All About Heroes and Pearl Box, Opening Soon in Soho

1. Here’s the origin story.

While Arce herself is a native Manhattanite, Heroes and Pearl Box wouldn’t be here without a bit of Chicago influence. That’s where she started her career in hospitality, working at Windy City institutions including The Aviary and the speakeasy beneath it, The Office. It’s also where she connected with chef Aaron Lirette, whose Michelin star-studded background includes time spent as the chef de cuisine of Acadia and the chef of Danny Meyer’s GreenRiver. Eventually, both headed back to New York, and when Kenneth Crum came aboard as the beverage director for Niche Niche, the trifecta was complete.

The latest chapter of the team’s story starts more than three years ago, when they came upon the property at 357 West Broadway. The nearly 200-year-old building, which has previously served as a private residence, a fur dealer’s warehouse, and a garage, was “sort of at the studs,” Arce says, when it came into their hands. But the fixer-upper came with a good deal of creative freedom.

“I met the owners of this building who are really special people, kind of behind the scenes, who buy incredible pieces of property and really give carte blanche over to an operator to develop something special in the space,” Arce says, “which is such a rarity, in New York, to not receive a white box and then have to build a restaurant into it.”

Heroes gets its name in part from the idea of the hero’s banquet, an extravagant feast to celebrate homecoming warriors, and in part because the owners see it as a sort of homage to their own heroes, from their influences in the world of food and drink to inspiring figures in broader culture — many of whom, like Stevie Wonder and the fictional Lucille Bluth from “Arrested Development,” are depicted in the restaurant’s wall art.

Arce’s “little Pearl Box in the sky” has a different, but complementary aesthetic and vibe. It’s meant to be glamorous, but without taking itself too seriously. Case in point: one of the menu items is a literal bowl of candy.

2. Heroes and Pearl Box are two distinct spaces under one roof.

The 19th-century building on Broadway became the raw material from which the team painstakingly carved out this new double-feature spot. Each of its three levels serves a different purpose: The first floor holds Heroes’ main dining room and bar, decorated in a stylish chiaroscuro of dark wood paneling and lavender paint. The second floor, painted robin’s egg blue, is Heroes’ private dining room and events space. Finally, Pearl Box is at the top, a warm and glamorous enclave covered in red carpeting and mirrored, shiny accents that gives a bit of old Hollywood crossed with a dash of “Boogie Nights.” (Indeed, Arce names her mother’s photographs of disco-era Studio 54 as an aesthetic inspiration.)

While you can certainly have a pre-dinner drink at Pearl Box and then make your way down to Heroes, or vice versa, the owners want to be clear that it’s not just one big, multi-level bar/restaurant. The two spaces are more like roommates, coexisting in harmony but independent from one another. Each will have its own entrance, so it’s totally possible to spend an evening in one without setting foot in the other.

Arce describes the aesthetic of Pearl Box as the “exact opposite” of Heroes,’ but the two work in a sort of yin-and-yang way. Heroes, despite boasting a menu adorned with ancient Greek- and Roman-style busts of contemporary “heroes,” is convivial, modern, and made for groups, with a sharing-minded menu.

Pearl Box has an intimate feel and a classic, almost vintage sort of glamour, with a menu full of reinvented cocktail standards and bar snacks that consist of playful, high-low flavor combinations, like a cornflake fried chicken made with fine-dining techniques or bang bang rock shrimp.

3. Bring the crew to Heroes.

In Western cuisine, “family-style” dining tends to have a pretty casual valence. But in the spirit of the “hero’s banquet,” much of the menu at Heroes is designed to be shared with at least two people. The larger-format dishes are the perfect vehicle for Lirette’s cooking style. The best way to cook a fish, he says, is “in its entirety.”

The menu features a “banquet” section, centering whole proteins dry aged in house. Offerings include a dry-aged turbot served with chile butter ($70), and a 30-day bone-in ribeye ($5 per ounce), as well as large-format vegetable sides. Of course, if you and your date just want to sit at the bar and share an order of morcilla spaghetti, that’s fine, too. There are also plenty of smaller plates available for solo diners or small groups looking to have a bite and a drink, ranging from beef tongue skewers ($20) and peekytoe crepes ($21) to fried sushi rice ($26) and carrots with yogurt ($18).

