Cristian Duarte and Mo Taylor met more than 10 years ago while working at the former Starters Sports Grill restaurant group. Over the years they built their reputations as two of the Lehigh Valley's favorite bar men, all while dreaming of one day opening their own place. Many a late night was spent closing up the bar at Starters discussing the details of the type of place they would one day open. They knew that they wanted to open a small cozy restaurant, where their customers would feel like they were at home. However, they had no idea what their food or identity would look like until....
While sitting with Tyler Baxter, a local chef with experience working at some of the Lehigh Valley's finest restaurants, Mo and Cristian listened to Tyler speak of his time cooking at Emeril Lagasse's restaurants in New Orleans. After a hours of discussion with long time friend and New York marketing executive, Ben Aronson, it became clear there was an opportunity to do something truly different. Gourmet southern comfort food mixed with the sound of blues bands playing in the background; they would bring the soul of the bayou to the heart of the Lehigh Valley. The concept of southern hospitality matched perfectly
with their goal of creating a comfortable "homey" atmosphere; while the cuisine was simple, it wasdifferent enough to create a unique offering for their diverse customer base. Tyler's knowledge of both NOLA cuisine and the local customer base made him the perfect chef to bring this concept to life.Â
