Downtown Baton Rouge is home to soulful sounds this weekend, when the 23rd annual Baton Rouge Blues Festival takes center stage again.
The two-day festival spans April 8-9 and will bring out a variety of blues acts, including The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Kenny Neal & the Neal Family Band and Marc Broussard.
But, music isn’t the only thing that will be grooving this weekend: local and regional chefs and restaurants will be set up to serve food to festival goers both days.
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Below, is a list of participating food vendors and a peek at some of the dishes you can order.
Any O’Cajun
The vendor will be serving up crawfish beignets with its signature “son-in-law” sauce, crawfish bonbons with cheddar sauce, crawfish mac and cheese with a Zapp’s topping and corn and crab bisque with Louisiana blue crab.
Barbosa’s BBQ
Pair your blues with some smokey barbecue from Barbosa’s. The vendor will be serving up a brisket sandwich, pulled pork sandwich, smoked Cajun boudin, Frito pies with pulled pork or brisket, chicken wings, potato salad and coleslaw.
Café Dauphine
Try this New Orleans restaurant’s Lizardi Roll. It’s an Asian egg roll with a Cajun twist, including cabbage, crawfish, crab and shrimp with a sweet chili sauce for dipping. Or, order the deep-fried seafood-stuffed bell peppers, which are filled with crab and shrimp. Not into seafood? The Cajun chicken pasta might hit the spot, with chicken, pork and a Parmesan cream sauce.
Fil-Asian Kitchen
This Kenner-based concessions company is bringing seafood to the festival. Try the bacon-wrapped shrimp, fried shrimp on a stick or shrimp po-boy. If you want to get more adventurous, order the Cajun seafood pistolettes: bread rolls filled with cream sauce, shrimp and crawfish. Seafood pasta, Cajun chicken on a stick and funnel cakes will also be available.
The Frying Station
You guessed it: This vendor will be serving up everything fried. Options include fish, chicken, pickles and shrimp.
Troy Martin
Order a variety of Louisiana dishes from this food vendor. Menu items include crawfish quesadillas, crab cakes and alligator sausage on a stick. Or, go simple with chicken tenders and potato ribbons.
Cool Tiger Ice SnoBalls
Get your snoball fix at this food stand, which serves up gourmet snoballs and toppings like homemade cheesecake and fresh fruit. The vendor will also be serving popcorn to satisfy your salty craving.
Dat’z Italian
The Walker-based pizza restaurant is bringing its classic pies to the festival.
Rouge-A-Roux’s
This Baton Rouge food truck will be serving up its Cajun cuisine, including its signature Goudin Balls stuffed with smoked Gouda cheese. Other menu items include the jerk chicken sandwich with slaw and fries, pulled pork poutine fries, red beans and rice, or chicken and sausage jambalaya.
Touch of Cajun
More Cajun options will be available with this food vendor. Menu items include the fish and shrimp combo plate, boiled crawfish, crab cakes with crawfish cream sauce and crawfish pepper jack nachos. Or, order a hamburger, fried pickles, nachos, sausage po-boys or funnel cakes.
Dempsey’s
This Baton Rouge restaurant is bringing its Louisiana fare to the festival with po-boys, seafood-stuffed potatoes, boudin balls, crawfish boudin balls and seafood gumbo.
Pops and Rockets
The gourmet popsicle shop is bringing its sweet treats to the Blues Festival.
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Everything Philly
If you’re looking to step out of your comfort zone of Cajun options, head to Everything Philly’s booth for Philadelphia-inspired cheesesteaks, water ice and more.
City Gelato
Satisfy your sweet tooth with a variety of gelato flavors. Read more about City Gelato’s springtime offerings.
Find out more about the Blues Festival at batonrougebluesfestival.org.