Jess Okonkwo-Reyes
Chef and co-ownerWrites the menu and still works the stove most lunch shifts.
A pantry shop that put a stove in the back
Pot And Pantry opened on South Lamar in 2017, first as a small shop selling dry goods, spices, and cast iron, with a single stove in the back for staff lunch.
How it started
Owners Jess Okonkwo-Reyes and Tomás Ferreira ran the shop for a year before customers started asking to buy whatever they were cooking for lunch. By 2018 the back of the shop had eighteen counter seats and a menu built entirely around one pot per dish.
The rule has stayed the same since: if a dish needs more than one pot to finish, it doesn't go on the menu. It keeps the kitchen small, the dishes honest, and the recipes easy to write down properly.
Why we publish our recipes
A shop that sells cast iron and pantry staples ought to tell people what to do with them. Every recipe here is the one we actually cook on the line, scaled down for a home kitchen and a single pot.
House principles
01
One pot, no exceptions
If it needs a second pot, it's not on our menu.
02
Pantry staples first
Rice, beans, and canned tomatoes carry more of the menu than any specialty ingredient.
03
Texas when it's better
Hill Country peaches and Central Texas beef, when the season and the price make sense.
04
Written down plainly
A recipe should read like someone who's made the dish a hundred times wrote it.
Who's behind the counter
The small team running the kitchen and this recipe archive.
Tomás Ferreira
Pantry and co-ownerRuns the shop side and decides what staples make it onto the shelf.
Dana Whitfield
Front of houseKeeps the reservation book and answers most messages from the contact page.