The second-floor space contains the private dining room, but it’s really better understood as a flexible space. There’s a kitchenette area, suitable for not just sit-down dinner parties but tastings and other sorts of interactive events as well. If you’re planning a feast for six or more people, your best bet is to reach out directly to see how they can accommodate you.

“We really want to encourage people making six- and eight-person reservations without having to buy out a private dining room, which is a huge reality in New York City, with such small spaces,” Arce says.

4. The wine list is made to get you talking.

In line with the theme of paying tribute to heroes, the wine list is designed to highlight specific producers rather than just varietals or even regions. As such, it’s going to read a little differently than most wine lists you’ve encountered in the past. This is intentional, Crum says: They’re hoping to gently take diners out of their comfort zone by sparking a conversation about the wine options. Without being able to default to their usual go-to Cab Sauv or what have you, guests are encouraged to ask their server or sommelier for recommendations and more info on the wines on offer.

“I want you to leave having begun a bit of a relationship with the producer,” Crum says. “Instead of thinking, ‘I had this really good Champagne at Heroes,’ think ‘I had these two wines by this producer. Maybe I don’t remember the SKU, or the grape, but I remember the producer.’”

When it comes to cocktails, the “heroes” are the core ingredients around which each drink is designed. “We go to the market, and we taste these ingredients, and we’re like, ‘OK, this celery is really cool,’” Crum says. “It has this peppery note. And we kind of build off of that and into a fully fleshed cocktail.”

The particular drink he’s describing is the Celery Highball, a gin cocktail that complements that celery with caraway, carrot, sesame, and lemon. Other “hero” ingredients behind the bar include thyme, as featured in the Flowering Thyme Highball with thyme-infused tequila, white tea, lavender, and grapefruit; radish takes the place of an olive or pearl onion in the Pickled Radish Martini; and charred corn finds itself at the core of a milk punch alongside bourbon, amontillado sherry, and mezcal.

5. Pearl Box is all about revisiting classics with some modern flair.

While Heroes’ modus operandi has much to do with introducing diners to the new, unfamiliar, and innovative, Pearl Box is more about reintroducing the standards that you already know and love — the ones that have withstood the test of time for a reason.

“It’s all main characters,” Crum says of the wine list, which is going to center more classic, popular styles from well-known regions like Tuscany and Burgundy. Cocktails ($22 to $24) take a similar approach, building variations on classic cocktails that double-down on what already makes them good. Crum names the Negroni as an example.

“I really love the cherry profile and that slight bitterness in a Negroni. So, let’s accentuate that — let’s add more cherry. Let’s add more acid.”

That ended up being the basis for the Cherry Americano, a spin on the classic with some sour cherry added. Another creatively reimagined classic is the Coffee Manhattan, which doubles down on the deep, roasty notes of rye by adding a bit of coffee liqueur. Additionally, there are a total of four different martinis on the menu, too.

The menu is really another embodiment of Pearl Box’s whole vibe, a sort of nostalgia for a brand of glamour that predates most of us. Crum describes it as the kind of place where “you walk in and you instantly feel good, you feel fancy, and you feel like you want to stay there. It feels kind of familiar, but new at the same time.”

It makes sense, considering that Arce is the kind of millennial who owns a caviar brand, CaviAIR, of all things. So, expect to select caviar from a roving cart to go alongside your martinis and dry-aged crudo.

Those looking to indulge in a full caviar service can try the “traditional” selection of pairings ($25 per person), which includes items like an egg yolk purée, toasted milk bread, and pickled shallots, or they can opt for something different and try Arce’s “untraditional” pairing ($35 per person) options: onion donuts, puffed potatoes, miso and corn custard, and fried chicken bits, to name a few.

Heroes and Pearl Box will be open daily at 5 p.m. for dinner and drinks beginning on Oct. 21. Heroes accepts reservations via Resy; Pearl Box accepts reservations via email here.

Ariana DiValentino is a writer, filmmaker, and actor based in Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram, X, and TikTok. Follow Resy, too.

Must be 21 years of age or older to consume alcoholic beverages. Please drink responsibly.