Palm&Pine — Restaurant in New Orleans

Palm & Pine has been my favorite restaurant in the city since they first opened. I dine out A LOT and love to try new places, but this is the one I keep coming back to again and again, year after year. Not only is the food outstanding, but the chefs and servers really care about the experience they provide. They manage to pull off upscale dishes in an unpretentious atmosphere that appeals to everyone from service industry workers to tech magnates.

MENU HIGHLIGHTS: The P&P Salad - I get this EVERY TIME. It breaks all my rules of salad but it is the most craveable dish in New Orleans. Whether you get it with the seasonal creole tomatoes or the roasted beets, everything about it just sings. I have been known to order it for dessert, because I just can't leave the restaurant without having it.

BBQ Shrimp - I'm a tour guide and bartender, and I tell everyone this is the best version of this dish in the city. I prefer when it comes with grits to soak up the sauce, but it's good with the Duong Phuong bread too. The grilled lemon really brings everything together. Don't forget to suck the heads!

Corner Store Crudo - perfectly balanced dish of mouth watering textures and flavors. Tuna, shrimp chips, pineapple, herbs... I love that they use pineapple Big Shot (a nod to local fans of the soda) -- don't be afraid to tip the plate up and drink it when you're done! You can really see the care they put into plating this dish -- it's almost too pretty to eat. Almost ;)

Parisa - One of the best steak tartars in the city, hands down. My boyfriend and I fight over who gets the last smears of jammy yolk on the plate.

Gumbo - I LOVE the turkey neck gumbo, but my boyfriend loves the lemongrass one that Willie Nelson picked as his favorite. Either way, this is the only restaurant gumbo in the city that I eat or recommend.

Beef Fat Griddled Wagyu - the potato pave is worth its weight in gold. Just do it.

Anything on special or seasonal - the chefs are always experimenting and celebrating the season. I love the creativity and truly special dishes that come out of these limited-time dishes.

Cocktails: fabulous mixology, and whoever names the drinks deserves all the gold stars. I'm a big fan of the Palm and Pain, but my go-to is the smoky paloma. Mezcal selection is top notch.

Pro-Tip: sit at the kitchen bar so you can watch these professionals carefully prepare your meal. The attention to detail is incredible, and the chefs and cooks are so very friendly. You really feel like you're part of something.

Side Note: Chef-Owners Amarys and Jordan are also really good people. I will never forget that when they had just opened and then Covid hit and they were struggling as hard as everyone in the city, they made a point to feed service industry and gig economy workers for free once a week for an entire year. I still don't know how they managed that financially, but it definitely shows they are in this for the love of feeding people and not just the prestige of operating one of the best restaurants in New Orleans.

And they are definitely one of the best restaurants in...

I have very mixed feelings about this place. We went here for a special occasion as we had heard good things about Palm & Pine. My partner does not have anaphylaxis to pepper flakes, but she avoids them due to the severe gut allergy. A few flakes or cross contamination does not cause significant problems. We ordered cocktails which were delicious (and the best part of the meal). I will preface this by saying we were asked if we had any allergies by our waiter. We said no, but my partner did say she gets stomach upset from chili peppers and we asked about a few dishes. For starters, we ordered the crudo and the crab claws. The crudo arrived first, but had lots of pepper flakes in it. My partner and I agreed I would eat the crudo and she could have the crab claws. It was very good, with fresh tasty fish. The crab claws arrived later, only to contain even more peppers than the crudo. My partner could not eat this either. We politely told our waiter, who got a manager. I apologized and said we did not know there were peppers in the crab. The manager took the crab and said it was made fresh and seemed upset. I said, I have no problem paying for the crab, but could it be made without the pepper flakes. Then the manager actually scolded us for not letting the kitchen know about her allergy and made her feel small for having an intolerance to peppers. She then took the crab away (after I said I would pay for it) and I had to request it back as I was going to eat it myself. Regardless, if you are going to charge me for it, leave it at my table whether I decide to eat it or not. She also said the restaurant had an "obvious South American forward menu" implying we perhaps should not have even went there for dinner. In my previous life, separately I was a chef, ran a kitchen in a large resort and owned my own restaurant. This is NOT how you treat guests. We considered just paying for the whole meal, including the entrees we had not received yet and calling it a night, but we had plans for later and knew we would not be able to go somewhere else to eat and still make our evening plans. The P & P salad was good, but a little too "gouda forward" as I would think the manager might appreciate. The quail was tasty and I would recommend that dish. The snapper was a little bit bland and slightly dry. Overall, I would give this place a 3+ for food, a 4 for our waiter's service and a 0 for the management. People are not to blame if they have a food intolerance. This IS different than a food allergy and some cross contamination is often fine, as is a small amount of the offending substance in the dish. I felt the manager was completely inappropriate in the way she addressed the issue, her demeaning my partner for not 'disclosing her allergy' (it's not) up front and telling me I would pay for the crab (after I offered to) yet still removing the dish I was now paying for from the table. And no, ma'me, I was not struck with the realization that this was such a South American forward menu besides having many South American dishes in the past that had no pepper...

While the food was delicious, the owner was a long way from tolerable. My family and I arrived hoping to be able to enjoy a cocktail and a few small plates. We arrived with 4 adults, 2 toddlers and a baby. Knowing this was a lot, we asked the hostess if they could accommodate such a group. The hostess happily said yes, but asked we be gone by a certain time. While I admit this should have been a red flag, we eagerly entered the establishment. The drinks were subpar but the food was delicious. Even our toddlers enjoyed the food, WOW! All our positive experiences were blown to pieces when my toddler had a blow out! There was no changing table in the restroom. With no set place to change my child’s overflowing diaper, I proceeded to change it at the table, on the bench! Where was I supposed to go? I’d happily go to the restroom for this- but no such area was provided. Where else was there an option to change a diaper? They provide adults a private place to change/use the restroom, why was it different for my child? For a city that boasts equality for all, where was my child? While taking care of my child and this incident, the owner proceeded to hound my husband and I. She walked to the table and roughly told us we needed to put our masks on. We apologized and kept taking care of our 1.5 year old child. In the background we could vividly see the owner glaring at us, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. We were standing right next to our chairs. We had not come any closer to another human being than if we were sitting. Due to our haste in taking care of our child, we had stood up, not changed location, weren’t next to any other person, but were immediately glared at, and persecuted for not immediately putting our masks on. While I agree and applaud keeping ourselves and others safe, I don’t understand the mean glares and words we received from the owner of this restaurant. I feel more appropriate information needs to be provided to this owner on the spread of bacteria; Changing from a sitting to standing position while still maintaining well over the 6 feet recommendation by the CDC should not lead anyone to harass another human being; especially an owner. My family and I were clearly were no longer welcome, even though we just spent $200+ dollars. I felt the hatred sent by this owner and fully know my family and I are not welcome. We will happily not come back to this restaurant and will definitely not recommend this to our family or friends. If owners aren’t comfortable opening their doors, and cannot meet their patrons with warmth and love then I’d recommend staying closed- it may be better for business in the long run! We have a second home in New Orleans and have always bragged about the welcoming spirit of this city. Sadly, we were proven wrong tonight. I hope New Orleans can recover from this pandemic. However, with behavior from restaurant owners like we experienced tonight, I’m not...