re: I'm beginning to catch on to the criticism of the BR food scene

I'd be very happy if we had more places in the style of Beausoleil or IPO. I've had most of the menu at both, but that style of restaurant with more of a rotating menu is perfect.

Of course, you enter other issues here. Price point and atmosphere wise, you could put Beausoleil even with Cochon.. Peche.. Sylvain.. Boucherie. Those places are always busy in New Orleans and it's casual. You don't look out of place dressed up or anything, but they're just normal places to go get food. In Baton Rouge, at least with a lot of people I know, it seems like so many people look at Beausoleil or IPO as "special" dining.

Which is fine.. but it's why I think we'd have a problem having a lot of those style of restaurants.

* I used New Orleans as an example because it's a city we have the most experience with on this board, but plenty of large cities could be substituted.

I didn't even catch that he was referring to race

I was agreeing that probably half of the city just doens't give a shite about dining out. Lots of good ole boy types. Hell, a large portion of my own family fits that bill.

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Good ole boy types

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you say this like its a bad thing

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you say this like its a bad thing

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No I don't. I say it for exactly what it is: A large group of people that exist within this city that aren't doing anything for the food scene.

There's nothing wrong with them at all

This conversation is about why BR can't support a thriving food scene. I'd say the massive amount of people that just flat out don't dine out (or don't go beyond Sammy's) is a factor.

Garden District residents do a good job of keeping Chelsea's and DiGulios packed all nights of the week.

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Baton Rouge is 50% black / 41% white

Savannah is 55% black / 38% white

So the racial element of your argument doesn't hold water.

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It's not a black/white thing, it's socio-economic (urban poor vs urban middle class vs urban wealthy, vs suburban middle class, vs rural poor), it's geography (that's too far to drive in this traffic), it's mindset (that's too fancy), ect. New Orleans not only has a home grown foodie culture that generally shuns outside chain restaurants (so Popeye's, NOH&S Co, Bud's, Rotolo's, and Copeland's obviously don't apply), but also a huge tourist population that doesn't come to dine at the places they know from home, but come to eat unique things in more up-scale places. Baton Rouge has never been an "elegant" city. Outside of the legislators (this use to be a larger market before Jindal's ethics reforms cut back on how much lobbyists could spend on them at meals), the wealthy suburbanites, and the power lunch crowd downtown, there's not much demand for "fine dining" outside of special occasions. This is a blue collar town and has been ever since Exxon was built. Blue collar people want a blue collar, casual meal. That's why Baton Rouge excels at that with places like Sammy's, City Pork, and Dempsey's. They can go there without feeling like they have to "dress up" and can order to-go if they want. There's no huge tourism population looking to try some unique, upscale BR. BR wasn't raised as a unique culinary treasure. It was practically south Mississippi/chain city up until 20 years ago, and still bares the crutch of those times. However, for a city of its size and demographics, BR has some great food.

I can agree with everything you've said.

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Have you tried any of the following:
Oscar's - yes
Maxwell's - yes
Alexander's - It's a grocery store, but yes.
Zealand St - yes
Po'Boy Loyde's - yes
Bergeron's - no
Leroy's - yes
Breck's Bistro - yes
LA Bayou Bistro - yes
Omi - yes
Parrains - yes
La Tiendita - yes
La Morinita - yes
Frank's Restaurant - yes
Anthony's - yes
Tony's Seafood - yes
Delpit's - yes
Doe's Eat Place - no interest
Y'vette Marie's - yes
Nino's - yes
Gino's - yes
Thai Kitchen - yes
Marinas - no
Druscillas - disgusting, but yes
Pastime - yes
Red Zeppelin - yes
India's - yes
South of Philly - yes
Pocorello's - yes
Bayleaf - yes
Montalbano's - yes
ect?

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Color me impressed. If you get a chance when the bridge traffic's not too bad, a trip to Bergeron's is certainly a worth-while experience (especially on a Wednesday afternoon when they do ribs). The meat market offers tons of great options from raw stuffed meats to smoked sausage, to ready to eat hot smoked boudin, pork tasso, and pistolets. I'd recommend the bacon stuffed chicken patty. Next door is the restaurant which generally has really good specials like smothered pork chops, beef stew, jambalaya, ect.

Well the tourism aspect is a good point. I don't know a ton about Savannah, but I know lots of people visit.. whether from all over for a full out vacation, or from various Southern states as a weekend getaway.

You Google best Southeast vacations, and it's on every list.

Baton Rouge doesn't have tourism really.

So yes, we have a least half of the population who does not dine out, but you don't make up for it with tourists like other larger cities do.

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I may be misunderstanding what you are saying, but isn't that the case everywhere?

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No, it's not the case everywhere, and BR (other than occasional weekends) doesn't have a lot of out of town draw to support the foodie scene.

There's no way NOLA would be what it is without the food tourism.