Black Pearl Two: Legend of the Squid Ink Caesar

For over 15 years, Black Pearl Seafood Bar has brought a lot of east coast (and its fair share of west coast) seafood flavour to downtown Edmonton. About a year and a half ago, it ventured due south to bring that same flavour to Windermere.

As a seafood place, it comes with seafood place flair. A large ship light’s been converted into a mirror for a front-entrance fit check — which is important, because on this night Black Pearl feels like the south side’s go-to date spot (our server takes at least three photos of couples sitting side by side, lover style, at their tables). Thick ropes and sails hang from the ceiling and there’s a large-font sailor’s poem on the wall at the end of the hallway to the bathrooms. It all makes for a fun, lively mood while staying classy, not kitschy.

And then there’s the fantastic, fresh-as-you’ll-find-in-Edmonton seafood. We start with King Neptunes’ Caps — Alaskan king crab, goat cheese-stuffed mushroom caps wading in mozzarella cheese pesto and tomato sauce, the remnants of which we eagerly soak up with bread. It might be the tastiest part of the meal, but that’s no knock against the Seafood Risotto covered in red snapper, tiger prawns, calamari, mussels, red peppers and mushrooms submerged in a yellow curry cream sauce — or the Honey Nut Lobster, Prawns and Scallops sautéed with cashews in a pearl rum honey béchamel sauce with a side of garlic pesto mashed potatoes. I just really like soaking up tomato sauce with bread.

But the spiciest (and most fun) part of the meal comes even before the saucy appetizer: the Caesar Flight, a board of three Caesars, each garnished with an oyster. There’s the Remy Martin VSOP, with pickle juice, cucumber mignonette and a steak-spiced rim, and the Spicy Espolon Tequila Caesar, with jalapeños, pineapple salsa and a tajin rim. They’re fun takes on the classic-looking drink, but in the middle sits the Botanist Gin Caesar turned dark purple by squid ink, essentially making it look like a cold glass of wine, which messes with the head of this non-wine drinker each time I take what turns out to be a salty sip — but it ended up our favourite of the three.