The 12 Best Places To Eat In Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge is known for many things. It’s home to Louisiana State University (LSU) and is the stomping ground of colorful politicians. It’s featured prominently in Janis Joplin’s hit version of “Me and Bobby McGee” and Garth Brooks’ “Callin’ Baton Rouge.” Its summer heat renders a person limp like old lettuce, and its springs are nothing short of spectacular. Over the past few years, Baton Rouge has become one of the best places to eat in the state.

Located a little more than an hour northwest of dining paradise—New Orleans, the municipal equivalent of Louisiana’s popular girl—Baton Rouge is now considered a food town all its own. The culinary scene in this city on the Mississippi River has decidedly matured, with inventive spots joining old-school favorites. You’ll never be without deftly fried Gulf seafood and Raising Cane’s chicken fingers (this is the birthplace of the adored chain), but now those bedrock traditions are accompanied by fresh concepts from adventurous and inspired chefs.

International Influence

One of these spots is Cocha, a downtown restaurant with a global menu that’s run by husband-and-wife team Enrique Pinerúa and Saskia Spanhoff. Cocha’s outdoor tables are a great match for the balmy Baton Rouge weather, but no matter where you sit, this place delivers excitement in the form of Spanish-style octopus, cachapa (corn pancakes) from Venezuela, Indonesian stir-fried noodles, and old-world wines.

Spanhoff (a Certified Wine Educator and a former vino-industry professional) and Pinerúa (who was a Hollywood talent manager) rolled the dice on Baton Rouge after tiring of the LA rat race. They saw this city as a friendlier, more affordable alternative to Southern California and believed it was ready for seasonal menus that stretch beyond Cajun and Creole standbys.

“I don’t think people consider Baton Rouge to be international,” says Spanhoff, a local native whose Dutch-immigrant parents relocated here decades ago for her father’s career. “But with the energy sector and the university, it is.”

A short distance away in the eclectic Perkins Road Overpass district, Chow Yum channels this area’s fondness for bold flavors into vibrant pan-Asian street food. Founded by executive chef Jordan Ramirez, the funky spot is known for ramen made with 24-hour-simmered pork broth and shareable dishes like steamed buns that are stuffed with soft-shell crab or hot-honey chicken.

Ramirez hates to be pinned down, however, so there are also birria tacos with Szechuan-braised beef on Tuesdays and Viet-Cajun crawfish in the spring. The crustaceans are lacquered in lemongrass-garlic butter and boiled with edamame, potatoes, mushrooms, corn, and quail eggs.

Another tasty option along this lively stretch is BLDG 5, a hip farmhouse enclave created by Misti and Brumby Broussard, native Southerners who moved to Baton Rouge from San Diego. The concept here is global grazing and sipping, and the restaurant’s architectural-salvage vibe, with interlocking rooms and plant-draped patios, feels like a fancy rabbit warren. Their Harvest Board (which has 10 veggies plus spreads, grilled bread, and optional grilled proteins) rejects the notion that you can’t find healthy food in the Red Stick.

Making Waves

With Louisiana being the second-largest seafood-producing state in America, Baton Rouge menus are unsurprisingly awash in the Gulf’s bounty. Fried platters, po’boys, and rich gumbo are year-round mainstays at casual spots like Phil’s Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant and The Chimes. But the real highlight appears in the springtime when other dishes pale in comparison to boiled crawfish. Scores of diners queue up for the hot mudbugs and requisite corn and potatoes at Tony’s Seafood Market, a behemoth presence in north Baton Rouge that was originally founded in 1959.

Seafood might be ordinary local fare around here, but it reaches more sophisticated heights at Beausoleil Coastal under the direction of executive chef Nicholas Palmer. This modern bistro prepares an ever-changing menu (including brunch, lunch, and dinner) of detailed dishes with Asian influences.

