Pearl Steakhouse getting new life

The Pearl Steakhouse, where Lou Pearlman often held court, is being revived as a tapas restaurant with a new name and new look. Today's Times has the story of Ceviche Orlando at Church Street Station.

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October 2, 2007 -- LOU Pearlman - the hog-fat, boy-band honcho who created *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys and launched the careers of Justin Timberlake and Nick Carter - was a pervy pedophile who preyed on the young men he mentored, Vanity Fair reports.
"I would absolutely say the guy was a sexual predator. All the talent knew what Lou's game was," Steve Mooney, an aspiring singer who was Pearlman's assistant, told VF's Bryan Burrough. "Some guys joked about it. I remember [one singer] asking me, 'Have you let Lou [fellate] you yet?' "
Mooney said he once asked Pearlman, who was known as "Big Poppa," what it would take for him to get into a band. "I'll never forget this as long as I live. He leaned back in his chair, in his white terry cloth robe and white underwear, and spread his legs," Mooney told Burrough. "And then he said, and these were his exact words, 'You're a smart boy. Figure it out.' " Mooney added that a singer groped by Pearlman told him, "Look, if a guy wants to massage me, and I'm getting a million dollars for it, you just go along with it. It's the price you got to pay."
Phoenix Stone, an early member of the Backstreet Boys, tells Vanity Fair Pearlman was "definitely inappropriate" with Nick Carter. Nick's mom, Jane Carter, wouldn't get into specifics, but said, "Certain things happened and it almost destroyed our family. I tried to warn everyone. I tried to warn all the mothers . . . I tried to expose him for what he was years ago."
Tim Christofore, a member of Take 5, recalls that during a sleepover at Pearlman's house, the music czar swan-dived onto his and another boy's bed and wrestled with them wearing only in a towel, which came off. "We were like, 'Ooh, Lou, that's gross.' What did I know? I was 13," Christofore told Vanity Fair.
Rich Cronin, lead singer of LFO, recalled Pearlman told him of an "ancient massage technique that if I massage you and we bond in a certain way, it will strengthen your aura."
Pearlman, 53, is in a Florida jail awaiting trial on bank fraud charges. Prosecutors say he scammed more than 1,000 investors out of $315 million. He'd been a fugitive until June when he was busted in Indonesia, living under a fake name. His lawyer did not return calls from Page Six.

His only connection to Peter Luger's was apparently his pilfering their logo. No surprises here.

[Les Henderson]

I thought that Lou sold off the restaurant to generate more pocket cash prior to his trip.

If so, and it wasn't a Pearlman crony, pity the poor guy who bought it and then got turfed by Kuhn. In fact, pity anyone who got booted out unfairly.

It's Qwazy

[Kim]

Yes, more lies. That's all he knew how to do successfully.

He told me several times that the famous steakhouse Peter Luger Steak House from New york were major investors in his new venture "PEARL STEAK HOUSE" Was this just another lie?

[Boca Barbara]

He should have choked on his steaks, along with his cohorts.