A quick Google search for ‘Pearson’s Jamestown’ doesn’t yield any results, but the now-defunct market is the namesake of a new business that’s taken over the Glen Edith Coffee Roasters space in the Park Ave. neighborhood.
Pearson’s Market & Café is the ninth project for restaurateur Jon Swan (if you don’t count his three children, all under age five). He’s been casually scouting spaces to do a market concept for years, so when Glen Edith owner John Ebel approached him in 2022 about selling the space, it was the perfect timing. Since then, the vision for Pearson’s has evolved a bit.
“As we’ve built it out, the space dictated what we could do,” said Swan. “We really wanted to come into the whole operation — this cafe and coffee world — and layer in culinary expertise.”
That expertise includes his chef-mixologist sister, Paulina, and their mixologist business partner, Nick Ryan. This is the fourth collaboration for the trio, following Swan Dive on Alexander Street, Folk Catering, and Leonore’s on Park Avenue.
And like elements within all Swan Family of Restaurants concepts, the name ‘Pearson’s’ is inspired by fond family memories.
“When we were little, our grandparents Leonore and Vern used to take us to a little market store called Pearson’s,” said Paulina. “It was a butcher shop with cent candy and regular groceries, and we got to pick what we liked, up to 25 cents.”
That’s not where the nostalgia stops with this brand. Paulina recently worked with graphic designer Mike Turzanski to update the Swan Family of Restaurants logo — currently, there is an animal to represent all eight restaurants — to include new spots Leonore’s (hippo) and Pearson’s (cat).
“He sent me back one design, and it was perfect,” she said, “but I noticed that the cat had just half a tail and I was like, ‘did I tell him anything about our childhood cat? No.’ Somehow he just knew.”
Call it kismet, but Turzanski’s orange cat drawing almost completely resembled Paulina’s childhood cat ‘Schmeow,’ who got caught in a sliding door accident. In further coincidence, the Pearson’s building was previously Cats and Critters, a veterinarian office.
The Swans wanted to keep the coffee shop intact but bring in a bodega feel (hence the little cat logo), and closed for just three days to rebuild the coffee bar, continuing to renovate while open.
The space is divided into two floors: on the first, a large coffee bar and commercial kitchen, with seating for patrons. On the second, more seating, including a communal table where they plan to host collaborative pop-up dinners. There’s a private conference room available for rent, complete with a 12-seat table and wifi-enabled TV. The first floor will also have retail space.
“Specifically, we’ll be offering some of our own sauces and other things used at the restaurants,” said Paulina. “You want Swan Dive bleu cheese or pizza dough? You got it.”
Eventually, the retail will expand to offer curated home goods and fresh-cut floral arrangements from Stoney Lonesome Floral, AKA Holly Heckler. Spearheading the kitchen will be chefs Devon Tramell and Sarah Farmer as well as baker Michael Wall. It’ll be homebase for both Pearson’s and Folk Catering, and a boutique bakery for all eight spots. Sandwiches will be on fresh-baked focaccia, and patrons can look for fun items like the ‘Found Meatball’ (a nod to Vern’s ‘Lost Meatball’).
John Cannon, who has managed the coffee program for Glen Edith — and before that, when it was Pour Coffee Parlor — since around 2014, stayed on to direct the coffee program.
The gleaming new equipment is impressive, namely a Cyclops model Ground Control brewer by Voga that can separate stages of brewing to bring out exact flavors and make cold brew in eight minutes instead of 12-24 hours.
“We are geeky about consistency, and coffee is scientific,” said Jon. “I think there’s room for an evolution past the Third Wave.”
Their biggest focus is a more culinary approach to coffee and smoothies, and that’s where partner Nick Ryan’s expertise kicks in. Ryan, who is often mistaken for a Swan brother or cousin, shares a hive mind with Jon and Paulina that works seamlessly for their joint concepts.
“Things tend to be on the sweeter side with coffee — we’re getting outside the box,” he said. “We have a kabocha squash fizz at Leonore’s right now, and when we think about lattes, it’s like, ‘we’re not using pumpkin, we’re using kabocha,’ not to be cool, but because the technique is already there.”
Cara Tarpin, founder of Real Good Juice, is also working with Ryan to develop the cold press juice and smoothie program.
“It’s a learning process, from how to use the espresso machine to more about juicing,” said Ryan. “But it’s exciting to bring what I’ve done for the past decade into the non-alcoholic side of things.”
Pearson’s juice bar, cafe, and full retail concept will be open by mid-November, just in time for holiday shopping. swanfamilyofrestaurants.com
This article appears in Nov 1-30, 2023.
