A few weeks ago, I went to the new Julia Pearl restaurant in Plano, Texas. It’s a unique restaurant offering favorite southern staples with a twist. The restaurant is a Southern-inspired restaurant from chef Tre Wilcox, the creative director, will feature dishes such as deviled eggs topped with crispy chicken skin and the famous shrimp and grit signature dinner. According to the release:
Leading the kitchen as Culinary Director is renowned chef Tre Wilcox. With experience helming some of Dallas’s best restaurants, Wilcox is providing his expertise in menu and recipe development, pricing, food cost, staff training and restaurant operations. The menu reflects the team’s dedication to serving fresh meats, produce, bread and dairy sourced from local farms and ranches whenever possible…With an open layout featuring a range of materials including exposed bricks, wood and leather, Julia Pearl Southern Cuisine boasts 6,000 square feet of space, complete with a main dining room, private dining room and a spacious bar showcasing a vast selection of local beers and craft bourbons. The warm and hospitable environment is perfect for relaxing with family and friends for lunch, dinner or weekend brunch. Local art will adorn the walls to complete the atmosphere as diners linger over good food and good drinks.
Now that the formalities are out of the way, here is my quick review of Julia Pearl and recommended foods to have at the restaurant.
Julia Pearl Southern Cuisine Review
Cocktails: Jazzy Belle or any wine
The restaurant has a unique list of handmade cocktails but my pick was the Jazzy Belle. If this isn’t your cup of tea, I recommend the wine as they have a nice selection.
Appetizers : Devil eggs
We choose the gumbo and fried green tomatoes but after speaking with multiple people the devil eggs seems to be the winner.
Note: Anytime I see fried green tomatoes on the menu I get it because I love them.
Being blunt and honest, I was disappointed the fried green tomatoes. Biting or cutting into the appetizer should result in one flavor combustion but it didn’t. Simply adding extra sauce from the shrimp might solve this issues. The gumbo, my friend really liked it but I am stickler on gumbo due to my family being part cajun so it’s no Bueno for me.
Meals: Anything…
One of the signature dishes is the shrimp and grits. I can’t say much more than you guys have to try this dish and then thank me later. There isn’t much I can describe except go have it now and again in a few weeks. It’s just that damn good. I tried the catfish dinner because the photos on the site looked good and I wanted a non-signature dish to test the restaurants flare. Let me pause to give a round of applause for the perfection of this piece of catfish. From the crispy batter to the oozing flavored packed juices made each bite down-right heavenly. The mashed potatoes and green beans served on the side become optional dipping sauce for the fish in my plate. By the way, Chef Jermaine, the executive chef, answered a lot of questions regarding the concept, restaurant, food and confirmed this perfection of fish was fried not baked. LOL I also gave feedback regarding my dish as well. Major Kudos to him.
Desserts: TBD
Since I was told they had exceptional desserts, we had the lemon pound cake with ice cream and berries. Unlike most traditional lemon cakes, the lemon flavor is mostly drizzled onto the cake instead of being being mostly baked into the cake. You may or may not like this depending on your preference. Other options are bread pudding and velvet cake. There is a third option, but I don’t consider vanilla ice cream and fresh berries a special dessert if you get my drift. I am iffy on the dessert options so I am returning at a later date for dessert and wine.
Brunchin
For my brunch loving folks, Julia Pearl Southern Cuisine, is now serving brunch. The menu will include house-made biscuits, sausage gravy, parfait with yogurt, fried catfish with cheese grits and scrambled eggs.
Do I recommend the restaurant. Yes. I do.
Will I be back? Yes. Especially for brunch.
Make sure you hit the gallery for my quick pics or secure reservations on there website juliapearlsoutherncuisine.com
