‘Little Pearl’ ships caviar to Cambridge's finest eateries

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http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/dining/x1549863215
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Somerville -
Making a comeback in American cuisine: caviar. Though this time it’s less salty, sustainable and American — shipped straight from Somerville.

Rich Brauman, a 2005 graduate of Babson College, founded the Little Pearl, a caviar business in the center of Union Square. Brauman said he hopes caviar will become more commonly used in entertaining, in restaurants and for the true connoisseur, to eat right off the spoon.

Recently, the Little Pearl hosted a tasting at Union Boot in Union Square and hopes to continue this once more people return to the area in the fall.

Caviar has a history in the U.S. dating back 100-200 years, Brauman said. “In the late 1800s, it was served in bars in Manhattan and was heavily salted,” he said.

Why the Somerville location? “I’ve been here before, it’s a useful location, the rent is good and it’s a good community,” Brauman said.

Brauman studied the process of raising exotic fish and is well educated about the threats to overfishing in the wild. Some fish take 25 years to reach maturity, and there are only a few days in the harvest cycle where the caviar is prime. Though some fish are productive for 100 or more years, their eggs can change in color and taste.

The Little Pearl is interested in sustainable fisheries and “taking pressure off endangered species,” said Brauman. Farming processes, he said, should allow the price of caviar to come down, and the quality to remain nearly comparable to wild caviar.

For Somerville residents, the Little Pearl’s location will not necessarily mean that caviar will soon be found at local supermarkets. Brauman soon hopes to allow patrons to walk in to pick up caviar from the Union Square location.

Most orders for the product are mail order or wholesale, said Jessica Diaz, vice president of sales. She said her focus in mainly on hotels and restaurants picking up the product.

“We don’t sell our products in this area,” he said, but attributes this to the lack of a retail space, which the business currently cannot support, rather than a lack of interest.

“It’s a big step, just doing retail” he said, “but certainly something we’re interested in doing. We’ve got a lot of local retailers — they do a great job selling our product.”

Currently, Cardullo’s, Pemberton Farms and Formaggio’s Kitchen in Cambridge carry the Little Pearl’s products as well as a few locations in Boston and caterers in Somerville.

More information can be found at The Little Pearl’s Web site: http://www.littlepearl.com.