Baton Rougeans discover local restaurants using CATS

A few months ago, Baton Rouge Area Chamber CEO Adam Knapp sat down with local food blogger Jay Ducote with one idea in mind: promoting Capital Area Transit Systems’ new routes and buses. The best way Knapp and Ducote thought of getting more people involved was by visiting some local restaurants via a CATS bus route.

On Tuesday, a group of around 10 residents joined Knapp and Ducote for the tour. They all met at Triumph Kitchen for kolaches and coffee at 9 a.m., then headed by bus to Tony’s Seafood for boudin balls and fresh crab legs, Chicken Shack for their famous fried chicken for lunch, Anthony’s Italian Deli for a muffaletta snack, and ended the trip at Restaurant IPO, enjoying a cocktail and a small plate.

While at Anthony’s, Knapp joked that he was about to faint from all the good food he had eaten. He said the food tour was going smoothly.

“It’s nice to see the buses were on time,” he said. “The online route system seems to be more or less accurate with the timing of the buses. The CATS staff has been pretty helpful to us. The idea was literally, ‘Hey, I’m thinking of taking these bus routes and stopping at some restaurants along the way.’ It’s been unbelievable some of the things we’ve eaten, too.”

Knapp and Ducote both admitted that their experiences with CATS in the past were few and far between. But this week’s ride made the idea of a bus trip discovering Baton Rouge restaurants more appealing in the future.

“It’s been extremely pleasant,” Ducote says. “We’ve had friendly bus drivers and great customer service, and the bus routes are fairly easy to figure out. I could see us doing it again in the fall with a completely different route and restaurants.” —Matthew Sigur