Unique and delicious bites await you at Pearl & Ash a new restaurant on the Bowery. Chef Richard Kuo is creating some fabulous bites that you can pair with some great wine, a cocktail, or sparkling water like I did last week.

Ami-ebi (sweet shrimp) ($8), with smoked lime yogurt, radish, and bee pollen, is a refreshing bite of joy.

Octopus ($11), sunflower seed, and shiso, is unbelievable. This dish is truly amazing and one of the best dishes I've eaten all year. Order it.

Quail ($27), almond, pomegranate, and chicken skin, is unique and tasty. Che Kuo used to work wth Wylie Dufresne, and you can see that from this dish, for I had a similar looking quail dish at Alder, Wylie Fufresne's new joint. And both their quail dishes had unique flavor combinations that were new to me. They might not have blown me away, but I love the ingenuity in them.

A vegetable dish of long beans ($8), cihli, and uni, had great kick and was delicious. As someone who is in love with uni, I could just have had a bowl of uni, with a touch of long bean and chili. There was definitely more chili flavor than uni flavor, but it was still totally delicious.

And for dessert, I tried their fernet-branca ice cream sandwich, one of the most unique and ingenious desserts I've had. Fernet Branca is a bitter Italian spirit, and I have no idea how someone would think to create an ice cream sandwich using the flavor, but it works. It was subtle, perfect, refreshing, and a splendid ending to unique and delectable meal. The Bowery keeps on getting better.

Pearl & Ash

220 Bowery (bet. Prince and Spring)

New York, NY 10012

212-837-2370