For years, we in Baton Rouge grew up on steakhouses and seafood joints, American and Cajun cuisines interrupted by the occasional Chinese buffet, Tex-Mex restaurant or Italian eatery. It seemed only the die-hard foodies were seeking out Indian or Thai cuisine or even sushi, and even then availability was limited to little isolated spots around the city, the only place in town to get what you were looking for.
But in the past decade, our culinary landscape has exploded. Now, we can choose from half a dozen different spots to try Vietnamese pho. We’ve got Japanese restaurants serving every type of raw fish imaginable. In just the last couple of years alone: French-rooted tartes flambées at Flambée Café; Neapolitan-style wood-fired pizza at Rocca Pizzeria; baked manakish bread topped with za’atar, hailing from Syria and Palestine, at Zoroona Mediterranean Grill.
It’s a new world in Baton Rouge, one splashed with bright colors of green chutney, golden mango and blazing red Sriracha. And the more the menu diversifies, the more we seem to learn that the world isn’t so big after all.
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Read on for our April cover story all about the old guards of international food in Baton Rouge and the new restaurants adding even more international fare to our culinary landscape.
225‘s international food tour
Visit some of the restaurants we highlighted in the cover story in the three videos below:
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