A Restaurant Transported: Boise’s Little Pearl Oyster Bar Borrows Ambiance From NYC

Photos Courtesy of Ashley Elliott

Story By Lex Nelson

When Chef Cal Elliott closed his Prohibition-style bar and restaurant, Rye, in 2018, he didn’t leave its skeleton behind in New York City. Instead, he packed up its bones — including the front doors and a 15-year-old zinc bar crafted by lauded metalworker Michael Smart — and trucked it across the country to Boise, Idaho. There, those pieces became key design elements in his new restaurant, Little Pearl Oyster Bar.* 

Little Pearl opened on 160 N. Eight St.  in October 2020 and has already earned a reputation as an intimate dining spot. The feel of the space was crafted by Cal’s wife, Ashley, who studied fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York City. The pair planned their previous restaurant together, and did the same for Little Pearl, sketching their ideas with pen and paper.

Cal called the restaurant's long, narrow profile “limiting” but said its “strange design” creates closeness. It’s full of little nooks and crannies the Elliotts illuminated with globe lights from Rye and complemented with historic features from their other restaurant space in Boise: the former Bouquet bar at 1010 Main St., which is undergoing renovation. 

“There are some great elements in there that we’re not going to be able to use when we start construction over there and it’s kind of heartbreaking for me, so I’m just trying to save whatever artifacts [I can] and restore any of the wood, the wood paneling, and all that history,” Cal said. 

One signature feature borrowed for Little Pearl is a beautiful dark wood humidor from the 1930s repurposed as wine storage. 

 Though the restaurant draws elements from both Boise’s 18th-century past and the remnants of Rye, the Elliotts’ attention to detail gives it cohesion. Cal treated and aged the decorative metal ceiling tiles himself as part of his quest to create a spot perfect for dates, socializing, and everything in between. 

“Boise has a lot of big restaurants and a lot of big open seating, so I think it’s always kind of fun to be able to create some intimacy and have a lot of sexy nooks,” Cal said. “Even though we’re small we have the patio, and I think there are a lot of good intimate seats where you can kind of hide away, but also a lot of seats where you can see what’s going on and participate with the street.”

To see more of Little Pearl’s signature look — and the dishes on its menu — visit @littlepearlboise on Instagram.

*Businesses marked with an asterisk are FARE Idaho members. To see our full member list, click here.