New seafood restaurant offers good food, customer service

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston S. Churchill

Ask anyone in the local restaurant business, and they will tell you it’s a tough business. In the past year alone, several Shreveport-Bossier eateries have closed, falling victim to – among other things – the high cost of food prices, fewer people with discretionary income, and the lack of people who want to work.

So why would someone – anyone – open a restaurant now?

“I believe right now is the best time to open one,” said veteran restauranteur Robert Shaver. “We’ve just come off one of the most difficult times in our country. People quit working. Customer service definitely fell by the wayside. People want to get back out and enjoy themselves. We’re going to provide things so they can come here and have fun.”

“Here” is The Pearl Shreveport, which Shaver and his wife, Trudie, came out of retirement to open. The plan is to start serving in mid-August. At 6871 Fern Ave., The Pearl fills the spot left when La Madeleine closed earlier this year.

“It’s going to be almost like an oyster bar in New Orleans, but we’re going to have elevated Cajun soul food as well,” said Taneia Benn, The Pearl’s general manager. “We want to get away from everyone calling us an oyster bar. We’re so much more than that. … We want everyone to know that we have everything from steaks to pastas, to seafood, to vegan options. We even thought really hard on a kid’s meal so that kids can feel like they’re included in the experience, more so than just an afterthought of chicken strips and fries.”

While Benn doesn’t want you to think of The Pearl as an oyster bar, she does want you to enjoy the oyster bar.

“Out of our new raw seafood bar, we’re not serving just oysters. We’re serving crab. We’re serving different shrimp. We’re serving seafood from different regions, which will come in fresh daily.”

And the bar even comes with something you won’t find on the menu.

“We wanted to make sure we accommodated our customers to the point where we actually put wireless chargers in our bar,” Benn said. “There are about 12 wireless chargers, so people can sit down, and while

Chef Val Benn and general manager Taneia Benn have been working hard to get everything perfect.

they’re enjoying (watching) the game, if their phone battery is running down, they don’t have to run out to their car and look for a phone charger. They can finish their meal, charge their phone and enjoy themselves. We really want to make sure everyone feels like they are at home.”

To that end, The Pearl promises to be for anyone and everyone.

“The atmosphere is going to be inclusive,” Benn said. “We’re going for a clientele of all backgrounds and ages. We’re trying to make sure everyone feels like they can come in here and enjoy a drink and some food with their family. We’re very family oriented. Polished casual. We’re a casual restaurant, but we’ve polished up our food. We’ve polished up our surroundings. But we want everyone to feel like they are a part of our family when they walk in the door.”

And don’t be surprised if one of the first people you see is Shaver when you walk in the door.

“I will be hands-on,” said the former owner of Shaver’s Crawfish and Catering. “This will be the first time I won’t be in the back cooking. I’ve hired chefs and sous chefs, some of the real qualified people here in Shreveport, to take care of all that. I’m going to work out of the oyster bar just a little bit. I’m going to be front of house, going around, taking care of the customers myself on what they’re needing. Not to be their server or anything like that, but I’m going to be hands-on.”

That’s part of Shaver’s plan to improve poor customer service, which he has seen first-hand.

“I love to eat out,” Shaver said. “I feel like Shreveport is lacking in customer service. There are some good (restaurants with good customer service), but there a lot of bad ones. Customer service has kind of dwindled. I’m old school. I said, ‘I’m going to try my hand at it.’ I’ve been in the seafood business forever. I want to show people there can be a thing such as customer service again. I’m putting together the right crews to do that. We’re going to try harder than anybody’s ever tried to provide really good food and customer service.”

One aspect of The Pearl which Shaver is eager for you to experience is the Chef’s Table.

“We’re having local people build it. It’s a seven-foot table – a big table – in a private room. It’s black walnut. Handmade. In the center of that table is a four-foot smaller table that rises a quarter of an inch. That’s to set appetizers and such. It spins very slowly all the time. So, you’re sitting there at this big table with your big group, and you’re not having to pass things around because it comes around to you.”

You may think Shaver wanted a tiein to oysters when he came up with the restaurant’s name. Instead, The Pearl is a tribute to a special place for Shaver.

“For years and years, I have taken my whole family to Florida, and we stayed at The Pearl in Navarre. It became a great family social event for me. I want to provide people a structure and change the restaurant atmosphere, where anybody, old or young, can come in here and enjoy themselves again and have a family social event or a private party social event and enjoy themselves and have fun. That’s what I always had at The Pearl, and I want to bring that to this restaurant.”