Da' Pearl Seafood & PoBoys, the takeout counter on Highway 41 in Pearl River, is in the middle of a transformation that will finally give customers a place to sit down indoors. The outdoor patio closed on October 25 to make room for construction, according to What Now New Orleans, but the restaurant hasn't skipped a beat, serving guests out of a temporary tent set up right on the property.
The expansion, first reported by WhatNow, will take Da' Pearl from a pure takeout operation to a spot with an actual indoor dining room. Owner Cliff Laigast and his partner, Chuck Walker, laid the groundwork for the project back in 2025, when they secured the land surrounding the existing takeout spot, adding 270 feet of commercial frontage along Highway 41 in the process.
The extra frontage is what's making room for the build-out happening now. The expansion is intended to provide year-round seating.
Da’ Pearl’s move toward indoor seating comes in a parish with a substantial restaurant scene: St. Tammany has an estimated 742 restaurants, spanning local staples including po-boys and fried and boiled seafood. That makes the expansion part of a crowded dining landscape, though the figure is a parishwide estimate and does not measure demand in Pearl River specifically. The agency’s overview of St. Tammany dining also highlights the mix of home-grown and casual restaurants across the parish.
A Tent Holds the Fort During Construction
With the patio gone, the restaurant set up a temporary customer tent on-site to keep guests fed while crews work. That tent is expected to serve as the dining area for the next couple of months as the project moves forward, and the restaurant has made clear it remains open throughout the construction phase, as reported by What Now New Orleans.
There's no firm date yet for when the new indoor dining room will actually open its doors, as noted by What Now New Orleans. For now, anyone craving a po-boy or a seafood plate can still walk up and order, just under canvas instead of under the open sky.
Visitor spending is another measure of the broader food-and-hospitality economy around the project. St. Tammany recorded about $1.26 billion in visitor spending in 2023, up 1% from 2022.
Fresh Market Plans on the Horizon
Beyond the dining room, Da' Pearl's owners have also announced future plans for an on-site fresh market, though details on timing haven't been released. Combined with the new indoor seating, it signals a bigger footprint for a business that currently operates as a takeout spot.
The construction timeline also sits within a local permitting framework set out in the parish’s Unified Development Code.
The team behind Da' Pearl struck an appreciative, patient tone about the whole process. They said Pearl River has been good to the business, and added that the changes will take time but will be worth the wait. For a restaurant that's built a following on quick seafood and po-boys, the message to regulars is simple: stick around, the tent is temporary, and something more permanent is on the way.
