after dinner sneeze

t says: Just a weekend or so ago, I was passing Pearl with some friends and commented that I was glad that it closed.  The ridiculous pretentiousness it possessed might have been fitting of Old City (maybe – I’m not even sure it’d work there, either), but definitely NOT across the street from bars like Noche (I have no beef with Noche – but go there and stand at the corner and glance back and forth between Noche and Pearl and you’ll see what I mean).  It was almost like someone from NYC had some cash to blow and a dream of becoming a club-owning king of Philadelphia and voila – Pearl was born!  (Whether or not this is true is another story – I have no clue what actually motivated someone to open Pearl).  Why am I bringing this up now?  Today I saw that a tequila-and-tapas place is opening in its place.  That sounds better.  I kind of hope they keep the ridiculous lighting, velvet ropes, and super-huge bouncers in black T’s out front – it’d be hilarious.