Seafood-focused restaurant Pearl opens in Island Park

The building on the corner of Austin Boulevard and Sagamore Road in Island Park used to be a workaday showroom for marble, granite, slate and limestone. Now, fully renovated with a new wood-plank exterior, it houses Pearl, a restaurant serving New American cuisine emphasizing seafood. (Former tenant Italia Stone is located right around the corner at 170 Sagamore Rd.)

The restaurant is a partnership between chef Michael Ross and Paul Holand. The two worked together 25 years ago at Pasta Grill and Jackson Square in Rockville Centre, after which Holand took a break from the restaurant business. Ross, on the other hand has run many local kitchens, from Gabrielle’s in Rockville Centre, Fiddleheads in Oyster Bay and Jedediah’s in Jamesport to Bel Posto in Huntington and, most recently, Spinnaker’s in Oyster Bay. From 2011 to 2016, he worked alongside Tom Schaudel at Jewel in Melville.

Ross said that at Pearl, he was focusing on food that was “simple, fresh, clean, honest and real.” Every day he’ll be serving three oysters on the half shell (one local, one East Coast and one West Coast). Starters ($11 to $14) include grilled octopus with chickpeas, olives, black tahini, sweet peppers and herbs; crab-sea-urchin pancakes with shiso butter and dashi aioli; mains ($22 to $38) include pan-roasted Irish salmon with mushrooms, parsnip-turmeric puree and hazelnuts; grilled Duroc pork chop with roasted sweet potato, broccoli rabe and plum-ginger sauce.

Pearl is open for dinner every night but Sunday.

4338 Austin Blvd., Island Park, 516-432-0723, pearlrestaurantny.com.