Persistence, Palm & Pine.

We always say in these parts that we are a resilient people. Restaurants kept going after the entire city flooded and then a massive oil spill made consumers afraid of our most desirable commodity. Then COVID, then Ida, and I’m sure a few things I’m forgetting. That has kept the restaurant community struggling.

But Palm & Pine has gone one better than them all. This hip little spot on Rampart is a stone’s throw from the NOAC which was immediately adjacent to the building that collapsed a few years ago. Palm & Pine was just about ready to open for business when this calamity occurred. I remember trying to find a way to get there for their soft opening. We couldn’t get near it, which was a deal breaker for Tom even back then. I couldn’t even find it through the maze of police and DETOUR signs. 

I felt sorry for these people. But that pity was misplaced, because these two are survivors, even thrivers. Amarys and Jordan Herndon were James Beard semi-finalists two years in a row. And they’ve been open only 5 years.

It was well past time to see what the place is about. I picked up food because it’s a casual place, and not my scene, and I was just interested in the food. To be honest, I wasn’t all that interested in that either. But I felt I should be, so I looked long and hard at the menu. 

I ordered fried oysters, what they call Corn Babies, butter beans, and something they call Texas BBQ shrimp. In the home of Barbecue Shrimp I have to wonder why they would have anything other than New Orleans Barbecue shrimp on the menu. 

When I went in to get the food I was surprised by the appearance of the place. For some reason I expected a scene more commensurate with the elevated food. It was eclectic, raffish, and perfect for the area and the times. It’s a small, linear space with a bar that’s maybe half the restaurant. Tables line the exposed brick walls. There are a lot of barstools whose occupants have a good view of what’s happening in the kitchen, though I wouldn’t call this a food bar.

This scene is part of a casual, downscale vibe. I remember Tom often saying that people have a prevailing opinion of New Orleans restaurants that he seemed to find annoying. He said that there was a common sentiment that the best food in New Orleans would be found in a dump. Perhaps the owners of Palm & Pine bought into this idea, because the food coming out of this kitchen does not match its surroundings. It’s not a place I want to dine.

But I can’t quibble with the goodness on the plate. I thought everything I had was next-level. It was a little hard to select items from this menu because it’s also a little hip for me. Eventually I chose four random things: Crispy Oysters with Gribiche Sauce and Fennel, something they call Corn Babies, Lima Beans with Cavatelli Pasta and Speckled Butter Beans, and Texas BBQ Shrimp. I was mildly curious why, in the place of origin of BBQ Shrimp, a Texas version was offered, but I am just being a cranky traditionalist. Still I was curious. But mainly my choices were arrived at by a process of elimination.

After a few fried oysters apps, I decided to stop eating them because Tom wasn't there to share. Usually he'd eat them and I'd try one. I don't need to eat a lot of these, so I quit ordering them. But I needed them from this menu. I mainly got them when I noticed the Sauce Gribiche. For someone who is persnickety about chopped hard boiled eggs, I am crazy about Sauce Gribiche. They are more an incidental feature of the sauce (depending on who's making it,) with little nuggets turning up now and then, at least in my experience. It is, in my opinion,  a fantastically delicious sauce which includes capers and chopped cornichons, explaining my delight with it. I even love the texture, which surprises me. It could be because I usually see it with grated Parmesan, when I see it, which isn’t often. In my experience, it always tops fried oysters.

At Palm & Pine the dish includes shaved fennel. I loved the contrast of all these textures: crispy oysters, crunchy fennel, and a smooth sauce interspersed with an occasional pop of these other nuggets of pickle, capers and egg. The size of these oysters astonished me. Three bites per. I needed a knife and fork for them. They were greaseless, lightly battered, yet crispy, and meaty. This was an irresistible dish.

I wondered what Corn Babies meant, and as it turns out, nothing. These were three sort of dry cornbread sticks like the kind baked in a cast iron dish with corn kernel impressions, though in this case that side was bare. At first bite I was unimpressed, but they were spicy with bits of pepper in them. Still dry, though. The wild garlic butter softened it a bit, and it’s good, but this isn’t really all that special. Maybe I'm just tired of restaurants elevating cornbread beyond its normal humble status.

The next course was the BBQ Shrimp, Texas style. I can’t help but ask about the twist on the New Orleans original, but I can only assume that it's the Mesquite smoked butter as part of the housemade Worcestershire sauce. This was frightfully expensive. There were three large shrimp with heads on served with a grilled lemon half and three chunky slices of Don Phoung French bread.

Last but best was an unassuming dish that was nothing but carbs. It was lima beans with speckled butter beans interspersed with Cavatelli pasta. This was topped with very large breadcrumbs in a chunky and crunchy blanket with dried tomatoes studded throughout. I couldn't believe how something so simple could be so sublime. The beans were cooked to the “sweet spot” intermingled with plenty of Cavatelli pasta. There were bits of herbs sprinkled about a buttery coating as part of this dish. I don’t believe I’ve ever had beans like this, but I certainly would want to again.

Palm & Pine is owned by husband-and-wife team Amarys and Jordan Herndon who met ten years ago when they worked separately at Bayona and Ralph’s on the Park. The idea for Palm, & Pine came out of their mutual desire to serve fine cuisine in casual surroundings.

Palm & Pine is the very epitome of such a place. The food is next level start to finish and the place is beyond casual . I’d call it boheme. I remember through the years Tom was often personally insulted that people were all in on that dumpy New Orleans restaurant image. That somehow food tasted better the worse the environment. The best example of this is the old Uglesich’s. People flew in on their private jets just to eat at Uglesich’s. Palm & Pine is nowhere near as “downscale” as Uglesich’s, but its "eclectic” scene is not up to the food. Here's another one for me to leave to the younger, hipper crowd.