10 minute read
Restaurants: Changing tastes
CHANGING TASTES: The iconic Fleur de Lis was a Baton Rouge pizza tradition until it closed earlier this year. Meanwhile, the current hot dining topic is a night at the exclusive Supper Club.
Changing tastes
COLLIN RICHIE
The Baton Rouge dining sector has grown from sleepy to inventive. BY MAGGIE HEYN RICHARDSON
IT’S FRIDAY NIGHT in Baton Rouge, and finding a table at one of the area’s growing number of popular eateries is tough. Peak hours see queues of patrons waiting to sample the latest grazing boards, craft cocktails or DIY desserts, eager to leave evidence of their evening out on social media. These days, dining options in the Capital City are robust, even as restaurateurs navigate continued challenges from labor shortages and soaring commodity costs. New spots keep coming, part of a several-years trend in which the local culinary landscape, once set in its ways, is embracing new things.
Thus far in 2022, Baton Rouge has seen the opening of buzzy spots like Tap 65, an edgy Mid City bar with self-serve taps and Indian pub grub; the $7 million luxe Supper Club, the all-day breakfast diner Spoke & Hub and its haute speakeasy out back; the Lotus Lounge, a stylish tiki bar situated inside Soji Modern Asian; the SoGo Tea Bar within Red Stick Spice Company; the artisan ice creamery Gail’s Fine Ice Cream; the second location of the popular Mississippi Gulf Coast barbecue restaurant The Shed; and the massive renovation and reopening of Juban’s, which first opened in 1983 and closed during COVID to rebrand and keep pace with Baton Rouge’s changing sensibilities. Other concepts like Chad Hughes’ new barbecue restaurant, Unleaded, and Chase Lyons’ Mediterranean concept, Capri, are underway.
From the early ‘80s to today, the local hospitality sector has expanded considerably, fueled by factors both local and national, restaurateurs say, including an explosion in consumer awareness about food trends, the use of social media and technology by both operators and diners, the local foods movement, the collective accomplishments of restaurant groups, and, most recently, the global pandemic.
“Baton Rouge has always been an eating out town with a large number of independent restaurants,” says Stan Harris, president and CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association and former general manager of Ruth’s Chris in Baton Rouge. “Now, it has really exciting variety.”
BATON ROUGE GROWS UP
Decades back, numerous casual eateries specializing in fried seafood and Cajun influences together with a handful of steakhouses and fine-dining restaurants defined Baton Rouge’s culinary poles, says Stephen Hightower, managing partner of City Group Hospitality, which operates seven restaurants in Baton Rouge.
“There were all these restaurants, Jack Saban’s, Chalet Brandt and others that were relationship places,” Hightower says. “Then, as we grew, we saw more chains and corporate investment coming into town.”
And while New Orleans restaurants have always fought for tourist dollars, Baton Rouge restaurants vie for loyalty among local patrons who reward good service and cuisine with repeat business.
In the last decade, Baton Rouge diners have continued to support their favorite local restaurants while also welcoming new concepts, operators say.
“We’ve really transitioned to be a higher concept restaurant town,” says restaurateur, food blogger and radio show host Jay Ducote, who has reported on the Baton Rouge food scene since 2009. “If you look back, it was really more, ‘there’s an Italian restaurant, there’s a Mexican restaurant, there’s a barbecue restaurant,’ and now you have a lot more modern American restaurants that are willing to put a lot of different flavors on the same menu. That’s a trend around the country also happening here.”
In other words, restaurants in Baton Rouge no longer feel the need to be siloed. Their menus pull from a variety of influences, and their brand identity is established through splashy design, decor and features that keep them relevant on social media.
“It’s all about creating a
moment,” says Peter Sclafani, managing partner of Making Raving Fans Hospitality, which operates Juban’s, SoLou and other local concepts. “It’s not enough to just have good food, you’ve got to have other elements in place.”
Locations of restaurants have also changed sharply in the Capital City, says Mestizo owner Jim Urdiales, a third-generation restaurant owner whose father owned and operated Carlos’ for 50 years and whose uncle founded El Rio Grande, both on Airline Highway.
“The difference today from 40 years ago is night and day,” Urdiales says. “The hub then was Airline Highway. You had Ralph and Kacoo’s, Don’s Seafood, the Village and the Mirror Steakhouse, and that’s all changed.”
Urdiales also compares how, in the past, Baton Rouge consumers patronized Chinese restaurants largely for lunch buffets. “Now you have an audience that wants authentic Asian and understands the difference between different Asian cuisines,” he says.
Seafood has long been a mainstay in Baton Rouge, and in the ‘80s and ‘90s, that meant deepfried shrimp, catfish and oysters at spots like Mike Anderson’s and The Chimes. At legacy fine-dining establishments, including Juban’s, Mansurs and others, seafood meant Gulf fish sautéed and topped with beurre blanc and lump crabmeat, the hallmark celebratory dish that appeared on numerous local menus. In 1983, Juban’s rolled out what would become a local menu icon, the Hallelujah Crab, deep-fried softshell crab filled with seafood stuffing and drizzled in hollandaise sauce. Thousands upon thousands were served until the restaurant closed in 2020, and now the dish, while tweaked slightly, is still included on the restaurant’s new menu.
Sushi came on the scene in the early ‘90s, with just two restaurants in the College Drive area morphing to more than two dozen today. Along with satisfying local diners’ seemingly insatiable appetite for raw fish and Americanized rolls, the local sushi subsector comes with a beneficial byproduct—an abundance of fresh seafood deliveries arriving nearly daily, keeping fine-dining establishments also supplied with fresh fish, Sclafani says.
