The two met at Bar Bouchee where Hill worked as a line chef before starting Love the Dog, a dog treat company. “I only wanted people who were terrific, who were positive and polished, and who could work as a team.”Īmong them is chef Lauren Hill, her close friend, who was just strolling in from the back patio with a box of oyster mushrooms. “Everyone who’s working here is someone I’ve worked with before,” she said.
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“I saw these front windows and I could picture beautiful velvet banquettes in the window, and that was my first vision of this and I said ‘okay, let’s do it.’” “It was a little retail shop,” she recalled. In January 2021, she learned from her brother, Scott Penner, that he and his real estate investment partner Chris Affinito had bought a building on lower Main Street in Branford. “I feel like the best learning for wine is just being on the job, knowing what people like, understanding flavors that go together and things that are really interesting.” It was also, she said, “the coordination, the teamwork, how we covered every detail to elevate the dining experience.”Īll the while, she was getting a veritable boot camp in wine training. “It’s the energy, it’s seeing people’s joy when they have a terrific dish or when you recommend a glass of wine and they love it, and just learning about the people you’re serving,” she said. She fell in love with the restaurant business.
A special ed teacher in the New Haven public school system, “I taught during the day, and worked three nights a week.” “I started working at restaurants when I got divorced,” said Penner, the mother of four daughters.
Penner honed her wine chops at Bar Bouchee in Madison, where she served, bartended, and hostessed for 11 years. “Wine excites me,” said the petite Guilford resident, shrugging with a wide grin. “If you asked what wine might enhance the Beef Kushiyaki” - grilled sirloin on skewers seasoned with tamari glaze and miso eggplant - “I would pair the Vacqueyras, which is a fabulous Cotes du Rhone,” she said, referring to the sun-drenched vineyards along the Rhone river in France. Spend enough time with Penner, though, and it usually comes back to the wine. “Our focus is on introducing people to a variety of wines that are more eclectic and are not easily found in restaurants or in local shops, and also to dishes that you won’t find anywhere around here,” she said.
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“I might start you with one that’s light and simple, like a table wine from Savoie, and then talk about flavor palates, and then we’d go from there.”īut Pearl Wine Bar is not just about wine.Īlong with a full bar and an array of craft beers, there’s the raw bar with a daily selection of champagne poached Gulf white shrimp cheese and charcuterie boards salads, including roasted beets with feta and small plates like Salmon Tartare with fried wontons and French fries with fresh cracked pepper and tarragon aioli. “It’s the same grape, but how it grows and where it’s cultivated makes a difference.”įor someone who only likes Cabernet, “I would introduce them to something that would broaden their spectrum of interest in wine,” she said.Īs for those who don’t drink wine, “it would literally be my purpose to find a wine you like,” she said.
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