When chefs Amarys and Jordan Herndon relocated to New Orleans from their home in Texas not long after Hurricane Katrina, their mission was simple. “When we first moved here, we were like, ‘We’re gonna learn how to cook all the New Orleans stuff and then move back home,’” said Jordan. “We thought we’d be here for maybe a couple of years after learning how to make Shrimp Creole, and then go back to Texas. But then you establish roots, and it became just the coolest thing to be able to live and cook in this city.”
Suffice it to say, the pair had a change of plans along the way, not only not returning to Texas, but, after attending culinary school at Delgado and training in some of the most hallowed kitchens in the city, eventually opened up a well-loved pop-up eatery that turned into a well-loved and lauded French Quarter restaurant: Palm & Pine.
What the Herndons have managed to accomplish during their tenure on Rampart St. is a delightful and fascinating tightrope walk between novel and familiar, with local flavors and ingredients blending seamlessly with those from places like Mexico, the Caribbean, or Vietnam. Take, for instance, their “corner store crudo,” which features raw yellowfin tuna served with a nước chấm sauce fashioned from pineapple Big Shot soda, a dish as delightful on the palate as it is whimsical. And then there are heartier dishes, like a Texas spin on barbecue shrimp that incorporates house made Worcestershire sauce, Shiner Bock beer and cheese grits, boudin-stuffed quail with black eyed peas, and carimañolas, a Colombian yucca fritter dish inspired by one of their sous chefs, which features not just Cajun-style hot sausage, but also a saffron mojo mayo and pickle relish.
Native New Orleanians will find their flavors simultaneously both familiar and novel, which is no easy trick. “A lot of how we formed what we wanted to do food-wise at this restaurant comes from being transplants, but at such a young age that we were just really learning about food and life in New Orleans,” Amarys said. “And at the time that we got here, just post-Katrina, when the city was really changing in what food influences, we kind of had a different perspective of what New Orleans food is. And for us, we always want to be a New Orleans restaurant, where guests feel like, ‘This restaurant wouldn’t exist anywhere else, or be the same anywhere else.’”
More than anything, the Herndons’ culinary philosophy at Palm & Pine can be distilled into two words. “Vibrant and loud. That’s how we make our food,” said Jordan. “With every dish we put on the menu, there has to be some reference to New Orleans,” Amarys continued, “but we’re also so inspired by the people we work with. One of our cooks might bring in her grandmother’s recipe from Puerto Rico, and we’ll say, ‘Why don’t we use this hot pepper we just got from a farm? Let’s bring something local into the mix to make it just a bit louder!’”
The Jordans’ synesthetic idea of raising the volume on their cuisine applies even to the desserts, which include outstanding and not-to-be-missed house-made ice creams in flavors like preserved Meyer lemon with Mississippi honey, local loquats, and a black cherry Big Shot soda offering that Jordan claims is “way better than Cherry Garcia.”
With food this dynamic and satisfying, not to mention a James Beard Award nod earlier this year, it’s safe to say that neither locals nor visitors will be asking Amarys and Jordan to turn it down any time soon. In New Orleans, we’re not just used to the loudness; we adore it.
308 N. Rampart St., 504-814-6200, Palmandpinenola.com.
About the Chefs
Chefs Amarys and Jordan Herndon, both Texas natives, moved to New Orleans to attend culinary school at Delgado University, and soon found themselves working side by side in the kitchen at Arnaud’s. After the pair moved on to other restaurants – Amarys at Bayona and Mondo under the tutelage of Susan Spicer, and Jordan at Ralph’s on the Park, MoPho and Angeline – they wound up refining their own restaurant concept as a pop-up called “The Old Portage,” at the Black Penny Bar, which would eventually evolve into Palm & Pine. More than anything, the pair are both humbled and delighted to be a vested part of the Vieux Carre. Said Jordan, “To be able to have an established restaurant in the French Quarter in New Orleans, we’re really living the dream.”
Backwater Farmstead Duck[/caption]
When chefs Amarys and Jordan Herndon relocated to New Orleans from their home in Texas not long after Hurricane Katrina, their mission was simple. “When we first moved here, we were like, ‘We’re gonna learn how to cook all the New Orleans stuff and then move back home,’” said Jordan. “We thought we’d be here for maybe a couple of years after learning how to make Shrimp Creole, and then go back to Texas. But then you establish roots, and it became just the coolest thing to be able to live and cook in this city.”
Suffice it to say, the pair had a change of plans along the way, not only not returning to Texas, but, after attending culinary school at Delgado and training in some of the most hallowed kitchens in the city, eventually opened up a well-loved pop-up eatery that turned into a well-loved and lauded French Quarter restaurant: Palm & Pine.
Chefs Amarys and Jordan Herndon, both Texas natives, moved to New Orleans to attend culinary school at Delgado University, and soon found themselves working side by side in the kitchen at Arnaud’s. After the pair moved on to other restaurants – Amarys at Bayona and Mondo under the tutelage of Susan Spicer, and Jordan at Ralph’s on the Park, MoPho and Angeline – they wound up refining their own restaurant concept as a pop-up called “The Old Portage,” at the Black Penny Bar, which would eventually evolve into Palm & Pine. More than anything, the pair are both humbled and delighted to be a vested part of the Vieux Carre. Said Jordan, “To be able to have an established restaurant in the French Quarter in New Orleans, we’re really living the dream.”