“Is this a restaurant?”
It was a question David Chen and his family were often asked by people walking into Red Pearl for the first time. Walking into the unassuming building found just off West Valley Avenue in Homewood, the first thing you see is the front of the Super Oriental Market connected to the restaurant. To the left are nearly a dozen rows of packaged items with bold Mandarin labels, ranging from Fish-and-Chips-flavored Lay’s potato chips to durian crepe cakes, fresh rambutan and a variety of sodas.
In the back are some of the more exotic items, from fresh pork to live oysters, bullfrogs, and octopus…