Start with the Seacuterie Board, a tidy roundup of deviled lobster salad, smoked-tuna dip, saffron-infused boiled shrimp, and tequila-and-citrus ceviche, all scoopable with house-made saffron crackers. The Beausoleil Red Miso Bouillabaisse is a flavor tour de force that features shrimp, clams, scallops, mussels, lobster, and blue crab swimming in a rich red miso broth.

From Relaxed to Refined

Baton Rouge’s Mid City neighborhood has surged in popularity recently thanks to numerous restaurant openings. Elsie’s Plate & Pie, housed in a historic post office, is one of the area’s most visited eateries. It focuses on sweet and savory pies made with a pastry recipe from proprietor Paul Dupré’s late grandmother, Elsie Marie Campeau Rupe. Dupré and his team still prepare her specialty by hand daily and use it as the base for crawfish and meat hand pies, seafood pot pies, and a rotating list of over 200 dessert options. S’mores, coconut cream, and a blueberry-lemon flavor that’s called The Eye of the Tiger are among the favorites.

Related: You Have To Try One Of Elsie's Pies In Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The city’s prevailing vibe is relaxed, but the 2-year-old Supper Club offers a chance to break out your cocktail wear midweek. Inspired by swanky fine-dining establishments in Las Vegas and Miami, the dinner-only restaurant is known for its luxe menu, nightly DJ, and upscale dress code. A doorman welcomes diners past hundreds of floor candles into a windowless space festooned with lavish design elements, like sultry floral carpet by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, glamorous chandeliers by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, and iridescent wall chains by Spain’s Kriskadecor.

The restaurant is one of only a handful in the United States to receive a license each year from Japan’s Sky Ranch to serve its top grade A5 Shichiri Wagyu. Raw slices of the marbled meat are warmed tableside on a hot stone and then finished with smoked and truffled salts. The rest of the menu is a catalog of indulgent fineries, from king crab bisque with crème fraîche to Beluga Hybrid caviar.

Local Legends

Old-school Italian restaurants are a key culinary component in South Louisiana, a vestige of early 20th-century chain migration that led Italian émigrés to these parts. Wildly popular, the family-owned Gino’s Restaurant has been around since 1966, luring diners with the promise of generous wine pours and their famous arancini—balls of ground meat, rice, and peas rolled in cornmeal batter and deep-fried. Shortly after opening Gino’s, the late founder Grace “Mama” Marino modified the dish for area palates with a douse of red gravy. She also created a seasonal version that features fresh crawfish tails and red cream sauce.

Breakfast and brunch are big here in Baton Rouge, with boundless opportunities to enjoy Benedicts, brunch burgers, spicy Bloody Marys, and local Community Coffee. Louie’s Cafe near LSU has been a beloved institution since 1941, drawing extra-long lines on the weekends for off-menu animal-shaped pancakes and Eggs Louisianne (poached eggs enrobed in a shrimp-and-crawfish cream sauce) served atop toasted English muffins.

The story of this area’s constantly evolving food scene is continued at the new iteration of Jubans, one of Baton Rouge’s oldest fine-dining spots, founded in 1983. During the pandemic, the restaurant closed for a major overhaul and returned sporting stylish themed rooms and a menu by chef Chris Motto that’s less classic Creole and more modern American.

Try the Lobster Risotto with caper relish or the Ora King Salmon served over quinoa tabbouleh with strawberry-kiwi relish. Be sure to take note of the historic portraits in the moody “hidden” library called the Tigre Lounge. They are actually digital renderings of LSU sports heroes dressed in Elizabethan costumes, a wink-wink design move that says, “Hey, look a little closer. This is still a hometown spot.”

Where To Stay

Origin Hotel Baton Rouge: One of the city’s newest lodging additions has 89 boutique-style rooms and a rooftop deck that overlooks LSU’s Tiger Stadium.

Watermark Baton Rouge: The former Louisiana Trust & Savings Bank is now a hotel with an on-site restaurant adorned with murals painted by artist Angela Gregory.

The Stockade Bed & Breakfast: This homey inn on the grounds of a historic Civil War stockade is known for its generous morning meals and lush property.

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