Amarys Koenig Herndon and Jordan Herndon
Palm&Pine | New Orleans
SEPTEMBER 2022
Amarys Koenig Herndon grew up in restaurants—her father managed a local Chili’s, and from a young age, she’d help the servers with their side work. Her parents eventually opened their own restaurant, Live Oak Grill, where she was trained in every front of house position. Amarys continued bartending around New Braunfels, Texas, before landing behind the bar at Gruene River Grill alongside Jordan Herndon, her eventual husband and business partner.
Jordan’s East Texas upbringing included Sunday dinners on his grandmothers’ farms, connecting him deeply with the ties between land and food. After meeting Amarys, the couple moved to New Orleans and enrolled in the culinary arts program at Delgado Community College. While in school, Jordan and Amarys cooked at Arnaud’s Restaurant. In 2010, Jordan was hired as a line cook at Ralph’s on the Park while Amarys trained at Bayona under Chef Susan Spicer, both working their way up to sous chef.
Looking to scratch their creative itch, the duo started a pop-up, called The Old Portage (T.O.P.), experimenting with different cuisines and flavors. For five years, T.O.P. continued to grow in popularity until both Amarys and Jordan could make it their full-time jobs. In 2019, following a successful run outside Black Penny, they were able to transform their pop-up into a brick-and-mortar restaurant, Palm&Pine. The Herndons focus their cooking on “The South, and South of that,” drawing influence from New Orleans, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.
