness for its beauty, its people, and naturally, its evolving restaurant scene," he said via a 3CDC press release.
But for those looking to figure out Cincinnati, as many of us are aware, knowing someone who lives here always helps. Which is why Raley hired our very own Leroy Ansley, formerly of Senate fame, as his new executive chef. "I like him a lot," Raley said. "He understands the culture of Cincinnati and that's really an asset to me."
Raley told me how he joined Ansley at Knockback Nat's for beers one time and was amazed by the fact that he knew just about every single person who came in. "I remember thinking I'd scored something very lucky," he said. "Things have been very fortuitous for me in Cincinnati."
He's also happy about the relationship he's formed with 3CDC, something Lindzie Gunnels, the senior commercial leasing officer for 3CDC, feels as well. She points to the long-standing relationships the company has maintained with restaurant owners and creative entrepreneurs from the get-go. "With Terry, we felt that same strength and bond with him," Gunnels said. "And we felt it was something we could build on like we did with Dan Wright (owner of Senate, Pontiac and Abigail Street, in OTR) and Thunderdome (which owns Pepp & Dolores and Bakersfield, among other restaurants)."
Raley said the new oyster bar will serve bivalves from across the United States, from the West Coast to the Gulf South to New England. The restaurant will also feature a 2,000-square-foot courtyard area (carved out of an adjacent parking lot) with outdoor seating, two bocce courts, a wood-fired grill and a wood-burning oven.
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And it seems Raley did his homework before committing to the concept, researching some of the best oyster bars in Charleston, including the Ordinary (one of my favorites), 167 Raw and the Darling to see what makes them tick.
He said OTR is similar to the Holy City due to its surplus of historic buildings. And he plans to incorporate the historic character of the Vine Street building into his renovation. "I try to let the building speak for itself and work backward from there," he told me. "I was excited to have an antique storefront. You just don't get that in Nashville."
In addition to a rotating list of oysters, Pearlstar's raw bar will feature crudos, ceviches and tartars. A wood-burning grill will serve up burgers and steak sandwiches, and the bar will feature traditional cocktails, frozen drinks and, of course, beer, because who doesn't love an ice-cold beer to wash those brilliantly briny oysters down?
Raley, who grew up in Texas, said he wants Pearlstar (a mash-up of his two favorite Texas beers, Pearl and Lone Star) to be a place where people can exhale after what we can all agree was a pretty dreadful year. He's transforming the approximately 2,000-square-foot space into a place where people can let out that exhale. A place where, he says, you feel like you're on somebody's boat, with shiplap walls, cushy seating and a casual, but nautical, atmosphere.
While the restaurant will only be open for dinner and brunch at first, he would like to turn it into an all-day destination by staying open from 11 a.m. to late at night.
"The timing seemed just right to do Pearlstar," Raley said in the press release. "The restaurant’s concept has a very specific combination of indoor-outdoor elements, and 3CDC was supportive of bringing a large, vibrant courtyard that vastly contributed to the sense of leisure and respite that we were hoping for.”
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