GREAT BARRINGTON -- Pearl's has quietly sailed into Great Barrington with no elaborate fanfare, parties, or fancy public relations and yet, only two months after their opening, you're hard pressed to get a weekend reservation and lucky to land one midweek.

After an extensive renovation of an auto parts franchise, dirt floors have been replaced by bamboo, perforated tin ceilings hide the once rotten wood joists, and mahogany wood panels cover the sooty walls from another decade.

It does not necessarily follow that if you spend say, for argument's sake, a million dollars on a restaurant renovation, that success will be assured.

Great food, service and reasonable prices (in Pearl's case, at the high end) are the standards by which most eating establishments are judged. Luck is the ingredient that can't measured and owners Jason Macioge, Charles Schulze and Steve Picheny can boast of having it all: good fortune and a great product.

Macioge and Schulze are partners in the successful Bistro Zinc, located in Lenox, where you are still counted as one of the fortunate to get a summer reservation even though they opened a year ago.

Steven Picheny joined the team for their new launching in Great Barrington and

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the mix seems to be a good one.

You might not call Pearl's a family business in the strictest sense of the word but in terms of the talent pool, you can. Frank Macioge is the architect who brings grace and eloquence to the site; Judith Gordon (Macioge) adds her classic design and simplicity to the flower arrangements and Kristen Morrison Jason's sister-in-law, painted the extraordinary bull painting in the main dining room.

You can enjoy a pre-dinner drink or dine at the bar, a separate space reminiscent of a European style cocktail lounge.

Snack on the crispy, homemade, fried, salted chips while lounging in the comfortable leather chairs overlooking Railroad Street as the beautiful late afternoon light filters through the large plate glass windows.

Unable to obtain a reservation on our first attempt, we ate dinner at the bar. We heard all the local gossip from the amiable bartender, discussed the best restaurants in the Berkshires with fellow patrons and spoke at length to the chef de cuisine, Dave Frechette, who generously gives his time trying to find out if customers are pleased and what can be done to improve things.

I was truly impressed when, on my first visit to the restaurant, I ordered the tuna tartar that was sublime in every way except that it was too salty. I mentioned this to the chef -- as did others, I imagine -- and on the second visit, he had changed the seasoning style and the appetizer was perfect.

Restaurants that listen to their customers can't help but succeed.

A dish that dates back to the 1890's and needed no improvement was the Oysters Rockefeller. Though John Swift once wrote that "he was a bold man that first ate any oyster," I say, that he is a lucky man to have one on the half shell, smothered in a mixture of butter, bread crumbs and spinach.

"If you have any questions about eating them (Oysters Rockefeller), the chef eats them every day," says bartender Tom Knight. The chef, I may add, is alive and well.

The spinach salad with sweet, crunchy, candied walnuts, soft, earthy goat cheese and pear vinaigrette was the table favorite although the Caesar salad was a close second.

If you love shellfish, an impressive appetizer plate of oysters, jumbo shrimp, crab claws and little neck clams on a bed of ice can easily be shared by four.

The menu is a collaborative effort by the owners; managers; Rob Ferris, executive chef of Zinc and Pearl's; and Pearl's Dave Frechette.

Dave, a 1989 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, has done due diligence in restaurants around the country but last year, at Rob Ferris' urging, moved back to his hometown in the Berkshires.

Though Great Barrington can boast of 35 or so eating establishments, Pearl's has it own niche: an elegant steak house with a nod to simplicity and health.

The dishes don't shake on the table saying "look how fancy I can be." The sauces are on the side, meat and fish are simply grilled or roasted and vegetables are prepared simply. The game that is offered is cooked rare or medium rare so it remains edible.

Pearl's roasted venison loin was moist, mild flavored and tender. The buffalo, I was told, also needed no apologies. The mahi mahi was a juicy chunk of fish simply prepared with a side of hollandaise served in a small silver cup.

All fish entrees are plated with a handful of marinated and blanched seaweed and fried calamari.

Filet mignon, a cut that is praised for its texture, rather than its fulsome flavor, was surprisingly tasty and extremely tender. The roasted rooster compared very favorably to "coq ordinaire." I wouldn't call Pearl's menu comfort food, but rather, comforting.

You can order creamed spinach and mashed potatoes or Pearl's can also cook you up a large portion of steamed spinach, asparagus and broccoli.

You'll have to doctor them up yourself if you find them a bit bland but remember that that's what you ordered.

We liked the idea of steamed spinach but found that a little olive oil, salt and pepper was a big improvement.

The side dish of rosti potatoes needed none of our help. Everyone likes crunchy and these potatoes are first shredded then pan seared in a scorchingly hot pan with melted butter and then baked. Delicious.

The service is excellent. The wait staff is lined up against the wall like a line of Wimbledon ball boys waiting to attend to your every need.

Don't forget to order one of the favorite desserts -- a coconut custard with toasted coconut in a macaroon crust. If that's not to your liking, try Dara Jenssen's (the pastry chef) molten vahlrona chocolate cake.

For a newly opened restaurant, they seemed to have worked out all of the kinks and can only get better and better.

July 18, 2001