Creator Spotlight: Jennifer Sherrod & Brandon Blackwell of Elysian Seafood
Brandon Blackwell and Jennifer Sherrod, Elysian Seafood
What’s the origin story of Elysian Seafood? We are one of the original vendors at St Roch Market. We came up with the concept of Elysian Seafood specifically for this food hall. We had been doing a pop-up concept called Splendid Pig, and when the food hall was getting ready to open, we first played with the idea of doing Splendid Pig here at the market, but there were some things logistically as well as some menu items that we just didn’t think fit. At the time, they already had somebody else lined up to do a seafood concept. The original seafood concept ended up backing out at the last minute, so when we heard seafood was now an option, we jumped on it. Jennifer and I both really love seafood, and Louisiana style food so the opportunity to focus on that and do a menu built around that was something we really wanted to do.
Are you both from New Orleans originally? Jen is originally from Jacksonville, FL but she moved here to attend law school at Loyola. She graduated law school and passed the bar, but never practiced law for a day. She’s always been in the service and hospitality industry and loves it. I was born in Baton Rouge and moved to New Orleans for culinary school a year before Katrina, almost a year to the day.
Where did the two of you meet? We met here in New Orleans, and our first date was 6 days before we all evacuated for Katrina. She was managing a little bistro Uptown, so we went to dinner there together and then to a show at Tipitina’s. Six days later she was on her way to Texas and I was on my way to Baton Rouge to get out of the storm’s path. We kept in touch during the whole evacuation and reconnected when we both returned.
What is your favorite dish on the Elysian Seafood Menu? Our most popular dish is the crabcake. I’m very proud of that one because people do love it. However, I’m a sucker for gumbo and even though I make gumbo all the time, I still order gumbo when I go out to eat. It’s just one of my favorite foods.
What is something that you and Jen are passionate about outside of your business? We enjoy going out to eat and letting others cook for us. I play guitar as a hobby, and we also love going to see live music around the city.