Pearl Diner set for Valentine’s Day soft opening
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By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
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Everett and Polly Bugg are opening the Pearl Diner at the site of the former funeral home in Pearl at 305 North Front Street. The business will hold a soft opening on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, Feb. 14. According to the proprietors, the diner will feature comfort and homestyle foods, including fried fish on Fridays in keeping with Pearl’s proximity to the Illinois River. In addition, live music will be a feature of the new diner.
Everett and Polly Bugg are holding a soft opening for their new restaurant in the Village of Pearl, the Pearl Diner, on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, Feb. 14.
According to Polly, the couple is eager to open the doors on the new restaurant, which is located 305 North Front Street in Pearl.
“We’ve got to get the place opened up,” Bugg said. “We’re going to be doing something that day, even if it’s just a simple menu. We’re going to get the doors open that day.”
Bugg indicated that following the diner’s soft opening, the restaurant would roll out its full menu – which will focus on Pike County favorites.
“It won’t be anything too fancy,” Bugg said. “It will be good comfort food and homestyle food.”
Pearl’s proximity to the Illinois River is also prompting the Buggs to put fish on the menu of the new Pearl Diner.
“We’ll continue the tradition of having fish fries on Fridays,” Bugg said.
Capturing the area’s early morning diner crowd will also be a focus of the diner according to Bugg.
“We’ll open up at six and try to get the breakfast crowd,” Bugg said.
Bugg said that the couple’s desire to open the restaurant was driven by a desire to create economic activity in southern Pike County.
“We live in Pearl,” Bugg said. “We’re residents. We’re trying to get some business stirred back up in Pearl.”
A unique aspect that the Buggs plan to bring to their Pearl Diner is the frequent presence of live music at the establishment.
Everett Bugg’s family has a long history of hosting and performing live music at Hillview’s Bugg Family Opry. In addition, the Buggs were instrumental in planning and hosting last summer’s “Pearl Jam’’ music festival in Pearl.
“People have gotten married to their music and buried to their music,” Bugg said. “Children have been celebrated to their music. We hope to bring in live music as soon as we can incorporate it into the diner.”
Bugg said that the music performed at the Pearl Diner would represent a range of country and Americana styles of music – including various styles of country music, blues, and bluegrass.
“It will mostly be country music – traditional country and new country,” Bugg said. “People’s taste in music has changed, where they’re not necessarily loyal to just one genre. Good music is good music.”
Initially, the diner’s hours will be from 6 a.m. – 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. on Friday, and 6 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Once the new business hits its stride, Bugg said that the couple plans to expand its hours and menu.
“We’ll open up more as business allows,” Bugg said. “ Our next move would be to go to a full day on Saturday. After that we would do dinner after church on Sunday with fried chicken and pork chops.”
