Pearl Sushi is over-the-top fabulous

(Credit: Courtesy of Pearl Sushi.)

All summer, Pearl Sushi and Bomber Bar has been the destination for post-pool-party mingling for those leaving the Mondrian Scottsdale.

This is because Pearl Sushi is in perpetual party mode, a restaurant and bar that caters to those about to party, recovering from a party or looking for a party.

Nightlife and restaurant entrepreneurs Jimmy and Tammy Carlin run the intimate Old Town hangout, training staff to be not so much servers and bartenders as cruise entertainment directors. More than one remarked that Pearl Sushi is “just really all about having fun.” (Cue giant smile.)

To this end, the place runs perpetual happy hours that vary by day and time. It specializes in an approach to cocktail development that's just shy of absurdist. It serves foods with names that are puns and cocktails with such names as Jell-O Fish, Pulp Fiction and Porn Star.

Among the several cocktails that can't be found anywhere else, the Chocolate Caramel Crunch martini stands out.

A mix of Hershey's Chocolate Caramel International Delight coffee creamer, chocolate vodka and chocolate liqueur is poured into a glass that's been dipped into caramel sauce and then rimmed with Cocoa Krispies.

The drink has a kind of cult following, apparently with those who miss the chocolate-milk fixes that come with childhood, and it's tasty in a Willy Wonka kind of way. But that's the point. This isn't a place that takes itself seriously because it's not catering to a crowd that takes itself seriously.

On the other end of the caloric spectrum is Tammy Carlin's 100-calorie Ty Ku martini, made with the trendy Ty Ku Citrus Liqueur and strawberry guava-flavored Fuze. The milky-looking drink is sweet, but not saccharine-tasting, and has found an audience with those counting calories, which is to say, nearly everyone in a 5-mile radius.

The bombers, for which the bar is named, are clever, gimmicky $4 drinks designed to make any Tuesday night look and feel more like the kind of Saturday nights most often detailed in magazines such as Cosmopolitan or chronicled on shows such as MTV's “The Real World.”

This is how even thinking about having one almost surely leads to having five. Into quaffer, an hourglass-shaped glass, a serving of a sweet, soda-like beverage is poured, followed by a shot of liquor, which floats on top. The whole thing must be downed in one gulp, the burn of the liquor chased by the sweet, cooling second liquid, down the gullet before any single flavor can be registered by the brain.
This is part of the aforementioned fun.

Other adventurous drinks include the Deja Blue, a mix of blueberry vodka, white cranberry juice and blue-raspberry-infused sweet-and-sour mix that's popular with women and is the exact color of a resort pool.

And there's the Pearl Jam, a mix of pineapple vodka, raspberry liqueur and the piña colada-flavored beverage SoBe Liz Blizz, served in a glass rimmed with Pop Rocks. It's better than it sounds, and Pop Rocks are pretty much awesome no matter how they're used.

All the dishes are designed to share and everything is so heavily discounted at different times that it's hard not to see the whole menu as a bargain. Try the calamari salad, which is big enough to split, and only $5. And the Fish Shticks are worth mentioning, not just because they're filling, inexpensive and generous, but because they're as over-the-top as most of the drinks. A spicy crab roll with avocado is fried in tempura and topped with spicy tuna mix and drizzled with red-pepper aoli and sweet soy glaze. It's like ordering sushi at the State Fair.

Details: 4252 N. Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale. 480-947-327, pearlsushi.net.