Mediterranean, classified as “Greek and Lebanese,” has occupied a significant part of the dining experience in Baton Rouge for decades, first led by the highend Serop’s on Government Street more than 30 years ago. Multiple locations of Albasha, Roman’s, Serop’s Cafe and Serop’s Express, along with many other Mediterranean concepts, have been a key part of Baton Rouge’s dining scene, especially at lunch.
RESTAURANTS CHANGE IN SIZE AND STYLE
Across the ‘80s and ‘90s, the late T.J. Moran, who owned Baton Rouge’s Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, and who founded TJ Ribs, Ninfa’s and Ruffino’s, believed that the formula for success depended on a large footprint advantageously located near an interstate, recalls Harris.
Today, that calculus has been upended. The behemoth restaurants of the past have largely been replaced by small- to medium-sized establishments, Harris says.
“The number one limiting factor is capital,” Harris says. “If you think about the size of, say, a Ralph and Kacoo’s on Bluebonnet, a building that’s probably 35,000 square feet, to build that today would be astronomical. You might have $15 [million] to $18 million in it before you even furnish it.”
Chains and franchise operations have also shrunk, Harris says.
“We’re seeing chains squeezing these spaces down even more to become more efficient,” he says, adding that the original Walk-On’s on Burbank is much larger than subsequent locations that opened nationwide. The Baton Rougebased company recently opened its 65th Walk-On’s in Tampa.
Restaurant design has also changed sharply from Moran’s straightforward formula, says Sclafani, a third-generation restaurateur from New Orleans who worked as executive chef for many years at Ruffino’s, which Moran first launched as Gerry DiNardo’s.
“T.J. [Moran] used to say, ‘nobody goes to a restaurant based on what’s on the outside. People just want a comfortable, clean environment,’” Sclafani recalls. “He liked to use dark woods and taupe walls because he thought it made people feel really comfortable. Now, I think guests have been exposed to so many other restaurants, they want that feeling that someone put a lot of money and intentionality into the design.”
A growing number of Baton Rouge operators consider design to be fundamental to doing business today, placing it on par with food quality and service.
LOYAL FOLLOWING: The most popular Italian restaurant remains Gino’s Restaurant, opened by Grace Marino in 1966 and today operated by her son, Gino. FRESH TAKE: Soji executive chef Thien Nguyen offers a modern take on Asian cuisine.
COLLIN RICHIE
ATMOSPHERE MATTERS: Operators today are putting more thought into design and ambiance, like the Tigre Room at the recently reimagined Juban’s Restaurant and Bar.
“This is my Instagram wall,” says Tap 65 owner Rick Patel, who spent months working with a designer to create a scheme for the Mid City bar that combines bright colors with stylish naturalist drawings that signal India, Louisiana and other cultures. One wall features an elephant image over which Tap 65’s Instagram address is mounted in neon.
The recently opened Supper Club’s much-discussed design includes elements sourced from global designers, including carpet from Holland, chandeliers from Italy and iridescent chains from Spain draping the walls. Founders Brandon and Mackenzie Landry worked with local firm Monochrome to find features not yet seen in Baton Rouge, they say.
“It was very important to us to create a design that was totally unique,” Brandon Landry says.
EMBRACING SOCIAL MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY
Social media, and media in general, transformed the way restaurants do business, operators say. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, diners brought only their personal food knowledge to the table, along with awareness gained through reading or travel. But by the early 2000s, an explosion of culinary familiarity promulgated by the Food Network, the Travel Channel, food blogs, and later social media, meant diners were more aware of the latest culinary trends, and they wanted to see them on local tables.
“The Food Network had a lot to do with educating diners about what they wanted and what they started requesting,” Urdiales says.
Social media became a mainstay of how diners and operators interacted. Once maligned, cellphones are now ubiquitous on restaurant tables, allowing consumers to check in, post pictures of food, and log reviews. For operators, it has become a consuming part of the business. And while it’s an easy way to interact with current and new markets, it has a dark side, Harris says.
“One of the biggest things that’s changed is the anonymity of online reviews,” he says. “This has introduced a lot of bad behavior, including a recent rash of overseas folks threatening to place one star reviews unless you send cash cards. We’re in this world where there’s a lot of ‘gotcha’ going on.”
New technology platforms have also radically changed the way restaurants do business, particularly with online ordering and third-party delivery services. Consumers of all ages—not just millennials and Gen Zers—now want to combine the excitement of dining out with the convenience of online and app-based to-go ordering. The surge in digital orders has meant restaurants have had to retool kitchen logistics to absorb significant increases in off-premises dining.
BRIAN BAIAMONTE
THE LOCALLY OWNED BRAND
One of Baton Rouge’s most defining features is the way patrons reward their favorite restaurants with loyalty, say many operators, including Gino Marino, whose mother, Grace, first opened the still-popular Gino’s Restaurant in 1966. The Bennington Avenue Italian restaurant specializes in Sicilian-influenced fare, including seafood, veal, steak and classic pasta dishes.
“Even through dips in the economy and so many new restaurants coming to town, I have people who have been coming here for years,” Marino says. “We have incredibly loyal customers.”
Proximity also plays a part, Urdiales says.
“I always tell new restaurants that they have got to look at the neighborhoods they’re operating in,” Urdiales says, “because that’s where their repeat business is going to come from.”
