Pearl is an iPhone app that shows you the best $1 oyster deals around you
PearlIn New York City, oyster "happy hours" have become a staple. The standard deal is $1 for any kind of oyster, and the vast majority of the bars and restaurants adhere to this price point.
That doesn't mean they're all equal.
Some restaurants (Maison Premiere for example) have a variety of delicious oysters you can mix and match.
But other places offer just one kind, or can leave you with a nasty case of food poisoning. Now there's an iPhone app called, fittingly, Pearl, that will help you navigate the waters of being an oyster fan in six major cities in the US.
Here's how it works.
Once you log in, the app uses your location to tell you all the deals on oysters around you, including price and type, as well as showing you reviews. You can dive deep into particular oysters, seeing information like what farms they come from, and browsing a helpful profile that includes size, brininess, cut depth, and flavor.
App creator Sam Asher told Forbes he hopes this type of information will help people understand what they like about particular oysters - similar to the way people appreciate wine.
And if you want to help out other oyster lovers, you can rate the oysters you've had to help the ecosystem nail down a ranking of the best places around you.
Pearl launched in June, and right now operates in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Chicago, and Boston, but Asher has plans to expand its coverage to areas are far afield as Shanghai (which is crazy about oysters).
You can check out Pearl for yourself at the App Store (for iOS).