Open since earlier this month, Lagniappe Steak and Seafood brings a popular Springfield, Louisiana, concept to Baton Rouge.
“It’s been a great start,” owner Bassam “Sam” Kasem says. “We’re seeing a lot of people come back.”
Along with a robust bar program, the restaurant features a broad menu of fried and grilled seafood, steaks and shareable apps. No relation to Louisiana Lagniappe on Perkins Road, it opened in Springfield in 2012. Kasem has owned and operated several different eateries in south Louisiana, including a Lagniappe predecessor in Baker in the 1990s.
|
|
|
Kasem looked at several locations in Baton Rouge for a second Lagniappe, settling on the Villas of Bluebonnet Centre shopping center on Bluebonnet Boulevard. The strip mall is also home to the first location of popular Lebanese concept Albasha and two newer eateries: The Plantry Café, which opened in the fall of 2023, and 6-month-old Uchi Sushi. Lagniappe’s multipurpose menu spans burgers, po-boys, gumbo, salads and protein-centric entrees that don’t hold back on components.
“It’s a family restaurant,” Kasem says. “We want to have a lot of regulars, a lot of people from the neighborhood and local businesses.”
Kasem runs the restaurant with his partner and brother-in-law Andy Sinnoqrot and Andy’s wife, Jennifer. The 5,000-square-foot space has seating capacity for 150 and includes a bar area, private room and patio. The team plans to renovate the patio soon, replacing a fountain with a firepit and carving out space for live music, Kasem says.
Opening in a city that’s lately been fixated on splashy, design-forward concepts and experimental pop-ups, Lagniappe Steak and Seafood hits an easy, straightforward note. An unfussy, brick-and-black scheme welcomes diners for lunch, dinner and happy hour, while generous plates of Louisiana-inspired fare read: belly up and dig in. Kasem says the moderate pricing is intended to cultivate repeat business. These days, a value-oriented brand promise feels awfully timely.
Signature dishes include a popular pepper-seared fresh tuna appetizer drizzled with sesame sauce.
“It’s a whole tuna steak, sliced,” Jennifer Sinnoqrot says. “A lot of places just give you a few slices, but this is a whole tuna steak.”
Plump, deep-fried blue crab fingers are another a top-selling starter, as are stuffed mushrooms crammed with seafood stuffing and topped with creamy shrimp sauce. The made-from-scratch blooming onion nods to retro decadence.
The steaks are trimmed in-house, including a 22-ounce Prime Angus cowboy rib-eye served sizzling on a cast iron skillet. There’s also an 8-ounce filet, 12-ounce boneless ribeye and 10-ounce baseball cut sirloin, so named for its rounded shape.
Fans of fried seafood opt from plates or platters piled with Gulf shrimp, fish, oysters, crabcake and other items. Among the non-fried options are blackened or stuffed redfish, chargrilled yellowfin tuna and grilled salmon with sweet chili sauce.
There are several pasta dishes, including the signature Lagniappe Pasta. A tangle of angel hair is bathed in shrimp cream sauce and topped with both a blue crabcake and a fried soft-shell crab.
Yep, coming hungry seems wise.
|
|
|
Grab discounted drinks during weekday happy hour from 3-7 p.m. Score $7 martinis on Mondays and $3 small margs on Wednesdays.
Lagniappe Steak and Seafood is open daily for lunch and dinner at 5454 Bluebonnet Blvd., Suite A. For more information, call 225-408-8089.